The Secret to Walking off that Belly Fat

BrandNewLaura

http://living.health.com/2008/09/03/walk-off-belly-fat/

Sure, you know walking is good exercise. But here’s something you might not realize: You can give your waistline (and other body parts) a serious trimming by tweaking that walk around the block. The three women on the next pages each walked off at least 35 pounds, much of it around the middle, using one of these secret weapons—plyometrics, hills, or intervals. The strategies also strengthened their legs more quickly than plain old walking sessions, so they could walk longer and faster to burn more calories. After six weeks of walking four to six times a week, you will feel stronger and look slimmer where it counts.

Adding bounding, jumping, and skipping moves (called plyometrics) to your walk is a fun way to spike the intensity. You’ll burn up to twice as many calories—and significantly more belly fat—per minute than you would just walking at a moderate pace. “These moves vary the walking pattern your body has grown accustomed to, so you engage different muscle fibers,” says Joy Prouty, veteran Florida-based trainer and American College of Sports Medicine–certified health-fitness director. “And that helps shape and define your body.”

It worked for Claire Jefferson-Glipa, 31, of Riverside, Calif.
Adding one-minute bursts of plyometrics to the Stroller Strides classes she leads each week—along with making healthy changes in her eating habits—helped Jefferson-Glipa drop 36 pounds in just nine months. “It’s so exciting that my clothes are looser,” she says.

Make it work for you
Try this workout from Prouty, gradually adding more plyometrics as your fitness level improves. It can be done either outside or on the treadmill (just be sure to step off the machine to do the plyometrics moves).

1. Walk 15 minutes, building to a moderate pace.

2. Do 30 High-Knee Steps forward (alternating legs); skip for 30 seconds, then walk at a moderate pace for 1 minute.

3. Do 15 Traveling Lateral Squats (turn and move sideways as you squat) in slow motion, followed by 5 Squat Jumps (squat slightly, then swing arms up as you jump). Knee problems? Rise up on your toes instead of jumping.

4. Walk at a moderate pace for 10 minutes.

5. Repeat step 2.

6. Walk for 5 minutes at a moderate pace, then 5 minutes at a slow pace to cool down.

To triple the number of calories you burn, go to where it’s hilly, Prouty says. Walking on hills can burn tons of calories and fat, so you’ll work that stomach pooch off faster than you would on flat terrain. Uphill walks are great for strengthening and shaping your lower half—plus, you’ll feel stronger and go faster on level ground.

It worked for Robyn Kammerer, 33, of Rowayton, Conn.
Kammerer dropped 50 postpregnancy pounds in four months by eating healthier and walking every day on the hills near her home. “If I’m out of breath at the top of one of these killer hills,” she says, “I remind myself that I can now wear skirts that haven’t fit in years.”

Make it work for you
Start by changing your walking routine: Twice a week, replace 25% of your flat route with short or gradual hills. (New to walking? Start with 20-minute walks that include 5 minutes of hills.) After two weeks, seek out longer or steeper hills, and add 10 percent more climbing each week. Your goal is to do between one-half and two-thirds of your workout on hills.

Live in a flat area? Substitute this treadmill climb: After a 10-minute warm-up, gradually increase the incline from 0% to 2% for 5 to 10 minutes. Then, gradually decrease the incline in the same amount of time, finishing with 5 to 10 minutes of flat walking. Each week or two, increase the incline by 1 percent.

Alternating moderately paced walking with short, faster-paced intervals lets you amp up your walk without tiring yourself out. You’ll also dump stomach weight more quickly and torch more calories than you would on a steady-paced walk. By peppering in a 30-minute walk with 10 one-minute speed bursts, for example, you can nearly double your calorie burn.

It worked for Virginia Cox, 42, of Belmont, Mass.
Doing 15 miles’ worth of interval walking a week (plus cutting down on starchy foods and sweet treats) helped Cox shed 45 pounds of baby weight in just six months. “I look and feel great because of walking,” Cox says. “Plus, I now fit into the jeans that I wore when I was in my 20s.” An unexpected bonus: She’s sleeping much better too.

Make it work for you
Warm up at an easy pace, then walk at a moderate pace for 10 minutes; increase speed for 1 min­ute, Prouty says. Do another 3 minutes at a moderate pace; repeat one or two times, then do 10 moderately-paced minutes.

As you get stronger, add more intervals, aiming to alternate 1-minute speed bursts with 1 minute of mod­erate walking.

By Tracy Teare

BrandNewLaura

http://living.health.com/2008/09/03/walk-off-belly-fat/

Sure, you know walking is good exercise. But here’s something you might not realize: You can give your waistline (and other body parts) a serious trimming by tweaking that walk around the block. The three women on the next pages each walked off at least 35 pounds, much of it around the middle, using one of these secret weapons—plyometrics, hills, or intervals. The strategies also strengthened their legs more quickly than plain old walking sessions, so they could walk longer and faster to burn more calories. After six weeks of walking four to six times a week, you will feel stronger and look slimmer where it counts.

Adding bounding, jumping, and skipping moves (called plyometrics) to your walk is a fun way to spike the intensity. You’ll burn up to twice as many calories—and significantly more belly fat—per minute than you would just walking at a moderate pace. “These moves vary the walking pattern your body has grown accustomed to, so you engage different muscle fibers,” says Joy Prouty, veteran Florida-based trainer and American College of Sports Medicine–certified health-fitness director. “And that helps shape and define your body.”

It worked for Claire Jefferson-Glipa, 31, of Riverside, Calif.
Adding one-minute bursts of plyometrics to the Stroller Strides classes she leads each week—along with making healthy changes in her eating habits—helped Jefferson-Glipa drop 36 pounds in just nine months. “It’s so exciting that my clothes are looser,” she says.

Make it work for you
Try this workout from Prouty, gradually adding more plyometrics as your fitness level improves. It can be done either outside or on the treadmill (just be sure to step off the machine to do the plyometrics moves).

1. Walk 15 minutes, building to a moderate pace.

2. Do 30 High-Knee Steps forward (alternating legs); skip for 30 seconds, then walk at a moderate pace for 1 minute.

3. Do 15 Traveling Lateral Squats (turn and move sideways as you squat) in slow motion, followed by 5 Squat Jumps (squat slightly, then swing arms up as you jump). Knee problems? Rise up on your toes instead of jumping.

4. Walk at a moderate pace for 10 minutes.

5. Repeat step 2.

6. Walk for 5 minutes at a moderate pace, then 5 minutes at a slow pace to cool down.

To triple the number of calories you burn, go to where it’s hilly, Prouty says. Walking on hills can burn tons of calories and fat, so you’ll work that stomach pooch off faster than you would on flat terrain. Uphill walks are great for strengthening and shaping your lower half—plus, you’ll feel stronger and go faster on level ground.

It worked for Robyn Kammerer, 33, of Rowayton, Conn.
Kammerer dropped 50 postpregnancy pounds in four months by eating healthier and walking every day on the hills near her home. “If I’m out of breath at the top of one of these killer hills,” she says, “I remind myself that I can now wear skirts that haven’t fit in years.”

Make it work for you
Start by changing your walking routine: Twice a week, replace 25% of your flat route with short or gradual hills. (New to walking? Start with 20-minute walks that include 5 minutes of hills.) After two weeks, seek out longer or steeper hills, and add 10 percent more climbing each week. Your goal is to do between one-half and two-thirds of your workout on hills.

Live in a flat area? Substitute this treadmill climb: After a 10-minute warm-up, gradually increase the incline from 0% to 2% for 5 to 10 minutes. Then, gradually decrease the incline in the same amount of time, finishing with 5 to 10 minutes of flat walking. Each week or two, increase the incline by 1 percent.

Alternating moderately paced walking with short, faster-paced intervals lets you amp up your walk without tiring yourself out. You’ll also dump stomach weight more quickly and torch more calories than you would on a steady-paced walk. By peppering in a 30-minute walk with 10 one-minute speed bursts, for example, you can nearly double your calorie burn.

It worked for Virginia Cox, 42, of Belmont, Mass.
Doing 15 miles’ worth of interval walking a week (plus cutting down on starchy foods and sweet treats) helped Cox shed 45 pounds of baby weight in just six months. “I look and feel great because of walking,” Cox says. “Plus, I now fit into the jeans that I wore when I was in my 20s.” An unexpected bonus: She’s sleeping much better too.

Make it work for you
Warm up at an easy pace, then walk at a moderate pace for 10 minutes; increase speed for 1 min­ute, Prouty says. Do another 3 minutes at a moderate pace; repeat one or two times, then do 10 moderately-paced minutes.

As you get stronger, add more intervals, aiming to alternate 1-minute speed bursts with 1 minute of mod­erate walking.

By Tracy Teare

bonski

Laura: Thanks for posting this, it is really interesting.

Bonnie

arewethereyet

I go to a walking park near my house. Everyone is so serious-walking, jogging, running, dancing...uh dancing? I just had to stop the other day and "do a little dance" cuz KC told me to!

I have been adding knee ups, side squats and hamstring curls to my routine and it has amped up my walks and made them more interesting.

Sometimes I skip. The other day I was getting into a good dance song and kinda swung my hips to the music. I must have engaged my abs because the next day they were sore. So now I do 2 minutes of that too.

It is so much more fun, and burns more cals.

Thanks for the useful info...really appreciated:flowerforyou:

nightangelstars

Wow this is a great thread, thanks! I think I'll definitely utilize this during the winter when my boyfriend and I walk in our local high school (we don't have great sidewalks in our little town). :happy:

OomarianneoO

My body was starting to get used to some of the exercising I was doing and it was getting hard to keep my heart rate up to where it's supposed to be. So I started switching it up a bit, playing with different settings and stuff on the machines. The treadmill being one of them. Normal routine on the treadmill was between 30 and 60 minutes between a 3.0 and 3.4 level depending on my mood. Well, for the past week or so, I've changed the settings to an incline of 10% at the 3.0 level. That has really kept my heart rate up there and I try to focus in on my tummy muscles while I'm doing it too. I can feel a big difference. Me..just rambling and thought I'd share.

Edit: I think Jillian even mentioned that last night, on The Biggest Loser. Made me feel better about switching it up on my own.

j_g4ever

Thank you so much for this post. Im going to try it and see what happens. :happy:

soulshine

Walking really does work, you just have to be consistent about it. I've lost almost 20 lbs in less than 3 months by pretty much just walking as many times a week as I can. I hate exercising, but I love to walk!:bigsmile:

katfio

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Love your post-- makes so much sense! Thanks for sharing!

mstoni04

:flowerforyou: Thanks for the walking tips. I love em!

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