Fun ways to walk more!

Tips to keep you on the track

With walking, once you’re hooked, you’re hooked! You’ll start feeling the lifestyle of exploration and adventure, the health benefits, and the change in your mood and you won’t be able to stop. 

But you’ve got to get there first…

Don’t feel bad though! Even the most seasoned walkers sometimes need to change things up to keep it fresh. 

Here is our list of walking tips you can implement into your routine to keep you out on the track and make walking fun.

Set goals & track your progress 

You can’t stick to your goals unless you set goals in the first place. No matter what stage you’re at in your walking journey, it’s never a bad idea to take stock of where you are and adjust what you’d like to achieve accordingly. If you’re just starting out, do this first! A good rule of thumb is to aim for 10,000 steps a day, but you can adjust this depending on your mobility, fitness level or lifestyle.

Once you have these goals in place, you’re going to want to monitor your progress. Fortunately, modern-day technology has made this REALLY easy to accomplish. In fact, you’re probably doing it already without you knowing. Most Smartphones have a fitness app built in, which has been monitoring your steps since the day you got it. 

Other than that, we can highly recommend getting a smartwatch! Smart watches will give you nudges to walk (to an almost infuriating level) and you’ll be easily able to track your walks in more depth. 

Make it a habit! 

Without a doubt, the best way to ensure you’re walking consistently… is to walk consistently. 

Endeavour to make your walk part of your routine. Wake yourself up with a morning walk, finish the day with a sunset walk, take a 5-minute walk at lunch. However you want to do it is fine, just do it consistently. 

Dr. Maxwell Maltz in his book Psycho-Cybernetics stated that any new habit takes 21 days to form. In less than a month you could become a healthy person who goes for morning walks!

Don’t be too hard on yourself

Making changes is hard! If you’ve set yourself up with big illustrious goals and fallen short, don’t worry, this happens to everyone! Dust yourself off and try again. 

Missing one of your daily walks isn’t great, missing it tomorrow because you still feel bad about today is worse. 

If you start to fall off the wagon, don’t feel bad. Just remember why it is that you’re doing it. If you’re finding it really difficult, change it up a bit! We’ve got some tips in the next section that might help you with that. 

“It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” - Rocky Balboa

Have fun with it! 

If your walk has become more of a monotonous march then chances are, without a Drill Sergeant in your corner, you’ll stop marching soon. Even if you’ve followed our advice in section 2 and walking is now a habit. If you walk the same path, at the same time, seeing the same things and same people day after day, you’ll be over it soon. 

Keep it fresh, mix it up! The best thing about walking is just how versatile it is. You can literally walk just about anywhere, and you should! 

Here are some tips on how to add some spice to your walks:

1. Change your walk - Don’t walk the same path every day. Even if that’s clearly the best route you have available. Every now and then throw a spanner in the works and take the route less travelled. 
2. Get your friends involved 
   

   Your afternoon stroll around the park is actually one of the best times you can catch up with old friends. Especially if you treat yourself with a coffee after. Having friends striving for the same goals as you keeps you accountable, and gives you someone to talk to while you’re doing it. 

   If you’re the competitive type, lean into it. The majority of fitness apps and technology will have social challenge features. Think you’re the Walkmaster General of your group? Prove it! 

   Don’t have any friends? (We struggle to believe it, but okay) Download Stepbet! This app will have you betting real money against thousands of strangers in walking challenges.

3. Gamify it
   

   The year was 2016 and a new game was released that changed the entire world!

   …For about 2 months. 

   The game was Pokemon Go, and for those 2 GLORIOUS months the world was our playground. If you didn’t play, Pokemon Go is an app that works through Augmented Reality and Geolocations. You would walk the streets to find different Pokemon, and it took the world by storm. 

   While it’s not quite as “cool” anymore, it’s still a great thing you can do on the side of your walks. 

   If Pokemon isn’t your thing, they have since released almost the exact same game for Jurassic World & Harry Potter. (Update, the Harry Potter one no longer exists and we think that’s kind of Riddikulus) 

   Alternative: Prepare for the inevitable zombie apocalypse 

   The Zombie Apocalypse is coming… will you be ready? If the answer to that was a resounding no, we’ve got you. 

   In what is one of the stranger suggestions on this list Zombies, run! Is an app that simulates a Zombie hellscape. After all, nothing is going to get you going like a zombie chasing you.

   Through your headphones, you run through an award-winning story jam-packed with over 200 missions! The app tracks your location so you can collect supplies and build up your base. 

   The best bit? Every now and then you’ll hear them… the zombies. When that happens you’ll have to speed up to escape! 

   This app was designed for runners, but works just as well for us walkers too! 

4. Give back

   If you’re internally motivated to keep walking for the health benefits and better lifestyle, good on you! However, for lots of us, this is far easier said than done. So why not get some external motivation too. Don’t just make yourself a better (healthier) person, make the world a better place!

   Once you start looking you’ll see that fun runs (but you can walk) for charity are EVERYWHERE. Take one of these up and you’ll be accountable to stick to it, and you can contribute to a great cause at the same time. 

   Otherwise, why not consider volunteering for an animal shelter? Our 4-legged, fluffy friends could always use another person to take them out for walks. Normally animal shelters will require you to do an induction and some training. But after that, you’re good to go! 

5. Geocaching

   This is one of the more obscure ones, but is a lot of fun! Geocaching is basically GPS treasure hunting. People leave hide & seek containers in hidden locations around the world. They’ll usually include a logbook (so you can say you’ve found it) and a trinket trade. 

   Look into it, it’s way more popular than you’d think! 

6. Multitask

These days everyone is a mile a minute. But unfortunately, those miles don’t usually include ones you’re walking. 

Why not use your time spent walking doing other things too? Catch up on your favourite podcast or listen to an Audiobook!

If you’re going down the Audiobook path, we recommend starting off with Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement by Katy Bowman. This book is really clever and was actually designed to be listened to while walking. In fact, each chapter starts with the mileage you’re meant to cover in that section! 

Or, if you have the authority, make your next meeting at work a walking meeting. Studies show that meetings on the go are great for creativity. 

Walking really doesn’t have to be a chore. If you do it right, it can become one of the most rewarding and fulfilling aspects of your life! 

 

If you want to get back on track and walk up an absolute storm, then you’re going to want to gear up properly first. Head over to Vitasole to grab a pair of walking shoes suited to how you want to walk.