Pull-ups, push-ups, swimming and running are good and rewarding sports, but they are all separate processes for which you need to allocate a resource of time, space, and often money. I want to tell you about the most integrated sport for the life of an IT specialist, and not only ours. Ta-dam! The curtain! Here’s a way to upgrade your daily walking routine to an exercise routine.

Benefits

The most powerful argument in favor of walking is that it absolutely, absolutely, does not require any financial investments, and sometimes it even helps to save money (of course, if you are not a girl who chronically prefers high-heeled shoes). To walk, you do not need to get up at six in the morning and go to the gym, close your pets (and sometimes residents) in a separate room so that they do not rush at you when you vigorously wave your arms and legs while doing exercises. There is no need to learn a special technique (you just need to adhere to a few safety rules, about which below). There are no age, gender or weight restrictions. And most importantly, you won’t have to change your lifestyle either.

Benefit

When walking, a person burns up to 360 kcal per hour, yes – not much, but better than nothing at all. Vigorous walking perfectly stimulates the heart (comparable to more laborious cardio loads), restores normal vascular tone (for those who smoke), normalizes general blood pressure (hypo- and hypertension), enriches the blood with oxygen (stuffy rooms and physical inactivity), they also say that it does not thickens the blood, like most other sports, but I don’t presume to argue – I did not find any refuting or proving information.
Deep breathing, when walking, perfectly massages the internal organs (digestive problems, constipation). Provides blood flow to the pelvic organs (there is a whole bunch of diseases of the genitourinary system, as well as the worst enemy of the IT specialist – hemorrhoids). Tightens the abdominal muscles (beer waves at you), strengthens the musculoskeletal system of the lower extremities, if in Russian for girls: elastic and toned ass and slender legs, but just do not walk in heels, otherwise bad posture and the threat of various dislocations and sprains.

We walk for health

Yes. For walking, you can allocate time separately and walk every day for 30 minutes 2-3 km. But we do not need this. Therefore, I suggest walking to and from work. We take a map and plot a route from home to work. If you live far away, then we find, for a start, the nearest public transport stop at a distance of 1 km, and we will walk to it. In the future, you can increase up to 4 km in each direction (back and forth) at the generally accepted rate of 8 km per day. You can also choose for walking the distance from the stop to work – as you like. Since we go to work barely getting out of bed, it is better to walk the first hundred meters at our usual pace (I chose the nearest traffic light for myself), so we will stretch our muscles, it is important to observe this rule in winter, when the cold ambient air can cause cramps muscles. At the traffic light, while we are waiting for the little green man, you can additionally stretch the ankle muscles and ligaments. To do this, rise on your toes, lower yourself, transfer your weight to your heels and again to your toes. There is no traffic light, it doesn’t matter, after leaving the apartment, we go down the stairs, we stretch our socks as much as possible, we stand on the whole foot and we tear off the heel, at the next step, at the very last moment. After warming up and warming up, you can walk at a speed a little faster than usual, the main thing is that your breathing does not go astray. By the way, breathing is your speedometer – you need to walk so fast that your breathing does not go astray, the more you walk, the better you keep the rhythm, the faster you can walk. Watch your posture. In many places, they write that you need to keep straight, do not tilt your head, etc. It seems that they themselves have never walked. At a certain speed, just to preserve the laws of physics, you will have to lean forward a little, but yes, it is better to keep your back straight, bend over in the lumbar region. When accelerating, many begin to take giant steps – this is not correct and not useful. The step should be normal, but in a greater rhythm, we work with the lower leg and foot, after the push we try to relax the foot and lower leg – although this technique comes with long training, therefore, for a start, you can walk as conveniently. Having passed the distance we need, we must not forget to calm down the loaded organism. To do this, it is enough, again 100 meters away, to slow down and calm your breathing. If you do not work on the first floor, then you can do a hitch by going slowly up the stairs (but not higher than the fifth floor). You can return from work in a calmer rhythm, you can skip the warm-up, but it is better to repeat the hitch. I liked walking, the distance to work is no longer satisfying – we choose a more difficult route: with stairs, with ascents, with a large crowd of people (believe me, it is fascinating to maneuver between the meandering citizens and dodge the oncoming stream).

Total

We come to work cheerful and clear-minded. Even if you have not had a very good trip on public transport, then during the walk you will have time to calm down and start your work day with a clear head and a good mood.
After a working day, a walk will help relieve stress, calm down a storm of thoughts, and stretch your body that has sat up for the day. In addition, during a walk, you can calmly solve some issues that seemed unresolved during working hours – more oxygen, lack of environmental pressure, relieved psychological stress.

Well, an extra ton of health has not prevented anyone yet. Go to your health!

PS I forgot to say about safety precautions: do not walk after ten on dark alleys – it is very harmful.