Memorial Day weekend is just around the corner. It’s not just a great time to bond with family and friends as we kick off the summer of 2011, but there are great opportunities to get a little exercise in as well. Since the weather will hopefully be warm and sunny wherever you are, let’s hit the outdoors and have some fun!
While the deeper meaning behind Memorial Day is to commemorate the men and women who have served our country in the Armed Forces, it’s also a time to enjoy a little outdoor fun with friends. Here are some activities you can take part in and how many calories you can expect to burn in the process:
Golf
Hitting the links is not only a nice way to get a few miles of walking in, you can get your competitive juices flowing as well (even if it’s just a matter of competing with yourself). According to a study by Neil Wolkodoff, director of the Rose Center for Health and Sports Sciences in Denver, putting in just 9 holes of golf, carrying your clubs and walking, you will burn about 700 calories.
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We at DietsinReview have been advocating walking as a healthy lifestyle choice for years. Walking is an excellent way to get in some cardiovascular exercise, lose weight, and even lower your risk of mental illnesses, such as dementia. It is very easy to walk a lot: you can buy a treadmill and walk in your living room while watching television, walk around a track at a local high school, or if you live in a big city – like New York City or Chicago – you can walk to your job each day.
But what if you do not live in a big city? Are you forced to resign your walking workouts to your local mall or gym? Not necessarily.
The US DOT Federal Highway Administration and FedEx recently announced the most Walk Friendly Communities in the USA. These communities were ranked from bronze to platinum, based on the community’s dedication to “improving and sustaining walkability and pedestrian safety through comprehensive programs, plans and policies.” Factors that were used to determine the “walkability” of the city included the city’s commitment to building more pedestrian friendly walkways, promotion of walking as a healthy lifestyle choice, and understanding of how pedestrians travel within a city.
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If there is one advantage overweight people have over those of a normal weight when it comes to fitness, it’s that the more you weigh, the more calories you burn doing the same amount of work. Ask yourself: What is easier? Walking up a flight of stairs, or walking up a flight of stairs with a refrigerator strapped to your back?
While toting household appliances may be a bit extreme, you can get the same benefits of adding weight to your body for a more intense workout by using a weighted vest- a piece of fitness equipment designed for just such results. Unfortunately, most people either haven’t heard of them, or think they are just for hardcore athletes, when in actuality, they are great for even the fitness beginner.
Different types of weight vests are made for different activities. Some vests have a sleek design, like this one from Altus Athletic, which are less restrictive of movement and made for sports and activities that require more range of motion in the arm, such as throwing a ball or swinging a golf club. Other vests, like this one from GoFit, have broader shoulders, which is more comfortable for walking and running. Cardio becomes more taxing on the body when you must propel more weight, and your leg muscles will become stronger and more toned, especially when traveling uphill, than if you were walking with your own body weight alone.
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Nothing drives me more insane as a personal trainer than seeing someone at the gym walk on the treadmill for over an hour. There they are when I walk in the door to warm up, and there they remain after my entire workout is over.
No wait, I take that back. Probably as equally frustrating is seeing people on the treadmill with the incline jacked up to 15 while hanging onto the machine for dear life.
Either way, just because the display on the treadmill says that you burned a certain amount of calories doesn’t mean you actually did. If you are hanging on like Tom Cruise to a cliff in Mission Impossible 2, you aren’t working as hard as the treadmill thinks you are, so cut the calories burned total in half.
The treadmill seems simple enough. Hop on and walk- or run, if you’re feeling saucy. However, just putting in the time on the treadmill isn’t going to cut it. You have to make it count. Why waste your time and effort when you can get more results in a fraction of both?
There are a lot of variables you can use to get the most out of your treadmill workout, so pick a favorite, or a combination, of the below and cut down on the amount of time you are on the treadmill while burning more calories than ever before.
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Held annually on the first Friday every April, National Walk to Work Day is designed to get commuters up and moving. Founded by Prevention in 2004, this year’s National Walk to Work Day falls on April 1st, and participants are encouraged to walk for all or part of their commute.
Here’s how you can participate:
If you can walk or bike the whole way to your job, do it. If the roads are safe for you to navigate them sans vehicle, wake up early enough to make sure you get to work on time, and set out on foot. Make sure you wear comfortable walking sneakers and carry your professional shoes along with you. You may even want to bring a change of clothes depending on the length of your walk and weather in your area.
If you take public transportation, try walking to a stop further than you normally take to hitch your ride, or get off at a stop further from your work and fit in your walk after your ride.
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