The Walking Challenge Recap Over the past month, we have been sharing ideas on getting outdoors and walking every day. Our intention with this Walking Challenge is to allow the nature of moving your body well to help you get in better shape and, therefore, better health.
Daily walking has been a part of my fitness practice for the past few years, and we simply find it one of the best ways to get out in nature, enjoy the neighbourhood while we move well. We wanted to share the absolute joy of walking as a way to inspire you to move well each day for your best life. What we know for sure is that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. In case you missed the walking challenge here is what we shared in July. Announcing The 21 Day Walking Challenge For Your Best Fit Life https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/announcing-the-21-day-walking-challenge-for-your-best-fit-life Today We Discuss What Is Best To Wear During Your Walks https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/today-we-discuss-what-is-best-to-wear-during-your-walks Walking Challenge Tip For Day 3- Practice Tracking Your Steps https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/walking-challenge-tip-for-day-3-practice-tracking-your-steps Walking Tip Day 4 - Bring Water With You On Your Daily Walk https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/walking-tip-day-4-bring-water-with-you-on-your-daily-walk Walk In Peace Or Be Entertained. It's Personal - Walking Tip Day 5 https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/walk-in-peace-or-be-entertained-its-personal-walking-tip-day-5 Use The Power Of Your Journal To Share Your Walking Experience https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/use-the-power-of-your-journal-to-share-your-walking-experience Walking Challenge Tip - Why Do You Want To Take Your Walk Outdoors? https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/walking-challenge-tip-why-do-you-want-to-take-your-walk-outdoors How To Increase Your Walking Speed Today Tip https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/how-to-increase-your-walking-speed-today-tip Today's Walking Challenge Is For You To Walk At An Incline? https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/todays-walking-challenge-is-for-you-to-walk-at-an-incline Walk With A Friend Each Day For Your Best Fit & Healthy Life https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/walk-with-a-friend-each-day-for-your-best-fit-healthy-life Walking Challenge Journaling Tip Part Two - Write About Your Experience So Far https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/walking-challenge-journaling-tip-part-two-write-about-your-experience-so-far Is It Important To Focus on the Right Walking Posture? We Say Yes! https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/is-it-important-to-focus-on-the-right-walking-posture-we-say-yes Walking Challenge Tip - Push Yourself Today with More Steps in Less Time https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/walking-challenge-tip-push-yourself-today-with-more-steps-in-less-time Enjoy A New Path Today On Your Daily Walk https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/enjoy-a-new-path-today-on-your-daily-walk The Power of Mindful Walking For Your Best Walk Today https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/the-power-of-mindful-walking-for-your-best-walk-today Let The Practice of Walking Help Reduce Stress https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/let-the-practice-of-walking-help-reduce-stress Your Final Walking Challenge Tip - Write What You Have Learned This Month https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/your-final-walking-challenge-tip-write-what-you-have-learned-this-month You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Has the practice of walking daily become a habit for you? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Enjoy your walk today! Stay in touch with us through our newsletter We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB
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Write Your Final Journal Entry – What You Have Learned During This Challenge Today is the last day of the walking challenge. Our intention with this Walking Challenge is to allow the nature of moving your body well to help you get in better shape and, therefore, better health. Today’s topic is Your Final Walking Challenge Tip - Write What You Have Learned This Month Daily walking has been a part of my fitness practice for the past few years, and we simply find it one of the best ways to get out in nature, enjoy the neighbourhood while we move well. How has the walking challenge been going so far? “Thoughts come clearly while one walks” – Thomas Mann What we know for sure is that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. Here is what your walk will be like today: Your Walk Today: You are going to push yourself today with a 45 Minute Walk Today’s Tip: Write Your Final Journal Entry – What You Have Learned During This Challenge By now, you are an expert in journaling AND walking. Today’s journal entry is going to be super easy, and we recommend writing it after your 45-minute walk of the challenge. This walking challenge was designed for beginners who either are out of shape or are new to walking for exercise. It went slow because we wanted it to be appropriate for everyone, no matter their fitness level. In just 3 weeks, you went from walking 15 minutes a day to 45 minutes a day! That is amazing progress, and no matter where you go from here, you must be very proud. For today’s journal entry, write about what you learned throughout this walking challenge. This might be something you learned about walking, about your habits or practices, about your ability (or struggles) sticking to a challenge, your mindset and anything you learned about yourself.
Enjoy today’s 45-minute walk, then come home and write your final journal entry! We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Enjoy your walk today! Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Walk To Relieve Stress Our focus for the Walking Challenge is to allow the nature of moving your body well to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. Today’s topic is Let The Practice of Walking Help Reduce Stress. Emotional stress can put a large toll on your mind and body. People often don’t realize how much stress can affect everything from their mental health to the food choices they make, their digestion, and their overall health. It is important to be aware of the stress you are living with. Once you realize the stress, take a breath and without adding more stress, decide what options you have within you to reduce it and walking might be one of the options for you. Your Walk Today: 36 Minutes Today’s Tip: Relieve Stress Check Out Some Possible Options To Relieve Stress By Walking Walk More Outdoors During the walking challenge, we have discussed walking outdoors and today we simply want to remind you to practice getting outdoors for your daily walk to help you enjoy the benefits of reducing stress. This can be going on a hike, walking by the beach or around a local lake, taking your dogs for a walk in your neighbourhood, or walking to a nearby festival or farmer’s market. Just get outside and do some walking. In 2018, I walked about 3 million steps in 12 months and most of those steps were outside. Getting outside is a great thing to do for your mind, body and soul. Walking outdoors will help improve your mood and this alone helps reduce stress and if you can walk in the morning it not only feels good, but it helps with your sleep at night. “Research shows that regular walking actually modifies your nervous system so much that you’ll experience a decrease in anger and hostility,” she says, especially when you're going for a stroll through some greenery or soaking in a bit of sunlight. This can be particularly helpful during the colder months when seasonal depression spikes. (source: Here ) Take it Easy Use walking as a form of self-care and a way to relax, not as your main form of fitness. If your walking routine is a rigorous speed-walking workout, it isn’t going to help you relax much. People often become almost obsessed with their fitness routine early on, even if they are just walking. This can lead to many unnecessary challenges you might not want to experience, like walking longer and harder than you intended, and instead of helping with your stress, making it worse. I noticed early on in my walking that this was me. Now to be clear your walking speed can tell how fast you are ageing (go here for more info on this topic) and this is not what we are talking about with this tip. For me, it was about noticing that my speed was an indicator of my level of stress that day and when I allowed myself to notice this and simply slow down slightly my walk for that day was far less stressful. Allow yourself to stop thinking about walking as a form of fitness or a way to lose weight, and instead enjoy your time walking as a form of self-care that is meant to help you relieve stress. Use Breathing Exercises You can also do breathing exercises and mindfulness as you are walking. We wrote about mindful walking yesterday - https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/the-power-of-mindful-walking-for-your-best-walk-today Many people find that their walking routine becomes like a short therapy session, where they are able to clear their minds and be present in the moment. It is like a form of meditation, where you really focus more on being mindful during the entire experience. For breathing exercises, it is really easy to do while you are walking. What you want to do is focus only on your breathing. Inhale and exhale slowly, paying attention to how you feel and what you hear every time your intake a breath. This helps to relax you while you are walking and can get you into a meditative headspace. “As you walk, time your breathing to your steps.” (How To Eat, Move and Be Healthy – Paul Chek) Breath in for the count of 4 steps, hold breathe for the count of 1 step and breathe out for the count of 4 steps. Allow yourself to get in the rhythm of your breathing as you walk. Use Walking as Your Form of Self-Care As we mentioned before, think about walking as a way to practice joy in self-care. Walking helps to release endorphins and is amazing for your mental health as much as your physical health. Walking every day for at least a few minutes, whether you prefer walking alone or with friends or family is a wonderful way to relieve stress. We enjoy getting out in the neighbourhood for a lovely morning walk however getting out on the hiking trails really makes our hearts sing and brings joy to our lives. Share the places you enjoy walking to relieve stress. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, finding a new path today and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Enjoy today’s walk! Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Practice Some Mindful Walking Daily walking has been a part of my fitness practice for the past few years, and we simply find it one of the best ways to get out in nature, enjoy the neighbourhood while we move well. Our intention with this Walking Challenge is to allow the nature of moving your body well to help you get in better shape and, therefore, better health. Today’s topic is to help you practice The Power of Mindful Walking For Your Best Walk Today “Happy is the man who has acquired the love of walking for its own sake!” - William Jacob Holland What we know for sure is that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. Here is a look at what you can expect today: Your Walk Today: 34 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Practice Some Mindful Walking Tomorrow is the last day of the walking challenge, so today let’s talk about something we haven’t discussed yet – mindful walking. What is it? Mindful walking is a way to get into more of a meditative state while you are walking. But don’t worry – your eyes will be open! Unlike regular meditation, where you close your eyes and try to clear your mind, this is done during your walk. It is a way to appreciate what you are doing right now, both for your mind and body, notice your surroundings, and really take it in. This is going to help you get into a mindful and meditative state. Why Mindful Walking? As opposed to listening to music or a podcast, mindful walking is usually done in silence. You don’t want to be distracted during the walk as if you’re just trying to get it over with, but instead, really enjoy and appreciate the entire experience. Mindful walking is a lot easier and more beneficial for outside walking, such as in your neighbourhood, at the beach, park, hike, or other places where you get fresh air and beautiful scenery. Pay attention to what you see on your walk, what you smell, and what you hear. Listen to the birds chirping, watch the sunrise or sunset if that is applicable, feel the cool breeze of the wind on your face. You will notice how much more you can appreciate just being able to go on this walk, enjoying all that nature has to offer. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Enjoy your walk today! Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Find a Different Walking Path The main focus of this Walking Challenge is to allow the nature of moving your body well to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. Today’s topic is Enjoy A New Path Today On Your Daily Walk “In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike. And no two journeys along the same path are alike.” - Paulo Coelho What we know for sure is that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. Your Walk Today: 32 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Find a Different Walking Path Welcome back to the Walking Challenge. Today’s topic is an interesting one for us to write about because it is not something that we experience, and yet we hear it from many people, so we want to remind you about the importance of avoiding boredom with walking. This is where a lot of people struggle. Since humans are creatures of habit, there's a good chance that you've been walking in the same direction, along the same path, and even around the same time of day whenever you go out for some fresh air. While the route you take doesn't have any impact on the physical benefits you derive from the activity, it certainly impacts your mental state. Seeing the same surroundings can become dull and tedious for your brain that tends to race during a walk. In order to keep your mind stimulated, you might consider mixing up your walking paths throughout the week. One day, you can walk around your neighbourhood in one direction. The following day, you could take the same route but in reverse. This is exactly what I have been doing since 2017 and have found it to be a great solution to alternate the scenery on my daily walks in my neighbourhood. The other thing we do to change up our walking practice is we get out of the city as often as possible to walk a new hiking trail. We find these trails by using a hiking app. These trails are beautiful, abundant and can be a bit or a lot more challenging which makes it a wonderful way to get a few hours of exercise out in nature. Another way to find an alternate path is to consider heading into a nearby city or park for something very different. Most state and national parks have a variety of walking paths to choose from that offer great views of nature. Although cities might seem too busy, there are many dedicated walking and biking paths that could be more interesting than walking around your neighbourhood. It's important to remember that walking isn't just a physical feat, it's also a mental game. Walking along different paths can help keep things mixed up and interesting while increasing the likelihood that you'll stick to your new walking practice. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, finding a new path today and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Get out there and enjoy a new path for your walk today! Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Challenge Yourself Today It is our intention of this 21-Day Walking Challenge to allow the nature of moving your body well to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. Today’s topic is to help you Push Yourself Today with More Steps in Less Time "Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far." - Thomas Jefferson What we know for sure is that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. Welcome to day 13 of the 21-Day Walking Challenge. Here is a look at what you can expect today: Your Walk Today: 30 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Push Yourself Today with More Steps in Less Time This walking challenge is meant for beginners and people of all fitness levels, which is why the increase in how long you walk only changes by a minute or so every day. This is because starting slow and steady and gradually working harder is optimum for long-term success. In our experience when you begin something new, go full force, and attempt to do a workout that someone much more advanced can do easily, you burn out, get overwhelmed, and just give up. The most important thing throughout this challenge is that you take action daily! That you get out there and put in the effort, even if some days your walk isn’t quite as long as we recommended. But today, we want to talk to you about pushing yourself. The reason this is saved for halfway through the challenge is that by now, you are accustomed to walking every day, and are already up to 30-minute walks. Now is a great time just to push yourself a little bit. For today’s walk, take more steps in less time. What does this mean? It means you are going to walk a little faster, watch your fitness tracker, and see how many more steps you can get in the same length of time as you did yesterday. To accomplish this challenge, you will have to focus on your posture as we discussed yesterday and in other blog posts. Here is what we shared yesterday to remind you of good walking posture - Tips for Good Walking Posture - When walking, your body must be in a neutral position without leaning backward or forward. Engage your core muscles in order to help maintain good posture. It can also be helpful to imagine a string pulling your head upwards in order to maintain an erect posture. If you're walking outside, you can keep your eyes fixed on the horizon. We shared ideas for good posture and a video from Chi Walking for you here https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/how-to-increase-your-walking-speed-today-tip and remember to - Roll Your Foot From Heel to Toe - This may be something you have never thought about. Stand up and just walk a few steps forward, turn around, then walk back. Which part of your foot landed on the ground first? When you go for a walk, you must be rolling your feet starting with the heel touching ground first, and your toes being the last to touch, then lift off the ground. If you tend to put your entire foot on the ground or walk on your toes, you will experience a lot of foot pain. These simple walking techniques are how I walk every day. Simple and effective in not only getting out for a daily walk, using good posture to allow me to push myself each and every time. It is a fun, simple exercise that helps you see how much you can Push Yourself Today with More Steps in Less Time. It is our belief that the practice of walking is one of the ways we connect to living a healthy and vibrant life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Make Sure You Have a Good Walking Posture This month we are challenging you to allow the nature of walking to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. We are on day 12 of our walking challenge and today our topic Is It Important To Focus on the Right Walking Posture? We Say Yes! You see we started a walking practice in 2017 when life was stressful. The idea was to get outdoors for a walk and simply peacefully enjoy the time. Very quickly I found my daily walks to be painful and didn’t know why. My back, knees and feet hurt a lot, to the point that I didn’t know if I was going to be able to continue to get out for a daily walk. Then I found the book Chi Walking, and everything changed for me. The reason for the change was I learned about walking posture. It is so important, and we just had to include this idea here for you in the walking challenge. Your Walk Today: 28 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Make Sure You Have a Good Walking Posture For day 12 of the 21-Day Walking Challenge, you are going to focus on your posture. It might sound completely unnecessary to talk about good walking posture since this is something you master when you're still a toddler. In reality, just because you have the ability to walk doesn't mean you're doing it properly. Furthermore, there are certain tweaks in your posture that can minimize discomfort, reduce potential damage, and boost the results you get from the activity itself. The Cost of Poor Posture Many people struggle with poor, slouching posture throughout their day. Whether sitting on the couch or working at your desk, it's not uncommon to have bad positioning. This poor posture sometimes carries into walking as well where it can cause neck and back pain. When you find walking painful or detrimental, you'll be more likely to avoid it. This leads to a bad spiral of avoiding physical activity which contributes to more health problems and so on. Tips for Good Walking Posture When walking, your body must be in a neutral position without leaning backward or forward. Engage your core muscles in order to help maintain good posture. It can also be helpful to imagine a string pulling your head upwards in order to maintain an erect posture. If you're walking outside, you can keep your eyes fixed on the horizon. We shared ideas for good posture and a video from Chi Walking for you here https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/how-to-increase-your-walking-speed-today-tip Benefits of Great Posture - You can decrease your current levels of neck and back pain. - It makes it easier to sit for prolonged periods of time at work. - You'll be able to have better breathing techniques when walking. Practice these posture tips when you go out for your 28-minute walk today. We know for sure that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. It would be great to hear if you plan on practicing walking with improved posture when you go out for your daily walk in the comments below. It is our belief that the practice of walking is one of the ways we connect to living a healthy and vibrant life. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well with good posture and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Write in Your Journal About Your Challenges So Far The main focus of this 21-Day Walking Challenge is to allow the nature of moving your body well to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. Today’s topic is Walking Challenge Journaling Tip Part Two - Write About Your Experience So Far “Keeping a journal of what’s going on in your life is a good way to help you distill what’s important and what’s not.” Martina Navratilova What we know for sure is that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. Welcome to day 11 of the 21-Day Walking Challenge. Before discussing the tip of the day, here is the walk you’re going to be going on: Your Walk Today: 26 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Write in Your Journal About Your Challenges So Far For your second journal entry of the challenge, you are going to write about anything you have had difficulties with. Maybe you have found the walking increments to be too low or too high, moving too quickly or too slowly, or you just aren’t really benefiting the way you thought you would by now. Journaling is meant to be for you and you alone. That is part of the beauty of it. Since it is kept to yourself and you know nobody else will ever read it (if you don’t want them to), you can be open and candid. Be completely honest in your journal entry today. You can write it before or after today’s 26-minute walk. Write about your experience in the walking challenge so far, how you’re feeling today, what you have liked or disliked, and make a note about whether or not you think you want to continue with your walking journey after the 21 days are over. Journaling Tip – If you have trouble knowing how long to write or when to stop writing, set a timer for 5 minutes. This lets you just write out your thoughts about your walking journey, but not feel like you have written too much or not enough. We think 5 minutes is a great starting point for journaling. “Journaling is paying attention to the inside for the purpose of living well from the inside out.” Lee Wise We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, challenging our bodies in new ways, taking some time to write in your journal any feelings that might have come up in this challenge and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Enjoy your walk today! Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Take a Friend With You On Your Walk We are sharing ideas to help you move more this month and Today's Walking Challenge idea is for you to Walk With A Friend Each Day For Your Best Fit & Healthy Life. “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” – Henry Ford The main focus of this 21-Day Walking Challenge is to allow the nature of moving your body well to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. What we know for sure is that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. Welcome back to the 21-Day Walking Challenge! I hope you’re enjoying the challenge so far. For day 10, why not bring a friend along with you on your walk? “If you want to walk fast, walk alone, but if you want to walk far, walk together.” – Ratan Tata Your Walk Today: 24 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Take a Friend With You On Your Walk Today, your walk is 24 minutes long. You are about 1/3 of the way through the walking challenge and doing great! For day 10, we wanted to talk about the benefits of walking with someone else, as opposed to walking by yourself. Here are some reasons to bring a friend or family member with you: You have someone to talk to. For some people walking can be boring, even if you have something to listen to on the way. Consider walking with someone else for just one day and see if it breaks up the monotony a little bit. Personally, I enjoy both walking by myself and most days of the week this is my preferred way of getting out on my daily walk and then I have a friend where we meet up once a week for a long walk. I find this mix of alone time and sharing a time walking with a friend to be perfect for me. You might even find that you prefer it this way and want to keep walking with your kids, spouse, co-workers, or friends. Walking with a friend might inspire you and motivate you to complete your daily walk. Some days, you might not feel like walking at least I have found this to be for me. Maybe today you are struggling to find the inspiration and motivation to head out, or you don’t want to walk the entire 24 minutes. Bringing someone with you is the perfect way to challenge you! They might join you on more walks. Did you enjoy your walk? Ask your friend to join you more on the walks in the challenge! It might become a regular and enjoyable part of your walking program. We believe that the practice of walking is one of the ways we connect to living a healthy and vibrant life. As we take our walk with a friend today we believe this helps us improve, we feel good connecting with a friend, in nature, or in the neighbourhood. It definitely helps us be thankful for each day that we get outside on our daily walk for our best life. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, challenging our bodies in new ways, connecting with a friend and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Enjoy your walk today! Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Walk At An Incline Today In our conversations this month we are sharing ideas to help you move more and Today's Walking Challenge Is For You To Walk At An Incline. So, what does that mean, right? Will get more specific in just a moment. The main focus of this 21-Day Walking Challenge is to allow the nature of moving your body well to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. What we know for sure is that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. Today we are now on day 9 of the walking challenge and we’re going for a 22-minute walk. But first, have you ever considered increasing the incline at which you walk? We learned this idea many years ago and will share it here with you now. Let’s take a look at your walk today: Your Walk Today: 22 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Walk at an Incline Now that you have reached day 9 and are into week 2, it is a great time to think about the type of walking you are doing. More specifically if you are walking at an incline. This just means the ground or treadmill is going up at an angle slightly. It is easy to figure out for a treadmill because you can manually set any incline from 0-12 (or more depending on the model). Getting outside we mean for you to include some hills on your walk. Including a few hills will help you work a little harder and going up hills when suddenly it feels like you’re working a little bit harder and pushing yourself more. Why an Incline? While this is completely optional, a slight incline helps you to push your body more. It is more of a workout and helps you to be more intentional with your walking posture especially with engaging your core as we discussed yesterday https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/how-to-increase-your-walking-speed-today-tip. In the same amount of time, you actually get a better workout! Here is more information on the benefits of hill walking - https://www.livestrong.com/article/515350-what-muscles-get-worked-when-walking-on-an-incline/ Today, if you have been walking outside during this challenge, find a local area with a few hills, or go on a hike as that naturally includes a lot of walking up mountains or hills. In my neighbourhood, there are many small hills that I can enjoy each day on my walk. With your treadmill, you can just bump it up by a few points, according to how comfortable you feel. We believe that the practice of walking is one of the ways we connect to living a healthy and vibrant life. As we take our walks to the hills today we believe this helps us improve, we feel good being outdoors, in nature, or in the neighbourhood. It definitely helps us be thankful for each day that we get outside on our daily walk for our best life. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, challenging our bodies in new ways and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Stay in touch with us through our newsletter - Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Increase Your Walking Speed As we continue this month in our walking challenge today your challenge is to learn how to increase your walking speed and then take these ideas out for a walk. We are challenging you to allow the nature of walking to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. We know for sure that walking is the connection to living a healthy and vibrant life and we believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. For day 8 of the 21-Day Walking Challenge, let’s push ourselves a little bit by walking faster. Before we get into that, here is what you can expect from your walk today: Your Walk Today: 20 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: How to Increase Your Walking Speed Today marks the start of week 2, where you are going to walk between 20 and 30 minutes by the end of the week. But for today, it is a 20-minute walk. Our tip of the day is about increasing your walking speed gradually. Please note this does not mean go as fast as you can, speed walk, or jog – save that for later in the walking challenge. Day 8 is about walking slightly faster than you have been. Walking Faster on a Treadmill If you are doing your walking on a treadmill, it is easier to increase your speed. You probably know what speed you have been walking previously, whether that is 2.5, 3.0, or even faster than that. It doesn’t matter what speed it was for the first week; today, bump it up a little bit, just by 0.2-0.3 mph. So, if you were walking at 2.5 mph for most of your walks, up the speed to 2.7 or 2.8 for today’s 20-minute walk. You will still warm up for the first couple of minutes at a slower speed. Walking Faster Outdoors We do most of our walking outdoors because of the many benefits of fresh air, sunshine, nature. It might be a little more difficult to walk faster when you are outside, so here are a few tips: Pick up the pace – Start your walk as you always do, then after a couple of minutes, simply walk a tiny bit faster. You can tell within a few steps that your pace has quickened, even slightly. I have found one of the easiest ways to increase walking speed is first, be aware of my posture. According to Chi Walking – your posture must be in alignment allowing the core muscles of your body set to do the work and allow the arms and legs to take a “back seat”. This posture helps you walk from the entire body. Moving us forward from the engaged core and not powering the walk through the legs. This posture of walking allows us to flow in our walk rather than exhaust us by pushing and pulling our entire walk with our legs. How I learned to increase my walking speed was to align my posture, engage the core (Chi Walking posture video to help you visualize good posture for a great feeling walk each and every time - https://youtu.be/N8VXrv2KVeE ) and practice the heal - toe technique that we discussed in Day 1 here Practicing this aligned posture will help you easily feel better on your walks and help you increase your speed. We believe that the practice of walking is one of the ways we connect to living a healthy and vibrant life. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! Will you accept today's challenge? We would appreciate hearing from you. Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Enjoy your walk today! Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Take Your Walk Outdoors This month we are sharing ideas to help you move more with our walking challenge today we are challenging you to practice Take Your Walk Outdoors. We are challenging you to allow the nature of walking to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. We know for sure that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. Your Walk Today: 20 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Take Your Walk Outdoors We want to welcome you back to the 21-day challenge! For day 7, you are going to walk outside for 20 minutes at least. Unless the weather doesn’t permit this, enjoy your walk outside in the fresh air. There are a ton of mental, physical, and emotional benefits to getting outside for a walk, including: Saving Time and Money This is a favourite for us. One of the most tangible advantages of walking outside is the money you save by not paying for a gym membership or a home treadmill. These costs can add up throughout the year to become an unnecessary burden on your income. You also benefit from the time saved from commuting to the gym each day. We let go of our gym membership years ago and it was one of the best things we did for our health and fitness. Enjoying getting outdoors to walk/hike, bike ride has been a wonderful addition to our get healthy lifestyle. It might prove the same for you. Boosting Your Mental Health It's well-known that walking is really beneficial to your overall mental health. However, not many people are aware that simply taking this activity outside can have compounding advantages. More specifically, walking outdoors has been shown to be more effective at lowering rates of depression than walking indoors. Read more about this here https://www.prevention.com/fitness/g20500099/benefits-of-walking-1/ Heading outside is an easy way to boost the advantages you get from the same activity. Tackling Different Terrain The human body is built to adapt to different stimuli. When you run inside on a treadmill, you're only exposing your body to one kind of stimulus. While you can adjust the speed and incline, you can achieve a whole new kind of terrain when walking outside. This variation can help make your body more dynamic, stronger, and more adaptable. Just be sure to make these transitions gradually so your body is ready for the changes. We believe that the practice of walking is one of the ways we connect to living a healthy and vibrant life. As we take our walks outdoors this helps us improve, we feel good being outdoors, in nature, or the neighbourhood. It definitely helps us be thankful for each day that we get outside on our daily walk for our best life. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, getting outdoors and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Stay in touch with us through our newsletter - https://forms.aweber.com/form/46/118824146.htm Enjoy your 20-minute walk outside today! Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB The Power Of Your Journal This month we are sharing ideas to help you move more with our walking challenge today we are challenging you to Use The Power Of Your Journal To Share Your Walking Experience. We’ve written about journaling in the past here https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/focus-on-things-you-can-control This month is about challenging you to allow the nature of walking to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. To do this it is important to prepare for better walks before you get out for your walk. Setting up the right conditions before will allow you to enjoy the walk more when you are out. We believe that mindset matters and we wrote about this here https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/mindset-really-does-matter-for-your-best-life We know for sure that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. So, today we want to welcome you back to the 21-Day Walking Challenge. Today is day 6, and we’re going to discuss the idea of using the power of journaling. Welcome back to the 21-Day Walking Challenge. Today is day 6 and a special day – you are going to make your first journal entry. But first, this is what your day is going to look like: Your Walk Today: 19 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Write in Your Journal About Your Experience So Far Journaling is a big passion of ours, not just for walking, but for life in general. It allows you to organize your thoughts, create to-do lists, flesh out ideas in your head, say gratitude, and so much more. For the walking challenge, you are going to have 3 different journaling prompts – one at the beginning of the challenge, one near the middle, and one at the end. Today, we want you to write a page in your journal about your experience in the walking challenge so far. This can be about anything, but here are a few ideas:
Feel free to use these prompts or create some of your own. The most important thing is that you keep writing. It can be a journal entry of any length, and you can either use your computer or write it down on a piece of paper. This journal entry is meant to be kept to yourself, but if you have any thoughts, ideas or questions to share, do that below! We believe that the practice of walking is one of the ways we connect to living a healthy and vibrant life. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, journaling about the experience and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Enjoy your 19-minute walk today. Stay in touch with us through our newsletter - https://forms.aweber.com/form/46/118824146.htm Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Walk In Peace Or Be Entertained This month we are challenging you to allow the nature of walking to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. We are on day 5 of our walking challenge and today we are sharing ideas to help you Walk In Peace Or Be Entertained. It's Personal You see we started a walking practice in 2017 when life was stressful. The idea was to get outdoors for a walk and simply peacefully enjoy the time. So, when we first started, we brought the phone however we just used it to track our steps each day. Over time I decided to begin using my walks as learning time, in fact, I called this my walking university time. So, I found a decent podcast app, downloaded podcasts that I wanted to listen to and got out listening and learning. I did enjoy this however the point of walking was to reduce stress and move well. Listening and learning were more than I want to experience on my walks. I actually enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. The colours that are offered each day, the sounds of all the different birds I would hear and the wildlife that would appear on each walk. It never gets boring for me, yet I know that this might not be what works for you for some. This is the amazing thing about you getting out and walking. It is all about what works for you. If you like listening to music, podcasts etc then this challenge is for you. Your Walk Today: 18 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Prevent Boredom By Bringing Entertainment Or Walk In Peace For day 5 of the 21-day walking challenge, we are talking about what to do or listen to on your walks. This is relevant no matter where you walk, from the treadmill at the gym, to a hiking trail, or just walking around your neighbourhood. By far, one of the most popular forms of exercise entertainment is audio-based. Since you have to keep your eyes constantly engaged ahead of you, using your phone as an entertainment device is the best way to have fun during the average walk. Before heading on your walk, queue up a playlist of songs, podcasts or course sessions your daily walk is a great time to learn something new or listen to something that inspires you. Many prefer listening to an episode of their favourite true-crime drama. For even greater motivation, select a playlist or episode that is precisely how long you want your walk to be. This will help keep you engaged for the planned duration of the walk. Don’t Feel Like Listening to Anything? The first few years of my walking practice I took a photo each day and put it up on Facebook and Instagram as a way to hold myself accountable. This might be an activity you might enjoy during your walk, make a recording, or incorporate store errands for a more goal-oriented outing. There's no limit to the ways you can adjust your walk, so it feels more substantial than usual. We suggest you bring equipment like a pedometer, camera, phone, or local guide to learn more about your community during the walk. For a tech-free outing, you could always engage your mind in mental games. Count the number of dogs you encounter, practice a walking and breathing meditation (breathe in with 4 steps, hold for 4 steps and breathe out for 4 steps) or brainstorm that novel you've been meaning to write. We know for sure that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. It would be great to hear if you plan on walking in peace or if you will be entertained when you go out for your daily walks in the comments below. We believe that the practice of walking is one of the ways we connect to living a healthy and vibrant life. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, learning through peace or podcasts and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Bring Water With You On Your Daily Walk This month we are sharing ideas to help you move more with our walking challenge today we are challenging you to practice hydrating well each day by bringing water with you on your daily walk. We are challenging you to allow the nature of walking to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. To do this it is important to prepare for better walks before you get out for your walk. Setting up the right conditions before will allow you to enjoy the walk more when you are out. We know for sure that walking is the link to living a healthy and vibrant life. We believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. So, today we want to welcome you back to the 21-Day Walking Challenge. Today is day 4, and we’re going to discuss the idea to help you stay hydrated and to do that our challenge is for you to Bring Water With You On Your Daily Walk. Welcome back to the 21-Day Walking Challenge. We hope you are finding a lot of value in the challenge so far! Your Walk Today: 17 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Bring Your Water With You Today, we want to remind you to drink your water! Not just carry it with you on your walk, but to make sure you stay hydrated before and after your walks, and throughout the day. Here’s why… Without fail, one of the most important aspects of walking is to remain hydrated. Prolonged states of dehydration can easily lead to heat sensitivity, nausea, and poor cognition. We created a video here https://youtu.be/NH0X9CUFIZk with the details to stay hydrated. Surprisingly, the best time to drink water is before you ever start walking. Proper hydration may help prevent muscle soreness and excess fatigue felt during the exercise. During the hottest time of the year, significant water loss can occur in as little as fifteen minutes of walking in direct sunlight. The rule of thumb is that you should drink at least three to six ounces of water for every mile, which is equivalent to at least half a cup of water per mile. By the time you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated. If you're appropriately hydrated, you should feel the urge to urinate every two to four hours. Moreover, your urine should be clear. Many experienced walkers bring at least a litre of water for them for a four-hour-long walk. In more humid or colder environments, it's often possible to get away with slightly less fluid since you won't sweat nearly as much. Choosing the Right Water Bottle Your choice for a lightweight water bottle that can comfortably slip into your hand or backpack for accessible use. We recommend a good quality stainless steel water bottle. It would be great to hear if you practice staying hydrated each day and if you bring water with you when you go out for your daily walks in the comments below. We believe that the practice of walking is one of the ways we connect to living a healthy and vibrant life. As we bring water on each walk this helps us improve, we feel good staying hydrated and it definitely helps us be thankful for each day that we get outside on our daily walk. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well, staying hydrated and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Practice Tracking Your Steps As we continue this month in our walking challenge today we are challenging you to practice tracking your steps each day. We are challenging you to allow the nature of walking to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. We know for sure that walking is the connection to living a healthy and vibrant life and we believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body, and nourishes the soul. So, today we want to welcome you back to the 21-Day Walking Challenge. Today is day 3, and we’re going to discuss the idea to help you Practice Tracking Your Steps. For day 3 of the 21-Day Walking Challenge, let’s get our fitness trackers ready to go. Don’t hurry – you can use your phone, this is what we have used for the last 5 years and find it to work quite well. Before we get started on the tip of the day, here is what your walk looks like: Your Walk Today: 16 Minutes Long Today’s Tip: Use your phone to track each walk from this point on. As you can see, you are only going to walk 1 minute longer than yesterday. This is how the entire walking challenge will go. Very slight increases in how long you walk. When you go slow and steady, you have a better chance of success. Today, let’s talk about tracking your walks and steps. We assume you at least bring your phone on your walks to time how long you are walking. Your phone can be a great tool not just for the timing, but it probably includes an app with a pedometer or to track where you are walking. We have written in prior posts our experience when we began walking each morning. We wrote about using a Fitness Tracker Here and we made a video here We used our phones as a way to track our steps each day. In fact, we signed up for the monthly challenges. Each month the challenge was to walk 200,000 steps. This plan helped us walk over 3 million steps in 12 months. So, we know the plan works if you work the plan. Don’t worry if you are not there yet. This is where we started. We believe that taking action and improving over time with tiny steps is the absolute best way to WIN in the pursuit of a new fitness habit. This is why we are only adding 1 minute for your walk today. Anyone can WIN at adding 1 minute to the walk. Enjoy the time. See one thing new on the walk today. Notice the beauty of nature. What animals will you see? What colours do you notice? These are some of the things that we enjoy each and every time we are out on our morning walk. It would be great to hear what you are beginning to notice when you are out for your walk in the comments below. We believe that the practice of walking is one of the ways we connect to living a healthy and vibrant life. As we track the steps of each walk this helps us improve, we see our successes in the number of steps we do daily/weekly and it definitely helps us be thankful for each day that we get outside on our daily walk. Will you take the time today to get outdoors, and use your phone as a way to practice tracking your steps? We do recommend that if you use your phone to turn off the data and put it on airplane mode. We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB What Is Best To Wear During Your Walks This month we are challenging you to get outside and walk. We are challenging you to allow the nature of walking to help you get in better shape and therefore better health. What we know for sure is walking is the connection to living a healthy and vibrant life and we believe walking inspires the mind, activates the body and nourishes the soul. So, today we want to welcome you back to the 21-Day Walking Challenge. Today is day 2, and we’re going to discuss what is best to wear during your walks. Here a look at today’s walk: Your Walk Today: 15 minutes long Today’s Tip: Prepare for Your Walk with the Right Fitness Clothing Yep, it’s an easy day. You will be walking for 15 minutes just like yesterday. But don’t get too comfortable – tomorrow you will be walking a little bit longer than today. Now is a good time to talk about what you are wearing on your walks. With these shorter walks, it probably isn’t as big of a deal. Walking for 15 minutes is probably a length of time you are comfortable with and have walked many times before, even in your work clothes. Now, when we start walking for 30-40 minutes and more, you definitely want to consider your workout clothing. Here are just a few tips for choosing what to wear during your walks: What is the weather like? To start with, consider the current weather conditions when deciding if layers is necessary. Average 70-degree days are fine for just about anything, but if it’s a cold day, you want a few layers on. At the very least, two layers, so that you can remove your jacket or hoodie when it starts getting a little warm. How comfortable are you? Make sure your walking clothes are comfortable and flexible. If you are constantly adjusting your leggings, or your sports bra is digging into your sides, you will spend more time adjusting your clothing and being frustrated than actually enjoying your walk. And we believe the point of getting out for a daily walk is to enjoy the time spent outdoors walking, right? How do your feet feel? Don’t forget about your shoes! They must be comfortable, fit well, and have enough room for you to wiggle your toes. In our experience, it is best to have at least a couple of pairs of comfortable shoes and rotate daily. This way your shoes have a chance to dry out completely before your next walking session in that pair. The shoes will last longer and be more comfortable in our experience as well. The point of talking about what is best to wear during your walks is simply for you to dress comfortably as you can as you are beginning to practice daily walking. This way when you get out for your longer walks you are already in the habit of dressing comfortably in a way that allows you to enjoy your time outdoors. Will you take the time today to get outdoors, dressed comfortably for a 15-minute walk? We appreciate that it never seems as if there are enough hours in the day, but it is so important to make a conscious decision to practice moving well and we believe that walking is the most accessible form of exercise on the planet. Taking care of your mind, body and emotional needs will help you be able to live your best life. You are your best advocate; if you are not moving well each day, it is easy to get burned out by all of life's demands. Taking some time each day for yourself to get outside and walk can have a profound impact on your well-being. Physical fitness and moving well begin and ends with you! We would appreciate hearing from you. Will you accept today's challenge? Share any ideas or comments below. Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Stay in touch with us through our newsletter - https://forms.aweber.com/form/46/118824146.htm Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB Stay in touch with us through our newsletter The 21 Day Walking Challenge Today we are announcing your special invitation to the 21 Day Walking Challenge here with us for your best fit life. Did you know that walking is the most popular physical activity in the world? And the health benefits of walking are many, for example – benefits the heart, can help lower blood sugar, boosts the immune system, boosts energy, improves mood and extends life to name a few. In 2017 I began the daily practice of walking and in one year I walked over 3 million steps. It was an amazing experience that I continue to this day. In fact, I just got in from my daily walk. I made a video about my walking and you can find it here https://youtu.be/P7TOf-H_07Q Over the past few months we have shared ideas to help you with your self-care - https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/archives/06-2021 - live an organic lifestyle - https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/archives/05-2021 - move more and move well - https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/archives/04-2021 - and a disciplined mindset - https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/archives/03-2021. This month we invite you to join the 21 Day Walking Challenge For Your Best Life. The purpose of the walking challenge is to help you move from learning about how to improve your health and fitness to taking action. Welcome to the walking challenge. Let’s get started. • The first challenge for you is - List all the reasons why you want to start a walking challenge. Knowing your WHY is the most important first step. I learned many years ago that your Why is 95% of success and how is the remaining 5%. Do this first challenge today and you are well on your way to succeeding at improving your health and fitness. We wrote about clarifying your WHY here - https://wendybottrell.weebly.com/blog/three-solid-tips-to-win-with-your-health-fitness-goals Be sure to get in touch with us and let us know your questions as well as anything specific on how we can help you. Day 1: The Proper Walking Technique The idea of this challenge over this month is to help you will gradually increase your walking speed from 15 minutes (today) to 45 minutes (on day 21). The speed goes up just a little bit every day or so, so it is a very easy transition. This is appropriate for all fitness levels, though it is tailored to beginners. You will also get a tip a day, which gives you a little more insight into how to walk, what to wear, going outside or using the treadmill, and even journal entries about your experience. Before we get started, here is today’s walk: Your Walk Today: 15 minutes long Today’s Tip: Learn the Proper Walking Technique For the first week of the challenge, you are going to be increasing your walking time from 15 minutes to 20 minutes. Sounds easy, right? That’s because it is! Today’s tip is all about using the right walking technique. The way you walk makes a lot bigger difference than you might think, from your posture, to what you look at. Roll Your Foot From Heel to Toe This may be something you have never thought about. Stand up and just walk a few steps forward, turn around, then walk back. Which part of your foot landed on the ground first? When you go for a walk, you must be rolling your feet starting with the heel touching ground first, and your toes being the last to touch, then lift off the ground. If you tend to put your entire foot on the ground or walk on your toes, you will experience a lot of foot pain. Final Walking Tip: You see, the walking technique is all about good posture. I learned this from the book Chi Walking and the idea is to walk in body alignment using core strength rather than leg strength. You will also learn to listen to your body, release tension where you normally hold it and allow your energy to flow and feel good while out for a walk. More tomorrow. Have fun with your first 15-minute walk! Be sure to share how your first walk was in the comments below. Get in touch with us and let us know how we can help you. Stay in touch with us through our newsletter Health & Fitness Resources: If you are looking for a cookbook resource we recommend The Fat Burning Kitchen - Your 24-Hour Diet Transformation to Make Your Body a Fat-Burning Machine - Why to STOP eating whole wheat bread, vegetable oils, energy bars, or cereals - https://bit.ly/2RzknZP (our affiliate link - now you do not pay more ordering from our link, it simply helps us with a commission that supports our work here) Turbulence Training Special Offer - But if you take advantage of this opportunity to ditch your cardio and finally start losing weight today, you can receive access for more than HALF OFF, just $27. (Affiliate link - https://bit.ly/3fZeQUk) Personal Care Products & Healthy Home Products go here https://bit.ly/3upNqxB |
Wendy BottrellWe have outsourced our lifestyle for way too long! 
 
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