The reason most think that walking for weight loss isn’t really a good way to get in shpe is that it seems too easy to give results. The activity in itself doesn’t burn a lot of calories if you do it for 10 or 15 minutes 3 times per week.

Why Walking for Weight Loss Works

The reason this activity does work for getting in shape is that it is very easy to stick to. For me, the daily walks are a form of relaxation, a sort of meditating cool down. I would just tie my shoes, take my mp3 player, leash my dog and head out for an hour of listening to music, audio books or just quietly enjoying the nice weather and the occasional bird song.

Spring and early summer are perfect for this. So is autumn when the weather is nice walking in Winter in my experience has to be done before sun down, otherwise it’s not really enjoyable. In contrast, Spring and Summer nights are perfect for this.

Finally, walking for weight loss is low stress. As a form of exercise it’s easy on the joints and muscles. As a mental challenge it’s easy, because you don’t have to flinch at the thought of the tough workout planned for the day. As a bonus, walking acts anti-inflammatory on the whole body.

Walking for Weight Loss: An in-depth Look

Ina a couple of months I was able to lose 10-12 Holiday pounds I had gained after Christmas, New Years and a series of family holidays There are many online calculators claiming walking for an hour burns between 100 and 300 calories depending on the terrain, your speed and your weight.

I think that trying to calculate the exact calorie burn is a fools errand. The focus instead should be on watching what you eat and also getting in as many walking sessions as possible. Some days I managed to walk twice, but most often I’d walk once per day, 6-7 times per week.

The cool thing about walking as a tool to lose weight is that the more weight you need to lose, the more effective walking is. The reason for this is that all your extra pounds act as resistance and make the exercise harder. It’s like using a weighted vest.

How to Walk for Weight Loss

• Walk 6-7 days per week. A single session burns a small amount of calories, but is very easy to do. When you do it every day, the calories burnt start to compound after just 3 or 4 weeks and you start seeing rapid results.
• Once or twice a day. If possible, try to walk twice on the weekends.
• Walk for 30 to 60 minutes. Start small and gradually increase time.
• Walk on flat or incline surfaces. Incline walking is a trick I learned from the Hollywood Physique. It increases calorie burn significantly but at the same time keeps the joint stress super low.
• Listen to music or audio books. Provided it is safe, walking and listening to an audio book (I went through a bunch of books while walking in the park. I also listened to some language tapes which was also lots of fun.
• Take your dog. I love my lab Lucky and he enjoys those walks with me too.
• Safety first. Be careful– don’t listen to loud music if walking in the evenings or in a questionable area.
• Walking in the rain. It’s actually fine to walk in the rain. Just get a nice waterproof hooded jacket and you are set.

Walking for Weight Loss Resources

• Diet is king. Walking for weight loss only works if your calories are in check. Personally I had great success in the past by skipping meals as described here ==> Easy Diet Plan
• Intense exercise before walking. Do a 15-25 minute intense workout, such as these body weight circuits. In this way walking serves to both cool you down from the workout and actually burn off the fat that has been released from the fat storage during the high intensity exercise.
• Walking for weight loss and your health. Here’s a great article on the anti inflammatory effect of walking ==> Why Walking is Necessary for Good Health – Even If You Are Extremely Fit and Lean
• The lovely photo courtesy of jenny downing

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However, if you do learn how to feel, contract and use the lats, you will kick ass in the gym when it comes to pull ups or chin ups. Not only that, you will also get a killer v shape back because the lats will grow nice and wide.

How to Start Using the Lats

• Practice contracting the lats. Throughout the day practice flaring out and flexing the lats (when nobody’s watching you of course). This will build a stronger connection to the muscles that you want to use in pull-ups.
• Try wide grip thumbless pull-ups. These pull-ups rely more on the lats so you’ll have no choice but to start engaging them. The thumbless grip – thumbs on top of the bar – disengage the biceps so again more lat activation.
• Lean back. When doing pull-ups or pull-downs, try leaning slightly back so you pull toward the rib cage. Focus on bringing the elbows towards the torso.
• Pull with elbows. Pull-ups, chin-ups, pull-downs and rows. These are all done with the back, bot the biceps. To feel the back working, imagining your arms as hooks and focusing on pulling just the elbows down.
• Activate the lats. This is a tip I got from the book Beyond Bodybuilding. Reach out with your arm. Have a buddy try to press your arm up while you use your lats (armpit muscles) to resist him.
• Try one arm dumbbell rows.

To properly train the back with one arm dumbbell rows, row using the lats. Begin by lifting the dumbbell with a straight arm. Imagine your arms as hooks, try to bring the elbow as close to your waist as possible.

Lat Activation Video

The above video shows how to initiate pull ups or chin ups by first packing the shoulders down towards your torso and then flexing the lats. Many advocate doing pull ups with shoulders flexed the whole time.

I prefer doing the entire movement on every rep. This way the serratus and pec minor get a great workout from bringing the shoulder down.

Action Plan

From now on whenever you are doing a pulling motion (weight moves toward you or you pull yourself toward stationary object), you want to initiate the movement with the lats. Pull your shoulder towards your body with a straight arm and then start pulling with the lats by bringing the elbow towards your chest.

VIDEO: Are You Targetting the Right Kind of Muscle?

Ultimately your strength in your chin up and pull up workouts will double or triple when you wake up the and start using the lats – those dormant super muscles.

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Being fit means looking good year round. No bulking in the winter and cutting for the summer. You should look good naked all the time.

Being beach ready fit, you are going to feel awesome and your loved one will appreciate it. To look good, you need to have low levels of body fat and high levels of strength for your body weight.

Relative Strength Advantage

This will give you what I call a Relative Strength Advantage. Guys will look big and ripped with their shirts off and just normal or “well built” in clothes. For example polo shirts should hug your arms – not too loose, not too tight.

I’m no advocate for being a walking skeleton, but being huge (and too fat most likely) is probably worse. The ladies will look sexy either way – in or out of clothes. Most actors and actresses in Hollywood sport this look. This is no accident. They know what looks good to others.

Enjoying and Dominating Sports

You’ll enjoy and dominate sports because you are stronger and faster for your size than others. You see, I don’t think we should stop enjoying ourselves, playing, competing, once we leave school or college.

Why not stay active and have some fun. I myself still play pick up basketball games. I begin to notice I am getting better by just staying in shape while my team mates get progressively more out of shape.

If you are serious about this, dominating at sports even as a recreational athlete that is, focus on getting stronger in the back of your body. This means stronger calves, hamstrings, glutes, lower and upper back and triceps.

The Huge Bouncer Guy Look

Bulky looking guys can’t pull off looking hip. They end up looking like bouncers. People say to them, damn you’re huge. And they take it as a compliment. Hm… Girls who focus on weights too much end up not being able to wear skinny jeans.

Girls at 16-17 have enough development. From them on, they just need to control their body weight and make sure to tone their muscles. But certainly not develop them much more.

Excess Weight Makes Your Face Ugly And Old

One last thing. When I was younger, I wondered what makes the older guys at the gym look older. Finally I realized. Aside from having bigger bodies, they also had fatter faces.

I want to ask you, have your fitness goals and priorities changed since you fist started training? If so, what were they initially? Maybe it is time we reconsidered what fitness is? I prefer to be fit for life outside of the gym.

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