Adding hand weights to my walking routine...good or bad idea?

Carry 2 water bottles, it will do the same thing, and save you money.

As said already, It's not enough weight to matter. If you want to incorporate light strength/load work to your walks, Suitcase/farmer walks will build you up... that being said, keep the distance short 20-100 meters and keep the weights low(15-25% of BW to start)

Ironandwine69 wrote: »

Bad idea. You gonna bulk up.

Seriously though. Just carry water around, will accomplish the same thing, close to nothing.

If you wanna get swoled, use 2x gallon bottles.

You won't tone up using light weights while walking. Walking can be great cardio....period.

Get some heavier weights and do dumbbell exercises separately. Give yourself the opportunity to really focus on the moves (using good form) so you don't injure yourself.

Google bodyweight exercise too......push ups, squats, planks. These would also help.

You see "walking style" exercise videos using light weights (Leslie Sansone). But it's more of a reminder to use your arms more.....raises above the head, push out to the front, etc. This will burn slightly more calories, but nothing substantial.

There are 2 questions here: will carrying hand weights have any strength benefits and will carrying hand weights boost the intensity/calorie burn of my walking?

The answer to the first is "no".

The answer to the second is "not really". Carrying weights does little to boost intensity. Swinging arms (so that thumb reaches shoulder height in front of you) CAN increase intensity/calorie burn, but small weights add little to that effect--it's mostly due to the arm swing.

Yeah, not much "boost your burn and toning".

Nevertheless I do swing my arms in a structured pattern for a good portion of my walk at lunch at work. I don't expect anything from it but I do it so that it's not just my legs getting all the activity. Walk time for me is usually 1:15 - 1:45 minutes. I swing my arms for portions of this.

Here's what I do:

I do the following sequence of arm swings over and over as long as I feel like it.
Every step with each foot is a count.
I use a four count most of the time.
From one pattern directly into the next

count 1 - left arm curl
count 2 - right arm curl
count 3 - left arm curl
count 4 - right arm curl

count 1 - left arm reverse curl
count 2 - right arm reverse curl
count 3 - left arm reverse curl
count 4 - right arm reverse curl

count 1 - left arm straight swing up out front to shoulder/head height or above
count 2 - right arm straight swing up out front to shoulder/head height or above
count 3 - left arm straight swing up out front to shoulder/head height or above
count 4 - right arm straight swing up out front to shoulder/head height or above

count 1 - left arm straight swing out to side shoulder height/slightly above
count 2 - right arm straight swing out to side side shoulder height/slightly above
count 3 - left arm straight swing out to side shoulder height/slightly above
count 4 - right arm straight swing up to side shoulder height/slightly above

count 1 - left _and_ right arm swing out in front of your head together so wrist/forearm crosses (left over right)
count 2 - left _and_ right arm stay at shoulder height and pull back with elbows bent
count 3 - left _and_ right arm swing out in front of your head together so wrist/forearm crosses (right over left)
count 4 - left _and_ right arm stay at shoulder height and pull back with elbows bent

You'll quickly figure out naturally which arm goes with which step.
Most folks will need to build up to the full pattern over a few weeks.
Start doing the pattern without hand weights on first few walks to get the rhythm.
Add in hand weights after you're comfortable with the pattern.
Build up to this slowly - it's easy to over do it, seriously, because the movements are small but it can be a lot if you go long.
Sometimes I mix in 8 counts. Sometimes I skip patterns.
Do what's comfortable for you.