Make your athletic walking technique perfect.
Many people start walking without thinking about the correct form of walking. But your posture, leg movement, gait, and use of hand movements greatly affect your walking speed and ability to walk energetically.
Learning the correct posture when walking will help you breathe deeper, relax your shoulders and neck and avoid back and hip pain. Using the movements of the right arm and leg, you will move forward with force and without unnecessary effort. You will use the same walking technique whether you are walking on a sidewalk, a walkway, or a treadmill.How to walk properly
The following aspects of proper walking are discussed below and include:
Walking posture: straight hips, no slouching
Arm movement: bent elbows and natural hand turn
Foot movement: Roll from heel to toe
Step when walking: push off with your hind leg, do not step over
Walking posture
Posture is the first step to comfort and energy when walking. Good walking posture allows you to take full breaths, engage the core muscles and use the muscles of the legs and buttocks for a natural step when walking. It is also an antidote to the slouching that people get used to at work and when using a mobile phone.
Improper walking posture can contribute to pain after walking, while proper walking posture can alleviate them. At the beginning of each walk, take a few seconds to adopt a walking posture.
Steps for excellent Walking posture
Stand up straight, legs together at a comfortable distance from each other. The toes should be pointed forward, but a small angle is acceptable.
Imagine a straight line that touches your neck, spine and buttocks. Keep this posture.
Engage the main muscles. This will help maintain proper posture while walking.
Maintain a neutral pelvis without tilting your hips forward or backward to ensure natural curves of the spine.
Focus your gaze at a distance of 3-6 m in front of you. Your head will follow where your eyes are looking.
Keep your chin parallel to the ground. You've probably already fixed this by looking in front of you, but take a minute to make sure your chin isn't tilted either up or down. Walking with your head down (say, when you check your phone) creates tension in the upper body and puts strain on the neck, as well as pulling the neck back. Also, be sure to pay attention to the wonderful scenery around you.
Straighten your shoulders and relax them by slightly pulling them back. This will help relieve the tension that so many people are carrying on our shoulders. This will also set your position for using hand movement. Now you have the right posture to start walking.
Hand movement
Purposeful movement of the arms can give your gait strength and balance the movement of the legs. Usually the speed increases when you add hand movement.
In popular culture, you can see many bad examples of "high-speed" hand movement, when the hands are raised high in the air, cross the body or stretch out. Such a movement of the hands can interfere with you.
Steps for proper Hand movement when Walking
Bend your elbows 90 degrees.
Partially close your hands, but do not squeeze them.
With each step, the arm opposite your front leg moves straight forward, not diagonally.
When the front leg comes back, the opposite arm comes back.
Keep your elbows close to your body; don't do a "chicken wing" (waving your elbows).
Your front arm should not cross the center point of your body.
When you walk forward, your arm should be lowered, no higher than your chest.
If you feel that adding arm movements is tiring, do it for 5-10 minutes at a time, and then relax your arms and swing them naturally to the sides.
Foot movement
A step when walking is a swinging motion. Flexible shoes ensure that you can walk correctly. If your feet are slapping rather than rolling over the foot, your shoes may be too stiff.
Correct movement when walking step
Put your heel on the ground first.
Roll over a step from heel to toe.
Push off with your toes.
Move your back foot forward to put the heel back on.
At first, your lower leg muscles may get tired and sore until they strengthen. This is natural when you first start walking for fitness or when you change your foot movement, step or shoes.
The right step
Pushing off with the back foot is the key to powerful and fast walking. Unfortunately, many people acquire the bad habit of stepping over — to take a bigger step forward. This creates an additional load on the joints of the lower leg and does not give your step strength. Ask a friend to observe your gait to see if you have gone too far with a step forward.
Practice your step
When you walk with the correct posture and roll from heel to toe, focus on keeping your back foot on the ground longer and pushing off well. Think about making your step ahead shorter.
When you get comfortable with this new walking model, you will be able to increase your speed by taking more steps.
Increase the step back
First, focus on shortening your forward stride. Then, if you want, you can also lengthen your step back to increase the power and efficiency of your step. Your front leg should stand closer to your body. You won't gain anything if you move further forward with your foot.
Think about keeping your back foot on the ground longer and pushing off well to increase your stride strength.
