Is walking 30 minutes a day enough to be healthy and muscular? Westend61/Getty Images
Walking is as good for the body as it is for the mind. But is 30 minutes of exercise a day enough to be healthy and toned? The answers of two specialists.
Instead of crowded subway trains or endless traffic jams on the road, many people choose to walk for their daily journeys. Popular for its mental benefits, it also allows you to combat a sedentary lifestyle and allow yourself a moment of physical activity. But is walking half an hour a day enough to be healthy and build muscle? Answers of sports doctor and sports coach.
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Not enough exercise to build muscle
To increase muscle mass, both experts agree that just walking for 30 minutes every day is not enough. “It’s too gentle an exercise that doesn’t create enough resistance to stimulate noticeable muscle growth,” comments sports doctor Victoria Tchaikovsky. What’s problematic, “from an aesthetic point of view, we need to have toned muscles to improve our posture and thus prevent back pain, relieve pressure on the joints, and also thicken the bone of the system,” he explains.
Healthy activity
On the other hand, exercise is good for our health because of its cardiovascular benefits. But provided you respect certain rules. Sports doctor Victoria Tchaikovsky recommends focusing on one long walk during the day instead of several shorter ones. “By walking under about 10 minutes, we’re not working on endurance, and the cardiovascular system isn’t really stressed.” Walking fast is also important for training the heart. “by increasing our pace to the point of breathlessness, we are oxygenating our body more. After all, with regular practice, it will help reduce our tension, stress and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
A practice to activate…
If you want your daily 30 minutes of walking to strengthen your figure, you need to activate the session. Julie Pujols-Benoit, a sports trainer, recommends, for example, to prefer routes with changes in height and stairs to tone the leg muscles and glutes. To strengthen the abdominal muscles, it also invites you to contract the muscles of the perineum and abdomen, pull in your navel and walk as straight as possible. “I also suggest taking advantage of our walks to work on your breathing using cardio. For example, we count 5 steps while inhaling and 5 while exhaling. This allows you to relax, better control your breathing and gently exercise your heart.”
To complete this routine and go further, muscle strengthening sessions should be scheduled in parallel, two or three times a week. Julie Pujols-Benoit suggests, for example, doing Pilates, gymnastics or weight training. According to the sports coach, after the age of 30, the need to strengthen the muscle mass becomes even more important. “muscle loss begins at this point, and our muscles naturally atrophy if we don’t stimulate them.”
Source: Le Figaro
