5 simple ways to make your daily walk more beneficial

Walking is one of the easiest ways to stay active. You don’t need special equipment, a gym membership, or a complicated workout plan. Just putting on your shoes and heading outside can be a great addition to your daily routine. But if you’re already walking regularly, a few small changes can make your walks more purposeful and challenging.

Try a short walk after eating

A gentle walk after a meal can be a useful habit, particularly after dinner. When you move your muscles, they use energy, including glucose circulating in your blood. You don’t need to turn your evening into a long workout. Even a relatively short walk can get you moving after sitting down for a meal. Make it easy to stick with: finish dinner, put on your shoes, and take a stroll around the neighbourhood.

2. Pick up the pace

Not every walk needs to be leisurely. Adding periods of faster walking can increase the intensity without requiring you to spend much more time outside. Try walking at a pace where you’re breathing a little more heavily but can still comfortably speak in sentences. One simple approach is to alternate between your normal pace and a faster pace for a few minutes at a time. Think of it as walking with a little more purpose rather than turning every outing into a workout.

3. Change your surroundings

If every walk takes place on exactly the same pavement, occasionally choose a different route. A safe trail, grassy area, or other uneven-but-suitable surface can make walking feel different because your body has to respond to changes in the ground beneath you. It can also make your usual routine more interesting. There’s another benefit to changing your surroundings: spending time in parks and other green spaces can make a walk feel more enjoyable and relaxing. Just choose surfaces that are appropriate for your footwear and ability, particularly if the ground is wet or slippery.

4. Add some resistance (carefully)

Once ordinary walking becomes comfortable, you might be tempted to make it harder by carrying additional weight. Weighted walking, sometimes called rucking, can increase the physical demand of a walk. However, more weight isn’t automatically better. If you’re interested in trying it, start very lightly and pay attention to how your body responds. A properly fitted backpack is important, and there’s no need to carry a heavy load simply to make a walk more challenging. You can also increase the challenge without carrying anything at all, for example, by choosing a route with some hills or adding short periods of faster walking.

5. Give your walk a destination

Sometimes the hardest part of walking is finding the motivation to go. Instead of thinking of your walk as exercise, give yourself somewhere to go. Visit a local park, walk to a viewpoint, explore a new street, or choose another safe destination that sounds interesting. Having a reason to leave the house can make walking feel less like a chore and more like part of your day.