Weight loss: 5 exercise secrets for burning more fat while walking

If you think you don’t exercise at all, there is definitely a form of exercise that you actually do and which you cannot go without.

This underrated and perhaps the simplest exercise is walking. Walking everyday comes with multiple health benefits and it can also help you to lose weight.

However, in order to actually reap all the health benefits and lose weight, you should practice a little intense and focused walking as just roaming around the streets while chatting with your friend will not be very fat-burning.

A study in the Journal of Exercise Nutrition and Biochemistry showed that walk can help burn fat and reduce waist circumference in obese females.

For 12 weeks, the women in the study walked between 50-70 minutes 3 days per week. The researchers found that the participants lost an average of 1.5% body fat and 1.1 inches around their waists.

What’s more, by following certain tricks and techniques, you can effectively do walking to burn lots of calories with each walk.

This is a popular technique you might have noticed several people following if you hit the park for a walk. In this, you start off by walking at a normal pace for about 10 minutes, followed by an intense pace for say, 2 minutes. After this you go back to your regular pace. Power training allows you to burn extra calories, without feeling too exhausted, too soon.

Sometimes, just plain walking can get boring. To make things more interesting and your walking routine more fat burning, incorporate some bodyweight exercises during your walk. You can have one session in the middle of your walk routine or 2-3 spaced out, depending on how long you walk for,

Some exercises you can try are lunges, squats, pushups, kick-backs and high knees. These will increase your heart rate in a healthy way and also help to work those muscles which aren’t much used while walking.i

If there are hills around your place, go climb a hill. If you hit the gym, walk on an inclined treadmill. You can also climb up the stairs at home. The point is to make the walk more challenging and therefore, fat-burning by no longer walking on a flat surface. It will work your glutes and calves muscles, helping you burn lots of calories and tone your legs.

to make walking more challenging is to go up hills. Walking uphill will further activate your glutes and calves, which in turn increases your calorie burn dramatically compared to walking on a flat surface. Practice walking on inclines two to three times a week.

The American Heart Association recommends walking 10,000 steps a day for a healthy heart and a healthy body. Increasing your daily step count will help improve your stamina, thereby allowing you to walk with more energy and burn more calories.

A 2016 study also found that 10,000 steps daily can help you lose weight. You can use a fitness band or a phone app or a smartwatch to track your daily steps. If 10,000 steps is too much for you, start by increasing your count from yesterday and your average steps for the week. In no time, you’ll be able to walk 10,000 steps in the day. Staying active throughout the day for household chores and going for multiple short walks during the day can even help you beat that 10,000 goal.

Another interesting way to increase your calorie burn is by walking with a backpack on your shoulder. If it makes you uncomfortable, you can also walk carrying light dumbbells for a while. The idea is to increase the load you carry which will make your body work harder, and thereby burn more fat. People with back or neck problems should not avoid the backpack. Avoid wearing ankle weights as it can lead to muscle imbalance and injury.