Pre-Walk Warm-Up Routine

Pre-Walk Warm-Up Routine

Before you start walking, it is important to warm up first. Increasing the temperature in your muscles and joints and increasing blood flow will make you more comfortable when you exercise and reduce the risk of injury.

Mark Fenton has developed a few easy warm-up moves that target the muscles you use most during walking. You can do them all in a standing position and the entire routine should take only three minutes.

1. Ankle circles. Standing on one foot, lift the other leg off the ground in front of you. Slowly flex that ankle through its full range of motion, making circles with the toes. Do 6 to 8 circles then reverse the direction of your circle and do 6 to 8 more. Switch feet and repeat.
2. Leg swings. Standing on one leg, swing the other leg loosely from the hip in a front to back motion. Keep it relaxed and unforced like the swinging of a pendulum. Your foot should swing no higher than a foot or so off the ground. Do 15 to 20 swings on each leg.
3. Figure-8 leg swings. Just like the leg swings above, swing one leg from the hip in a front to back motion, but this time, trace a figure-8 with your leg. Your leg should trace a circle in front of the body and another circle behind. Do 15 to 20 swings on each leg.
4. Pelvic loops. Stand with your hands on your hips, your knees gently bent, and your feet hip-width apart. Keep your body upright and make 10 slow, continuous circles with your hips, pushing them gently forward, to the left, back and to the right. Then reverse directions and repeat.
5. Arm circles. Hold both arms straight out to your sides, making yourself into the letter T. Make 10 to 12 slow backward circles with your hands, starting small and finishing with large circles, using your entire arm. Shake out your arms, then repeat with 10 to 12 forward circles.
6. Hula-hoop jumps. Begin hopping in place on both feet. Keep your head and shoulders facing forward, and begin to twist your feet and lower body left, then right, going back and forth on successive hops, 20 times.

Getting rid of belly fat requires cardiovascular exercise such as walking. Although there's no way to target the fat in your belly while exercising, walking to lose weight burns fat throughout your body, including your stomach area. Combined with a low-calorie diet, walking can help you lose inches and tone your muscles to make your belly flatter.

Benefits of Walking

Cardiovascular exercise, such as brisk walking, gets more blood flowing to your muscles to bring the oxygen they need to perform. This gets your circulatory system to perform at peak efficiency, helping lower blood pressure. It encourages full-body weight loss by burning calories and building muscle; the more muscle you have, the faster you can burn fat. Unlike an expensive gym membership, walking is free and offers a variety of intensity options. Always ask your doctor about your exercise plans if you're just getting started.

Burning Calories

Walking is just part of the fat-loss battle. To lose fat, you must eat a low-calorie, balanced diet that includes whole grains, low-fat dairy, lean meats and plenty of fruits and vegetables. Burning more calories than you consume is the trick to losing weight in your belly and throughout your body, so exercise and diet must work together to lose fat.

How It Works

In addition to burning fat, walking helps you tone your abdominal muscles to make your belly look smaller and tighter. Your stomach muscles help stabilize your pelvis and back as you walk, so they are working with every step you take. You must burn 3,500 calories more than you consume to lose a pound, and a 160-pound person walking at a moderate pace -- 2 mph -- can burn 204 calories in an hour.

Modifications

If 204 calories in an hour isn't enough for you, increase the calorie burn in the same amount of time by walking faster; at 3.5 mph, you burn 314 calories. Taking a hilly route not only makes your body work harder, which burns calories faster, it also helps tone your abdominal muscles by changing the angle you lift your legs. Interval training can also help; do high knee lifts or power walking for 30 seconds, then regular brisk walking for two minutes, then repeat. Walking up a few flights of stairs also can increase the intensity of your walk, and the knee lifts help tone your abdominal muscles.