When I first started exercising after I graduated high school, I chose walking because I wanted to lose weight, and cardio is the best way to achieve that goal, but it was very short-lived. I was forcing my body to do way too much cardio than I needed, which caused me to have a lot of pain that took years to recover from and eventually led to burnout. I stopped doing cardio workouts for several years because I was afraid of that pain coming back and developed a fear of it. Recently, I decided I was going to overcome that fear and start doing it again with slightly different approach because it’s so good for you. I do not walk nearly as much as I did when I started and most certainly am not increasing the distance of my walk every single day like I was because that is what got me injured. It was too much for my disabled body and I had to make changes because of my disability to make it sustainable. People sometimes say that walking is not exercise, but I disagree because if you walk fast enough or add resistance, you can get a great workout from walking. I don’t walk much, because I haven’t built up my endurance to walk for very long, but it has improved my health in more ways than I ever thought it would. What happens when you start walking more? In this post, I am going to talk about positive changes I noticed when I started walking more.
I have more energy– I live with chronic pain because of endometriosis and struggle with a lot of fatigue and am not able to push myself as hard as someone without chronic pain can without burning myself out. My cardio workouts have not cured my fatigue because nothing will, but I have noticed that I do have a little more energy when I move by body as much as I can. I struggled with bad fatigue for a very long time and thought my pain was to blame, but soon realized that a lot of my fatigue was because I wasn’t doing moving enough. I do three short walks a day that are a little over twenty minutes, and it has given me so much more energy. Walking is a great low-impact form of exercise and is one of the only ways I can get a great cardio workout. You don’t always have to do high-impact cardio to improve your health and all you have to do is go for a ten-minute walk.
I actually look forward to it– If you had told me a few years ago that I would one day be doing daily walks and look forward to it, I would have laughed at you because i have never enjoyed cardio. I probably would have said something along the lines of “that’s not possible, and you only do cardio because it’s good for your heart, but you don’t enjoy it.” When I started walking consistently last November, I hated it because I was out of shape and it was hard, but the more consistent I was, the less I hated it. I never thought liking cardio workouts was ever going to be a reality for me, and I think what made the biggest difference is the way I approached my workouts. Before I do a walk, I never say that this is going to be a terrible workout because when I do that, I don’t perform as well. My cardio workouts are not about how many calories I burn, and I turn it into a competition I have with myself to make fitness fun. I look forward to my cardio workouts and don’t usually skip them unless it’s rest day or I am not feeling week. Walks for me is an opportunity to listen to my favorite music or podcast so what’s not to love?
I started paying more attention to my nutrition. When you start doing more exercise, the last thing you ever want to do is undo your progress by not fueling your body properly. I was raised to eat healthy and have always prioritized healthy eating, but since I started walking more, I think more about my nutrition because I don’t want bad nutrition to affect my workouts. I pay more attention to the foods I eat and try to eat in a way that is going to fuel my workouts, and you won’t find me eating brownies multiple times a day because that negatively affects my performance. Nutrition plays a major role in your fitness progress and I have found that I think more about my nutrition than I ever have because when I have more energy I can exercise at a higher intensity.
It helps me build muscle faster– I started walking because my goal has always been to as much build muscle as possible which you will achieve when you prioritize strength training, but it can be difficult when you skip cardio. Strength training has always been my main form of exercise because you build more muscle in a strength session than you do in a cardio workout, but both are important for muscle growth. There are not a lot of ways that I can get a good cardio workout without using both my arms and legs because I walk with crutches and have a little more of an added strength training benefit than most people. I have not stopped my strength workout because strength training helps you get faster speeds, and walking doesn’t challenge my arms like strength training does. Walking after a strength session is rough, but if you want to improve your endurance and lift heavier, it’s so important you don’t skip cardio.
My hip and knee pain lessened- In 2020 I had hip replacement surgery on my right hip and at some point, may need to consider a second hip replacement. Hip replacement surgery is something I will have repeated if I have to, but is something I try to avoid at all costs because it’s a painful surgery that takes years to recover from. One of the main reasons I started exercising more is that I started experiencing mild hip and knee pain in my other leg and was concerned I’d need a second hip replacement sooner rather than later. Walking did not take away the pain entirely, and I still may need to do something about it later, but it did improve it, so nothing needs to be done immediately. You cannot always avoid hip replacement surgery because you can’t change your disability, but you can lessen the likelihood of needing one by exercising consistently.
People sometimes will over-complicate fitness and think you have to do super hard workouts to improve your health but never estimate the power of going on a walk and lifting some weights. Walking can improve your health, and if you think it’s too easy, try picking up the pace, adding resistance, or walking for a longer period of time. Never underestimate the power of a walk because you don’t need to always be doing high-impact workouts to improve your fitness, and some people shouldn’t be doing high-impact workouts. Daily walking has given me so many health benefits and I have a lower resting heart, more mobility and I am not going to go back anytime soon. Some people are not going to enjoy exercise and that is okay, but you should make it part of your routine if you can because not liking it is not a good reason to skip it. You can do the hardest workout in the gym if you want to but it’s not necessary because you can get great benefits from low-impact workouts. I personally prefer low-impact workouts because it doesn’t increase your hunger like some of the higher impact workouts do. What benefits have you gotten from daily walking? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
New posts are shared most Tuesdays and Thursdays. Subscribe to my blog’s email list to be notified when a new post is published. Emails are always kept confidential and are never shared with anyone, but most importantly, I will never spam you!
My Rockin Disabled Life 