Eight common mistakes made during brisk walking exercise
Mistake 1: Lower your head and hold your chest
This method is most likely to cause fatigue. Moreover, when holding the chest, the stretching space of the lungs is "squeezed", and breathing will become short, which can easily affect the cardiopulmonary function.
The correct method should be to raise your head and chest, keep your chin parallel to the ground, and draw your back slightly backwards. This can prevent pain in the shoulders, neck, and back. Looking 3 to 6 meters ahead can help you avoid obstacles effectively.
Mistake 2: Taking too big steps
When walking in this posture, the cushioning force of the soles of the feet becomes worse, which will aggravate joint damage for people with poor knee joints.
For daily walking, just use the most comfortable stride length; if you are walking for a long time, the stride length can be slightly larger, but it is better not to affect the landing of your feet.
Mistake 3: Mopping the soles of the feet
This walking posture has poor cushioning and can easily cause strain on joints, muscles, and arches. Gou Bo said that for people with this walking posture, the easiest way to strengthen the strength of their tibia, ankles and calves is to tiptoe, point their toes and walk on their heels.
To do tiptoe exercises, stand on the edge of the steps with the heels of your shoes hanging in the air. First, press the heels as far down as possible, and then lift them up as much as possible. Do this 10 to 20 times. To do the tiptoe exercises, use your toes to write 26 on the ground. English letters: Walking with heels, as the name suggests, means "walking with heels only". It is appropriate to take 20 steps at a time.
Mistake 4: Not swinging your arms or swinging your arms too much
If you don’t swing your arms when walking, your walking balance will be affected, and you may easily turn or even fall; If the arm swing range is too large, firstly, it will affect the speed, and secondly, it will cause the upper arm to be too tired or even strained.
The correct posture of arm swing is that the upper arm hangs naturally and swings naturally on both sides of the body after walking. The appropriate arm swing range is between 30 and 45 degrees. When walking slowly, the swing range of your arms is small; if you are walking fast, you can make fists with both hands and bend your arms at 90 degrees, just like running, to slightly increase the swing range.
This kind of walking posture is neither comfortable nor elegant.
The correct method is to find a straight line on the ground (floor tile or cement joint) when walking, align one foot first, align the toes and heels with the straight line, keep the other foot parallel to it, and then walk in this direction. You can correct your wrong posture slowly.
Mistake 6: Body tilt
Gou Bo said that many people do not stand straight when walking, and they will tilt forward, backward, or left and right. Such a posture can easily cause back pain and affect walking speed. To change the leaning inertia of your body, strengthen your abdominal muscles by doing sit-ups, which will help you stand up straighter.
Mistake 7: Choosing the wrong shoes
Shoes that are not suitable for walking have the following characteristics: 1. The soles are too thin and may cause a pinching feeling when walking; 2. The soles of the shoes are too thick and heavy, and the legs feel particularly heavy when walking, or the sound is particularly loud when landing; 3. The upper is too high. Some people wear outdoor sports shoes for walking. Although it can provide sufficient protection for the feet, the upper is too high and is not conducive to the flexible movement of the ankle; 4. The soles are too stiff and cannot bend to adapt to the "rolling" of the soles of the feet when walking.
When choosing shoes, you should pay attention to them. Choose light shoes. When you break the soles, they should bend more freely. There is a properly protruding tongue on the top of the heel, which can protect the Achilles tendon. After wearing them for a few steps, the soles are slightly elastic but not too soft, and have a certain degree of non-slip properties. In addition, if you walk for more than 30 minutes a day, you should wear shoes that are slightly larger than your usual size.
Mistake 8: Shoes are out of service
Shoes are like cars. They must be replaced after a journey of more than 800 kilometers, otherwise the buffering and protection effects will be reduced. Gou Bo said that the best way to check is to look at the wear and tear of the soles and patterns. If these anti-slip stripes are almost worn out, it proves that it is time to get a new pair of shoes.