Now get walking: the walking plan

Step out with our walking plans, as part of the right-weight programme

 

Click here for full details of the right-weight eating and walking plan

There's good medical evidence that walking improves health and fitness and boosts your mood. As it requires little more than warm clothing and a good pair of shoes, it's one of the easiest forms of exercise to take up, too.

 

Spring is a great time of year to start getting out and about - the weather is better and you'll be able to enjoy nature at its most beautiful. It's cheering to think that something as simple as putting one foot in front of the other can yield such huge payback. With the help of Stella Goddard, project manager for Natural England's Walking The Way To Health, we've devised a four-week plan that should work for everyone, whatever your level of fitness. If you're already reasonably fit, you can step it up a bit and push yourself harder. If you've been a committed couch potato, listen to your body and take things at the pace that feels right for you. Above all, it shouldn't feel like hard work. We promise that if you follow the Good Housekeeping walking plan - and combine it with the menu ideas - you'll soon see results.

 

Set yourself up to succeed

 

Have a plan: Give yourself targets and decide when and where you will do your walking.

 

Record your progress: Have a journal in which you note down the walking you do every day and look back to see how far you have progressed.

 

Wear loose, and comfortable clothing: Go for thin layers you can peel off rather than thick sweaters, and choose shoes that support your ankles - good quality trainers are fine. If you need a new pair, make sure you get them fitted properly - a specialist running shop can help.

 

Be prepared: Take a hat and apply sun cream in summer months, wear gloves and a hat in winter and carry a bottle of water. A backpack or bum bag is the best way to carry things.

 

Consider buying a pedometer: This is a great way of checking how much you already walk so you can set yourself realistic goals and track your progress. The National Step-O-Meter Programme has a 12-week step-count record sheet you can download from www.whi.org.uk/publications. Look for a ‘steps only' pedometer from a sports shop, costing £10-£15. Extra features like distance walked or calories burned may be appealing, but can be confusing if the only thing you really want to do is count steps. Go for a pedometer with a clear, good sized screen, a strong fastening clip, a ‘non-step filter' to avoid movements erroneously being recorded as a step, a mechanism to avoid inadvertent step resetting/loss and easily changeable batteries.

 

 

WEEK 1

Your aim: To walk for at least 30 minutes every day in addition to your normal daily activity. Don't worry how far you walk at this stage - it's time rather than distance that's important. Walk slowly for the first few minutes to warm up, gradually increasing your pace. Walk briskly for the next 20 minutes and slow down for the final few minutes to cool down.

 

● Check your technique - your heel should hit the ground first, then you should roll through the step from heel to toe and push off with your toe.

● To find your optimum pace, check yourself using the talk test. You should be breathing faster then normal and feel warm but still be able to talk - if you can't talk and walk, slow down, if you can hold a tune, you're going too slowly and need to speed up.

● If 30 minutes feels like too much all in one go, or you can't find the time, split it into two walks of 15 minutes.

● Short bouts of walking are just as effective at raising your heartbeat and boosting fitness as longer ones.

 

 

WEEK2

Your aim: To increase your walking time to 40 minutes on three days of the week. If you can easily walk briskly for 30 minutes, add another 10 minutes (or more if you can manage it and have the time) to three of your walks. By the end of week one you should already feel fitter.

 

Make conscious attempts to build more walking into your everyday routine, even if it's only a few minutes here and there. Leave the car at home for journeys under 2 miles; deliver messages by hand at work rather than phoning or emailing; cancel your paper or milk in the morning and walk to the shops to get it; even walking around rather than sitting while talking on the phone will burn a few extra calories.

 

 

WEEK 3

Your aim: To increase your walking time to 40 minutes every day of the week and include more challenging walks.

If you feel your fitness has increased sufficiently, increase your pace for a five-minute section of the walk.

 

Explore walks a bit further afield, even if it's only at the weekend. Take the opportunity to notice what's around you - lots of walkers enthuse about how much there is to see when they walk. At this time of year dog roses and lime trees are in flower, you'll see dragonflies near rivers and ponds and buttercups, poppies, foxgloves and forget-me-nots in bloom. If you're lucky, you might hear skylarks and see house martins nesting under bridges.

 

 

WEEK 4

Your aim: To walk for 40 minutes each weekday and do more challenging one-hour walks at the weekend.

Increase your pace for two five-minute sections of your walk - longer if you can. Contact your council's recreation department for local walks, find information on nature trails or areas of outstanding beauty or contact some of the walking organisations listed below. Make the weekend walks part of a family outing.

Find walks that include hills. Walking uphill will burn around a third more calories than on the flat and help strengthen bones and muscles. Vary the terrain - walking on soft surfaces like sand, grass or mud takes more energy and muscle power.

 

Make walking a part of your life

Vary your routine so you don't get bored - plan new routes or walk at different times of the day. When you have enough time, drive out of town to walk. England and Wales alone have 140,000 miles of off-road public rights of way.

 

Sign up for a charity walk and get yourself in trainingnow. Contact your favourite charity to find out about fundraising walks or contact Just Walk (01460 30456; www.just-walk.co.uk), which organises walks for you to raise money for the charity of your choice.

Plan more adventurous walks. Find out about walks near you by using Walking The Way To Health's Walk Finder at www.whi.org.uk/walkfinder (0300 060 2287), which has over 500 local health walk schemes in both city and country. Allaboutyou adds: try our nationwide guide with over 60 walks to try.

Join a walking group - you could even start your own - or find a friend to walk with. It's always easier to stay motivated when other people are involved, too.

Walking for Health organises local walks throughout the country and the Ramblers Association has details of local walking groups that meet regularly. Both have details of walks suitable for people of all ages and abilities, including family walks.

 

Click here for more walking plans to increase your fitness

Click here for the breakfast and lunch menu plans

Click here for the evening meal recipes

 

 

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