Is Slower Fitness Walking Effective?

[Scorpio6]

Hi Lora.
If you don't have any problem with your hip flexors like I do, you could stand in one place and do kettlebell swings, no walking, and it would be wonderful for your heart rate.

Please consider that. It's fun when you're calmly swinging away to good music of your choice.

[smith938]

have you tried watching virtual active while doing the bike? or putting on some good music and muting a viking dvd? I add my own music and bounce on my rebounder while watching virtual active or youtube hikes.
there are also some chair workouts on youtube- jessica smith has one too but haven't tried them. for toning margaret richard at bodyelectrictv.com has frequent sales and Getting Better she has on a foot cast/boot and the workout is seated or lying down. one move she has her feet on a bench and lifts up but otherwise no pressure on the foot. I love 'running' in the pool too and need to fit that in this summer since my townhomes have a pool

[monterey vidiot]

Chair Dancing! or other seated cardio DVDs.

[bzar]

Originally Posted by horsemom2

Half my workout each morning is sit bouncing to whatever cardio workout is playing on my dvd.

Barb S

i can seriously get my HR up just bouncing up and down. yes, there's momentum in there, but i don't feel any pressure on my feet. it's quite exhilarating too. thanks for the reminder!

i remember the first time i did this - it was doing the fitball workout.

[Sue B]

Originally Posted by FitBoop

This thread made me think of an old Henny Youngman joke: Patient says, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this." Doctor says, "Then don't do that!"

The key to living pain and injury free is listening to your body's signals and not exercising on an injury or other problem. I have listened to my body's signals, have followed the joke's message, and have stayed pain and injury free, while maintaining a high level of fitness all my life.

If I was training someone who told me that walking caused pain and that she had various foot problems, I would find other cardio for her to do, besides walking.

Wise words!

One of my favorite fitness articles of all time is Michael Boyle's Does It Hurt? I didn't know he got the idea from Henny Youngman

I've turned around and left the gym after five minutes because my knee started hurting. It really sucks, but taking care of my body is a much higher priority than beating it into shape.

[horsemom2]

Originally Posted by bzar

i can seriously get my HR up just bouncing up and down. yes, there's momentum in there, but i don't feel any pressure on my feet. it's quite exhilarating too. thanks for the reminder!

i remember the first time i did this - it was doing the fitball workout.

When I first starting working out with TaeBo videos over 15 years ago, Billy Blanks was always suggesting to do his routines while sitting on a chair so I did this with many other cardio routines when a foot or knee whined. One of his regular background exercisers was a young man in a wheel chair.
Then I started sitting on a stability ball even before trying my first rebounder. It is amazing how easy it is to modify the intensity upwards and downwards. Just like I do not need rebounder specific routines, I do not need ball bouncing specific routines. However, the ball must be large enough to protect the knees. I do sparks throughout the day on a stability ball right in front of my laptop hooked up to old pc speakers (got to have my MUsic LOL).

When I experimented with building an aerobic base, learning how to modify upwards and downwards to stay in the right zone became second nature to me. Perceived exertion also became more significant to determine those zones than what HR charts and formulas claimed. Working out longer and lower during that time, definitely enabled a slow weight loss because it did not increase my appetite. It just got boring because I like Endorphin highs LOL

Barb S

[Jane P.]

There are hand cycles that you can buy that sit on a desk or table. You pedal with your hands. They are used by people who can't use their lower limbs for whatever reason. Some are not that expensive. I've seen them in the $30 dollar range. These might be boring as can be, but if you really want to get an aerobic workout and not hurt your feet, it might be something to consider.

If you can stand in one place and do bodyweight squats and lunges etc. at a faster pace, this will raise your heartrate as well.

[summer breeze]

I was going to suggest walking longer if you have to walk slower, but I'm reading that your foot may be worse off than you originally thought so these other suggestions may be more helpful. I'm thinking the Joyce Vedral suggestion sounds really good.

As far as your nutrition, I just want to say I went very low calorie when I initially started losing weight 2 years ago. I was post menopausal at the time and I lost over 40 lbs, much more than my modest goal, and got to a weight and size I haven't been since my early 20s. I was eating good, healthy foods though and controlling portions. I now have upped my calories by about 500 per day and have maintained this weight loss within 2 or 3 lbs either way. My main exercise was/is walking with yoga and barre and lighter weights thrown in here and there. I wasn't working with injuries like you are, but I wasn't doing hardcore workouts by any means. It is definitely about diet for me. Best of luck to you.

[marya]

Originally Posted by horsemom2

Try *walking* while sitting on a chair or a stability ball instead of possibly injuring your foot more and suffering more pain. Half my workout each morning is sit bouncing to whatever cardio workout is playing on my dvd.

Barb S

I second Barb's advice. And you can actually increase your heart rate just with big arm movements, especially overhead.

I improvise my own indoor walk workouts now, to music/rhythms I enjoy. When the rhythm slows, I'll start the big vigorous arm movements, and that keeps my heart rate up (if I so desire). I've noticed this effect in kundalini yoga, too. Torso moves (bounces, side crunches, figure 8s) also increase the heart rate.

A slower walking pace can actually be effective for toning because it allows you to activate your muscles isometrically.

[lorajc]

My foot doc said the Rebounder is too high impact but I've found out that lower impact bouncing does not hurt my foot...only harder bouncing....so I beg to differ with him, walking hurts more than the tramp.