When you commute to an office or have young children, it’s easy enough to clock up some steps before your 9-5 even begins. Yet when you work from home or take retirement, your daily movement can often take a back seat.
If you’re looking for ways to incorporate more steps into your day, below, senior fitness instructor, Jules, who is the mastermind behind the YouTube channel, Improved Health, has shared a 20-minute low-impact walking workout to help seniors, or anyone new to fitness, boost their step count in a safe and accessible way from home.
For this workout, you won’t need to have access to one of the best treadmills. All you need for this at-home cardio session is a fitness tracker (see here for our guide to the best cheap fitness trackers money can buy right now), a good pair of walking shoes, and a stable and grippy surface, like a yoga mat, to help you cushion your joints. Once you’ve got those to hand, get ready to boost your metabolism and watch your step count soar.
How to do the 20-minute walking workout
This 20-minute at-home session kicks off with a quick warm-up to help you get the blood pumping to your muscles, before heading straight into the walking workout.
Jules has organised this session into 20 seconds of ‘moving’ work, followed by 10 seconds of walking. The ‘moving’ segments still involve walking, but they entail moving from your spot. So, for example, you might alternate tapping your feet front and back or stepping from side to side while doing an arm reach or walking forward and backward to your starting position. While the walking sessions will see you walk on the spot.
According to Jules, doing so will help boost your health, energy, and longevity. “This all-standing, low-impact routine is easy on the joints and designed to help you stay active, strong, and independent,” she adds.
However, if preferred and your energy and fitness levels allow, you can try completing ‘moving’ work for the full 30 seconds to keep your heart rate high.
What’s also great about this workout is that its background music has 116-117 BPM. This means, if you stick to the beat, you’ll be able to complete 2176 steps within 20 minutes.
The benefits of this 20-minute walking workout
A multitude of benefits come from completing this 20-minute walking workout.
No matter whether you’re walking for weight loss, to up your steps, or to strengthen your bones, walking for just 30 minutes a day could help you achieve all three of these goals — especially if combined with a healthy diet. So even if you completed this workout twice, once first thing and then again after your lunch or before your dinner, you could boost your overall health.
According to Jules, ticking off this session can also help you: “Improve circulation, strengthen your heart, and enhance mobility with simple, feel-good moves anyone can do.” And better yet, it’s free and accessible.
Plus, according to a 2023 article which looked at the multifaceted benefits of walking for healthy aging, walking—no matter whether it’s done inside or out—decreases the risk or severity of various health outcomes such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (conditions that affect blood flow to your brain), type 2 diabetes, cognitive impairment and dementia, while also improving mental wellbeing, sleep, and longevity.
“Thus, incorporating walking into daily routines and encouraging walking-based physical activity interventions can be an effective strategy for promoting healthy aging and improving health outcomes in all populations,” the researchers concluded.
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This 20-minute low-impact walking workout promises to boost longevity — it’s perfect for seniors, beginners, and anyone looking to improve heart health
