Just Walk!

Walking and high-intensity exercise such as intervals and weight training compliment each other to produce an optimal hormonal state in your body. This is important because in order for your body to recover properly, age well, build muscle, and burn fat, it needs the correct balance of stress producing hormones compared to growth promoting hormones. The thought of generating stress producing hormones during exercise sounds counterproductive. However, studies have shown that cortisol, a stress producing hormone, when present with elevated growth hormone levels, drastically increases your body’s fat burning potential. The best way to produce all of these hormones is to workout at high intensities such as metabolic workouts.

 In order to maximize the after burn following your workout, your goal is to maximize the levels of growth hormones while reducing and minimizing the levels of stress hormones. Walking is the perfect tool for lowering cortisol levels. And it gets better. Studies have shown that the effect is magnified when walking takes place at a leisurely pace in a nature setting. We have hundreds of miles of trails here and some of the best views in the world! Walking is the ideal compliment to the high intensity training, but other forms of exercise when done at a leisurely pace are also beneficial. If you prefer, get on a bike or elliptical trainer and go at an easy pace while listening to your favorite music or reading a book. This doesn’t mean that you need to eliminate high intensity cardio sessions from your training, but try to optimize your hormone levels and maximize your results from all your hard training by including walking or leisurely paced efforts as well.

 A fitness program for optimal fat burning and slowed aging would combine high intensity exercise such as metabolic training and interval training with low intensity exercise such as leisure walking. Your high intensity workouts should be challenging and short (40 minutes or less). Your walking or low intensity exercise should be at a relaxed pace that allows easy conversation and should be 30 minutes or more.  So get out there by yourself, or with a buddy, and just walk!