Walking Ain’t so Bad

Because I’m undergoing treatment for sciatic pain, my chiropractor took me off of all exercise except for a few muscle retraining moves and walking. He is a huge advocate for walking. According to him an hour 3 to 4 times a week is all I need. The reason why he is such a huge fan of walking is because just about everybody could do it. You don’t need special equipment and it is not taxing on the bones or the joints.

Giving it a Shot

Since I am thoroughly missing my spinning classes and have to settle for walking, I decided to give it the old college try. My first challenge was finding an appropriate walking route. I’m not a huge fan of treadmills.

I have the option of walking around the lake four times (a lap around the lake is just shy of one mile) in order to walk for an hour, but that poses a problem. Each time I begin another lap, I have the option of walking around the lake or walking back to my front door and ending my exercise routine.

In order to make this work, I had to remove temptation. Therefore, I charted out two routes that would give me the adequate amount of time. Actually, both routes are slightly over an hour’s walk but a little more is good. They’re also more challenging because both routes involve rather steep hill work.

Early Results

The first week I didn’t walk four times. I think I walked two or three times. It was cold outside and the weather was rainy and snowy. I didn’t enjoy the walks, but I did it anyway. This is the second week and the weather is a little nicer. At least the sun is shining.

I’m not disliking my walks this week as much as I did last week. I plug myself into my iPod and off I go.

Competitive Motivation

My chiropractor told me the story of another patient of his to which he prescribed walking for an hour 3 to 4 times a week. That patient walked herself right into good shape. Not only did she lose weight and become fit, but her transformation was so impressive that she was featured in SHAPE Magazine.

I think that’s enough motivation to keep me sticking with it. When this year started I had 18 pounds to lose, here I am three months later and still have about the same amount to lose. I managed to drop 3 and a half pounds but that’s nothing impressive.

Let’s see if walking for an hour four  times a week plus modifying my food intake is what it takes to help me become a thinner more fit me.

You can bet, however, that as soon as I get the go-ahead to resume exercises I’ll be back on my bike.