The Complete Idiot's Guide to Walking for Health

Front Cover
Penguin, 2000 M03 1 - 293 pages
Almost all of us do a fair amount of walking every day -- but most people don't know that this simple daily activity can transform them from a couch potato to a mean, lean strolling machine. Getting in shape doesn't have to take place in the dreaded health club anymore, and with 73 million Americans walking for exercise, it seems quite a few people are realizing that. New studies reveal that walking for one hour a day, five days a week, can cut a person's risk of stroke in haiti The Complete Idiot's Guide to Walking for Health shows readers how health-walking can be incorporated into their lives, matter how busy or physically active they are. Readers get tips on how to set their distance, pace and time, gradually increase their intensity as they develop cardiovascular endurance, and find ways of keeping the route varied and interesting. They also learn how walking isn't just for their physical well-being, but their mental and emotional health as well!

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Contents

Building a Daily Habit for Healths Sake
1
Why Walk?
3
Mental Health Motivators
4
A Walking Body Is a Healthy Body
6
A HearttoHeart About Your Heart
7
Weighty Issues
8
Joint Adventures
9
Clearly Clarifying
10
Warning Signs While Walking
138
Walking for Weight Loss
141
Weight Walkers
143
WeightRelated Diseases and How Walking Helps
144
Psychological Barriers and Social Shyness
145
Setting Your Short and LongTerm Goals
146
Keeping a Log
147
Getting and Staying Motivated
148

Just Step Out Your Front Door and You Are on Your Way
11
Easy as 12 3
12
One Step at a Time
13
How Do You Measure Up?
14
The WaisttoHip Ratio
15
Girth Measurements and Pants Size
16
Scaling It Down
17
Upper Limits
18
The Lowdown on Your Lower Body
20
Stomach and LowerBack Strength
21
Flexibility
22
Knowing Your Cardiovascular Starting Point
26
Heart Rate 1 2 3 4
27
Intensity and Heart Rate
28
Getting the Doctors Okay
29
Beginning a Program
31
C Is for Commitment
32
Time Is of the Essence
33
Establishing Long and ShortTerm Goals
35
Daily Goals
36
Building a Support System
37
Gathering Your Gear
39
Lotsa Layers
40
Hang n Loose
42
Sports Bras and Other Supportive Gear
43
Are Some Better Than Others?
44
Known Nylon
45
Accentuating Accessories
46
Sensible Sun Block
47
BandAids for Blisters
48
The Watered Walker
49
Progressing Safely
51
Moving Forward
53
Interesting Facts About Intensity
54
Are We Talking Minutes or Hours Here?
57
Progressing Patiently
58
The Where What Why and How of Walking
60
Safety Tips to Consider
61
Night Walking
62
Now That Youve Got the Basics Lets Have Some Fun
65
Steppn on Stairs
66
Beach Bum
67
Tromping on Trails
68
Weights Anyone?
69
Fartlek and Interval Training
71
Warming Up Cooling Down and Yes Stretching
75
The Cool Cat CoolDown
78
Daily Doings
79
Coming Equipped
80
How Often
81
How Much
82
Why Weight?
87
How Often and How Much
88
The Tools Youll Need
90
Machine Madness
91
LowerUpperBody Strengthened
92
Yes Pain No Gain
99
Pondering Pain
100
If the Shoe Fits or Not
101
Unexplained Pain
103
But I Dont Wanna
104
No Not Anytime You Feel Like It
105
Yes You Can Do Other Activities Substitutes in the Meantime
106
In the Beginning
109
Goal Mining
110
Be Proactive
111
Know Thyself
112
Psyching Out Your Psychology
113
How Much? How Long? How Hard?
114
A Sample for an Example
115
Other Things to Keep in Mind
116
And Now for the Rest of Ya
119
How to Know?
120
The Middle ManWoman
121
Pushing the Pace
122
Making It Harder with Hills
123
Implementing Intervals
124
A Sample Week
126
GoalSetting for the Advanced Walker
127
Walking for Special Populations
129
How Walking Helps with Aging
130
Practicing Proprioception
131
Maneuvering Your Muscles
132
Getting Your Doctors Approval
133
Diabetic and Dynamite
134
Walking Your Sugar Down
135
Walking for the Cardiac Rehab Patient
136
How Walking Helps
137
Food for Thought
151
Why Diets Dont Work
153
Your Basic Food Pyramid
154
Changing Habits and Lifestyle
158
Fast Feet Not Fast Food
161
Understanding the Nature of Caloric Expenditure
162
Adding Time
163
Intensity Last
164
Suggestion for Adjusting Intensity
165
Walking Through the Discomfort
166
A Summary
167
Walking as a Lifestyle
169
Waste Not Walk Not
171
No Excuses
172
Inspirational Images
173
Supportive Situations
174
Writing Walking into Your Schedule
175
Keeping Your Gear Handy
176
Changing Habits One Step at a Time
177
Staying Focused
178
This Is a Walking World
181
Parking Waaaaay Far Away
182
Walking Instead of Driving
183
Taking a PostMeal Walk
184
Walking to Work
185
Energizing Errands
186
Pacing It with a Pup
187
The Weathered Walker
189
A Winter Walking Wonderland
190
Hydration
191
Ice vs Powder
192
Heat Index and Humidity
193
Staying Cool Inside
194
Hats and Other Accessories
195
Damp Tramps
196
Covering Your Feet
197
Exercising Your Alternatives
199
Home Is Where the Heart Is
200
Intermediate Inclines
202
Advanced Adventures
203
Safety
205
Buying a Treadmill
206
Taking It to the Next Level
209
Where to Go? Ideas for Trails and Treks
210
Preparing Your Heart for Hiking
211
From Wild Cats to Wild flowers
212
Walkers Without Borders
213
Vacation Ventures and Trekking Tours
214
Setting Your Goals
215
Training for Events
216
Form
217
Your Feet
219
Preparing Your Peds
221
Foot Type
222
Terrain and Mileage
224
Shoe Shopping
225
Signs and Symptoms of the Wrong Shoe
226
Wearing Other Kinds of Sports Shoes for Walking
227
Sockin It to Ya
228
Lacing It Up
229
Footloose and FancyFree
231
Fashionable Functional Footwear
232
Inserts
234
Insoles
235
Arch Supports
236
The Walking Wounded
239
WalkingRelated Injuries
240
Shin Splints
241
Ankle Knee and Leg Injuries
242
Sprains and Strains
244
Blisters and Bunions
245
Bone Spurs and Plantar Fasciitis
246
Hammertoe and Ingrown Toenails
247
Merry Metatarsals
249
Your Local Foot Doctor the Podiatrist
250
Marvelous Massages
251
A Complete Guide
252
When to Use Ice and Heat
254
To Move or Not To Move
255
Walking Wonders
257
Historical Moments
258
Fastest Feet
259
Farthest
260
Good Cause
262
Resources for Walking Fit
265
Walking Words
279
Index
285
Copyright

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About the author (2000)

Erika Peters has a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and has been an avid exerciser all of her life. Her belief in the benefits of health and fitness are so strong that she decided to make a career out of them in 1998. In addition to being a full-time personal trainer at Club One in Oakland, California, Erika has her own private fitness practice in which she takes her knowledge of health and exercise into the homes of residents around the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a certified Fitness Instructor through California State University at Hayward, and holds additional certifications from the American Council on Exercise (ACE) as well as the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). She is currently pursuing her passion of triathlons in which she plans to compete beginning in the spring of 2001. One of her favorite quotes is: "Happiness is a state of activity," by Aristotle.

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