How to Stay Motivated to Walk
There are many benefits to walking every day! From increased mood and energy to weight management and reduced depression and anxiety, walking is a great way to stay on top of your health goals. However, wanting to walk and actually walking are two different things. If you are struggling with sticking to your walking habit, here are the best tips to help you stay committed and find your walking motivation!
Is Walking a Good Exercise?
Yes! Walking is great exercise! Walking for at least 30 minutes a day is linked to many health benefits, such as:
- Increased mood
- Reduced depression and anxiety
- Increased energy
- Lowers bad cholesterol LDL
- Raises good cholesterol HDL
- Lowers Blood Pressure
- Reduced risk of cancer
- Reduced risk of type 2 diabetes
- Reduces stress
- Helps maintain strong bones
Is Walking Cardio Exercise?
The short answer- both yes and no! There are two different types of walking: walking doing daily activities and walking purposely for exercise. In order for your walk to be considered cardio, you must walk at a fast enough pace to get your heart rate up. This is usually at a pace of at least 3 miles per hour if you are just starting out and 4 to 4.5 if you are already pretty active. The whole point is to make sure your heart is beating fast and pumping, which allows the blood rich in oxygen to move more easily throughout your body. If you are in doubt, you can gauge it by how easily you can talk during your walk! If you find that you can easily carry on a conversation, it is not brisk enough to be considered cardio. However, if you are struggling to talk without sounding winded, this is about the level you need to be at if your goal is walking for cardio benefits.
Related: Maintain These 7 Ab Workouts to Get 11 Line Abs ASAP
How to Stay Motivated to Walk
Set Daily Steps Goal
One of the best ways to stay committed to your walking plan and find walking motivation is to have a step goal! Step goals hold you accountable for your daily activity and will help you see how active you are on average. Start by counting your Steps (with an Apple watch or Fitbit).
If you are getting less than 5000 steps a day, you are considered sedentary. Sedentary individuals are at risk for more health issues than their active counterparts. Even raising your activity level a little will have so many health benefits. If you are not active at all, we recommend starting out with a step goal of around 7,000 and working your way up to 10,000 or more!
Get Yourself Awesome Sport Clothes
You finally have a great excuse to go shopping! If you need walking motivation, buy comfortable, well-fitting workout clothes that make you feel like a million bucks! It’s all about psychology. If you look your best, you will want to feel your best, too. This also works as visualization motivation if you have certain body goals you are trying to achieve! If you wear clothes that make you feel confident, it will encourage you to keep going to feel even more confident in the clothes you are sporting. This is opposed to wearing clothes that don’t make you feel good about yourself, which could have the opposite effect and leave you feeling defeated. You can find super cute sports clothes online on Amazon, as well as other popular sports stores like Fabletics! We love these Oasis PureLuxe high-waisted leggings! They are so comfortable and oh-so flattering! If you’re looking for a great sports bra, this Ruched Sports Bra from Gymshark is super popular!
Buy Walking Shoes
This is another big one! Having a pair of comfortable walking shoes that fit well and don’t hurt your feet after 10 minutes is a must! Not only will it help you from being miserable on your walks, but a good pair of shoes will also help your overall posture and keep your bones and ligaments in good health. You also need to be sure you are wearing the right type of walking shoes for the conditions you are walking in. If you are going to be walking on trails or other areas where you may come in contact with puddles or moisture, a pair of waterproof shoes like these Nike Pegasus Trail 4 GORE-TEX is a great option! We also love these Adidas Cloudfoam Pure Shoes because they are super comfortable and versatile!
Listen to Music
Music is a great way to not only motivate you for your walk but also to make the time go by faster! Not only that, but you can choose your playlist based on your mood or walking intensity! Some songs flow perfectly with the fast pace of your steps, while others do a better job of playing on your emotions and helping take your mind off of running!
Other songs are made specifically to be motivational and may just be what you need toward the end of your walk when you’re trying to push through until the end! Spotify has tons of workout playlists to choose from, or you can create your own! You also need to think about how you are going to listen to your music! You need them to be comfortable, and most people prefer cordless for their ease of use. If you prefer earbuds, Apple AirPods are unmatchable in terms of quality and sound! However, if you don’t like things in your ears, you may opt for a pair of cordless headphones like these Beats Solo 3’s!
Listen to Podcasts You Like
If you love to listen to podcasts, this is another great tool for walking motivation! Simply tune in to the latest episode or find a later episode that matches the amount of time you plan to walk! If you are new to podcasts, there are many to choose from! They have a podcast for everything from true crime to self-help and health and fitness! Many people find listening to self-help or health and fitness podcasts keeps them focused on their goals and why they are walking to begin with.
Related: 7 Days Anti-Inflammatory Diet Meal Plan
Make Calls With Friends/Work When You’re Walking
This one may not be for everyone, depending on how fast you need to walk! If you are at a pace that you are able to talk but just get a little out of breath, try calling a friend to catch up while you walk! This will help the time fly by! If you want to kill two birds with one stone, you can try making work calls or catching up with correspondence, too!
Walk With a Friend
Do you have a friend that walks already or wants to start? Why not plan to walk together? This is a great way to have an accountability buddy and help hold each other accountable for your progress. Another great idea is to compete with your friend to reach the steps goals! You could say, “Whoever reaches their step goal first today gets to pick the appetizer at dinner tonight” or something similar! This will help you both stay on track while adding a little bit of fun to the mix. You can even download an app like Social Steps that allows you to see your steps along with your friend’s steps.
Write Down Your “Why”
Last but not least, writing down your “Why” can be a great tactic to keep you on top of your walking motivation. People decide to raise their activity level and start walking more for many different reasons, so journaling your journey is a great way to remind yourself why you started continuously! You can write it on Post-it notes and post it to your fridge and different places around your house, like your bathroom mirror or your closet!
What to do When It’s Raining
Whether you live in an area that rains a lot or you have pretty nice weather most of the time, bad weather is inevitable anywhere you are! It’s best to be prepared for situations like this and know your options! If it’s only a light drizzle, you can throw on a rain jacket and go on your walk anyway.
However, if there is a downpour or are serious weather conditions with thunder and lightning, you will definitely need an indoor option. We recommend swinging for a treadmill or stair stepper if you have room for it! This makes it easy to just replace your walk in the comfort of your own home without having to go out anywhere. You may be wondering what the best walk exercise equipment is, and the answer is simple!
The best walk exercise equipment is what works for you! If you are looking for the best overall treadmill, we recommend this one! It has an incline feature so you can push yourself with the addition of hills, and it has a unique space-saver design that allows you to fold it up and out of the way when you are done!
If you work from home, we recommend an under-desk treadmill like this one! It easily slides under your desk so you can walk and work at the same time.
How Much to Walk Daily to Lose Weight?
Get to at least 10,000 steps a day to lose weight! Make sure you are tracking your steps and make your step goal the biggest priority! When aiming to lose weight, people often overlook their overall daily activity, and it is by far the most important part of weight loss, aside from your nutrition. Make sure to keep yourself moving, even non-exercise activity will do wonders for your weight loss goal. You should also ensure you are eating less than you are burning and eating a high-protein diet to ensure the weight you are losing is fat instead of water and muscle.
Related: How To Eat a Salad Every Day and Like It
Best Walking Motivation Quotes
