Walking With Ankle Weights

One of the best ways to dramatically restructure the body is by walking with ankle weights. These weights can turn an ordinary activity into a truly challenging workout. While toning your calves, thighs, buttocks, abdominal muscles and backs of the legs, this exercise can even help to boost your metabolism. As you build more muscle, you will burn more fat and calories, making you efforts increasingly more effective each time you set out. Following are several tips on getting optimal results with every stride.

Start Small

While you may be tempted to strap on the heaviest ankle weights that you can find, this will generally not provide the results that most people are seeking. You should first determine the specific physical changes that you wish to create. If your goal is to burn more fat and lose more weight, you may want to opt for smaller weights and a brisker walking pace. This is also the ideal combination for building long, lean muscle as well. Slow heavy strides with lots of weight will usually build more dense muscle. If you want to bulk up fast, more weight will help you to gain tight, compact and even bulging muscles, however, it is best to start with a moderate amount of weight and then slowly build your endurance and strength. This will enable you to avoid stressing your muscles or causing other forms of injury.

You will also want to select ankle weights and a pace that are appropriately challenging. Some people simply put ankle weights on and then walk at a normal stride, expecting amazing and rapid change. If you really want your workouts to work, however, you are going to have to expend a fair amount of energy. Your walks should significantly increase your heart rate, promote more rapid breathing and even cause you to perspire. You should walk at a consistent pace for at least twenty minutes per day, three or more days per week in order to start seeing visible and continual change.

Tips On Avoiding Injury

With any form of exercise, it is always important to properly stretch and warm up the body. Walking with ankle weights is certainly no different. This challenging activity will apply extra stress and will ultimately force each one of your leg muscles to work harder than normal. Failing to warm-up the legs and to stretch the various affected muscle groups thoroughly before getting started can result in discomfort and even injury.

It is best to start your walk without the ankle weights in place. You can take a brisk, five minute walk in place or a short jog around the block. Once your heart rate has seen a marked increased and your body begins to feel warm, you can stop and stretch. After your muscles have been loosened and lengthened, you can apply the ankle weights and begin your training.

Get The Most Out Of Walking With Ankle Weights By Engaging Your Abs

Surprisingly, in addition to your lower body, your core or abdominal muscles will get a tremendous workout as well when you are walking with ankle weights. This is especially the case when you work hard to maintain the proper form. While performing this activity you should focus on pulling and holding your abdominal muscles in. Thus engaged, they will help your body to do the necessary work by ensuring that you have good balance and proper posture. One of the best ways to keep the stomach muscles engaged is by imagining that a string is attached to the inside of your belly button and being firmly from behind you.

Get The Right Shoes

It is vital to have the right shoes for this activity. The best footwear selections will have adequate arch support and inner padding. Your shoes should be well-ventilated, and flexible enough to allow the ball of the foot to have a moderate range of motion. This is thought to prevent the development of plantar fasciitis which is commonly associated with heel spur.

The best shoes will additionally have good shock absorption. In addition to your normal body weight, your joints will be subject to the additional weight that you have chosen. With all of these features in your walking shoe, you can get a great workout without having to worry about after-pains.

Drink Plenty Of Water

While a brisk walk is certainly not as challenging to the cardio vascular system as a fast run, it will definitely fatigue the affected muscle groups when you walk while bearing additional weight. When this happens, the body can begin to produce and store lactic acid in the muscles, which will ultimately cause pain for some time after the workout. A properly hydrated body is more adept at clearing lactic acid out than one that is not. This means that drinking lots of water will help you to feel less sore after a good workout and much more rapidly as well.

Incorporate Your Arms

Getting a good swing with your arms is essential for making the most of this whole-body exercise. The alternate arm and leg patterns that are created by a determined walk are not only good for the body, but are thought to be good exercise for the brain as well. If you really want to increase the intensity of your workout, start adding arm weights when you are ready for more challenge. Again, the opposite arm and leg movements will have their benefits as they help to trim and tone the waist and lower abdominal muscles. As with the weights on your ankles, it is important to start with relatively small hand weights. As your endurance increases and your skill improves you can add more weight and walk at faster speeds.

Walking with ankle weights is a great way to add some additional benefit to your walking exercises.