What is fast walking?
Fast walking is an aerobic fitness or wellness activity (depending on the individual goal) that is extremely widespread both in Italy and abroad.
Fast walking generally requires less effort, risks and complications than running, swimming, walking, cycling, canoeing, rowing etc. On the other hand, many athletes (especially runners) underestimate fast walking, considering it a mild activity, not very intense and not very effective. In reality it is a motor activity that, from the biomechanical point of view, engages the organism in a totally different way; it is therefore the intensity (understood as the speed and slope of the soil) and the volume of work that defines the global commitment of fast walking.
Disambiguation
Quick walk VS walk
Fast walking is often confused with walking, which by definition represents a mere recreational form without any specific functional or therapeutic goal. On the other hand, nothing prevents us from initially approaching brisk walking by planning a certain number of walks, with increasing volume and intensity, necessary to favor the first muscular and cardio-vascular adaptations.
Especially in obese, cardiopathic, elderly or affected by certain osteo-articular pathologies, fast walking (even more if performed with variations in speed and inclination) can be excessively demanding; that's why in these cases the walk or normal walk is preferred.
Fast walking VS nordic / pole walking
The walk, in English, is called "walking". There is also another similar but not the same activity called "nordic walking" or "pole walking". The difference consists mainly in the fact that, while in fast walking, the upper limbs play exclusively the role of compensation in walking, in Nordic walking they contribute to propulsion by means of special sticks or rackets. It could be said that pole walking is, in a sense, the link between fast walking and trekking. In motor terms, the main difference is the vastness of the muscular effort which, in Nordic walking, is decidedly superior (in addition to those of the lower limbs, the muscle groups of the arms and trunk are recruited). This characteristic can be considered advantageous from the point of view of muscular adaptations; in "big money", pole walking is considered more complete. Nevertheless this should not affect immediate energy expenditure and post workout oxygen debt, which in both cases depend on the training load.
Quick walk VS Jogging
Fast walking is often used as a preparatory activity for jogging. On the other hand, even if characterized by a slow and quiet rhythm, jogging is a real form of running. This means that fast walking can only "sketch" a series of physical adaptations in preparation for jogging but, due to the specificity of the athletic gesture, it engages differently the muscles, the joints, the cardiovascular system and the pulmonary system. For this purpose, brisk walking can instead be used as an active recovery to "break" the repeated / varied rhythm of jogging.
An untrained person can, for example, perform a training session of 40 ', of which the first 10' and the last 10 'will be a brisk walk to warm up and cool down the body, while the 20' plants will be characterized by alternating 5-7 'of jogging with 1-2' of brisk walking.
Benefits
Health effects of fast walking
Any type of regular physical exercise (in the absence of pathological contraindications) can improve the overall fitness of the organism. In particular, fast walking optimizes cardio-vascular and pulmonary, as well as muscle-joint function of the lower limbs.
Fast walking, with the right posture, carried out systematically and with a sufficient training load (30-60 'a day for 5 days a week) can confer many other benefits:
Metabolic benefits
- Weight control or optimization of therapy aimed at reducing overweight
- Increased insulin sensitivity and metabolic tolerance to carbohydrates; prevents and treats hyperglycemia, and therefore also type 2 diabetes mellitus
- Optimization of blood pressure and, sometimes, reduction of high blood pressure (especially in conjunction with weight loss)
- Triglyceridemia reduction
- Balance of cholesterolemia (percentage increase of good HDL cholesterol and reduction of bad LDL)
- Reduction of risk factors for metabolic pathologies and obesity, therefore reduction of cardio-vascular and cerebral events (myocardial infarction and stroke)
- Also thanks to the reduction of overweight, reduction of the tendency to hyperuricemia and gouty attacks
Osteoarticular benefits
- If carried out with respect, preservation of the joints and prevention of various forms of degeneration
- Maintenance of bone trophism and reduction of the risk of osteoporosis
Note : brisk walking is especially beneficial for the two coxofemoral joints.
Neurological benefits
- Rebalancing of thirst and appetite stimuli
- Optimization of memory capacity and mental efficiency (especially in the elderly)
- Optimization of learning ability, of concentration and probably of the faculty of guessing abstract concepts
- Prevention of cerebral degeneration in the third age (senile dementia) and Alzheimer's disease
Psychological benefits
- Mood improvement
- Stress reduction
- Increase in confidence and self-esteem
- Increase in vitality and psychophysical energies
- Prevention and fight against anxious and depressive symptoms
- Improvement of socialization skills
Other important benefits
- Prevention / improvement of constipation
- Reduced risk for certain cancers, such as that of the colon
- Increased life expectancy; some studies show that people at particular risk, especially obese diabetics, walking fast twice a week (better if at 4 km / h) can reduce the risk of mortality up to 39% ("Relationship of walking to mortality among US adults ". Centers for Disease Control. 20 May 2011. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013).
Contraindications
When to avoid fast walking
The reasons why it would be better to avoid brisk walking are few and highly specific. All healthy people can walk fast. Instead, subjects who:
- They suffer from certain podiatric diseases, especially acute, such as plantar fasciitis, tallodynia, metatarsalgia and certain severe deformations of the foot
- They suffer from debilitating diseases of the knee or the coxo-femoral joint, such as arthrosis, arthritis, severe gouty attacks, ligementous lesions etc. Note : brisk walking helps keep joints healthy, but this does not mean that it is a suitable activity for people suffering from serious and / or acute illnesses linked to these districts. In the case of compromised joint (eg osteoarthritis), brisk walking may exacerbate the problem by triggering painful symptoms.
- They suffer from serious problems related to vertebral crushing of the spine, especially of the lumbar portion
- Suffer from related tendinopathies, bursitis, tears or severe strains and contractures of the legs, thighs, buttocks, lower back
- Pubalgia, of various kinds
- They suffer from dangerously low blood pressure or blood sugar
- I have a high risk of cardio-vascular disease; in some cases the presence of a carer may be sufficient
- They suffer from sudden illnesses, for example seizures.
Tips
Useful tips to tackle fast walking safely
The first advice to those who want to take a brisk walk with a sports approach is to perform a medical examination, better if it includes all the investigations required by the competitive one.
Secondly, it is essential to choose the right footwear. Fast walking shoes are NOT the same as running shoes; it is therefore necessary to seek advice from a competent technician. Especially for those who are very heavy or suffer from certain disorders (joints and back), it would be advisable to check the plantar support and possibly obtain suitable orthotics.
The rule is that sport is always advisable, practiced alone is fine, but in the company it is better, both for safety and social reasons. Finally, for lovers of out-of-town or night-time picnics, it is absolutely necessary to get the right clothing (reflector), the lighting equipment (even during the day, if in the presence of fog) and not to forget a means of communication such as a mobile phone; if it disturbs when it plays, it can be kept silent but at the moment of need it could save a life.
It is advisable to proceed, in the absence of sidewalk, pedestrian area or cycle path, in the opposite direction to the direction of travel, in order to be able to react quickly to a possible oversight of a driver.
Especially for the elderly, it is advisable to avoid exits with high or extremely low temperatures; take water with potassium and magnesium to help prevent dehydration. For all the rest, the rule of "general common sense" always applies.
