Increasing 'intensity' of a walk?
PirateFoxy
Posts: 1
I was on the SparkPeople group but it seems to have dissapeared and also SparkPeople kind of annoys me, so hello! 
(I'm kdow on COTH.)
Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to increase the exercise value of a pretty leisurely walk. My dog is having arthritis troubles and usually I'd walk with him and do pretty well for getting some exercise in (where I live is quite hilly so even a slower pace is good effort) but due to his arthritis at the moment I'm walking him twice a day on short walks and just going at a pretty slow pace.
(He thinks he'd be up for more, but he's a stoic moron so he'd walk forever and then we'd get stranded somewhere when he finally couldn't keep going.)
Obviously I'm going to need to do something else in addition, since those two walks a day aren't going to cut it, but I'm wondering if there's anything sensible I could do to make some use of that time to get something approximating exercise in. Right now it's so short and leisurely that I don't think it counts.
(I am hoping to increase the length and speed of the walks gradually, particularly once I find a vet who is actually useful about managing the arthritis, but in the meantime...)
Any ideas?
(I'm kdow on COTH.)Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to increase the exercise value of a pretty leisurely walk. My dog is having arthritis troubles and usually I'd walk with him and do pretty well for getting some exercise in (where I live is quite hilly so even a slower pace is good effort) but due to his arthritis at the moment I'm walking him twice a day on short walks and just going at a pretty slow pace.
(He thinks he'd be up for more, but he's a stoic moron so he'd walk forever and then we'd get stranded somewhere when he finally couldn't keep going.)
Obviously I'm going to need to do something else in addition, since those two walks a day aren't going to cut it, but I'm wondering if there's anything sensible I could do to make some use of that time to get something approximating exercise in. Right now it's so short and leisurely that I don't think it counts.
(I am hoping to increase the length and speed of the walks gradually, particularly once I find a vet who is actually useful about managing the arthritis, but in the meantime...)
Any ideas?
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Replies
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What about doing walking lunges? You could do lunges for 30 sec, then walk for 30 sec (or 1 minute), then repeat. You'll get a decent resistance workout for your glutes and quads in addition to increasing your energy expenditure.0
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Ankle weights or carry a hand weight? I would think that would help a bit.0
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A good friend filled up a small backpack with sand. She weighed out a bag to 5 kilos and I think ended up filling it to 10 kilos. She would do an hour long brisk walk with that on every day.
Lunges would also be great and probably could do some side step type things or knee raises /high knees.
P.0
