Walking: there's natural, and there's efficient

I'm finding out that many of the skills that come naturally are not optimal.  Walking is one.  Joanna Hall's technique is way more efficient than merely putting one foot in front of the other.  The follow-through with the ankle is a bit awkward when wearing work boots, as they (by design) support the top of it to prevent straining, and I admit to feeling a tad self-conscious swinging my arms like a child going choo-choo; but the technique works.  I hadn't realised how lax my 'natural' style had become.

Exercise: going green

This evening I moved up from the entry-level yellow resistance band to the next one up, in green.

I'm as knackered (and happy) as a month ago, after first using the yellow one. Progress :-)

Exercise: variation

I'm finding it important to vary my routine. 

A "full set" (which I must admit to not quite having completed, though I've come close a couple of times) takes 4+ hours.  There aren't many days I can afford that much time.  More critically, it can get boring.  Very boring.  Like, realise during a set I've forgotten how many reps I'm up to boring!  Doing shorter stints of sub-sets avoids this.

The pattern I've fallen into is to do upper body + core + flexibility one day, long walk + flexibility the next, then lower body + core + flexibility, followed by a day off. (In practice it's often another walking day, but I don't feel guilty if it isn't).  Core exercises are done more often, as I discovered mine is particularly weak.

Gardening, decorating, and shopping, make excellent workouts too.  My wife thinks I'm mad shearing the lawn rather than using the electric mower, but it's an excellent upper body workout.  Likewise the sanding of paintwork.  Treating each stroke of the sanding block as a rep means I get fitter, and the prep' is way more thorough than I used to do.  Shopping makes an excellent lower body session, both from the walk and the avoidance of prams, toddlers, mobile using cyclists, and the like.

Initially it felt odd going against the labour-saving ethos of our age, instead trying to find innovative ways of expending more time and energy, but I'm feeling better for it, both physically and mentally.

Exercise: book

Although the Transcend book has a section on exercise, it's not a comprehensive one.  When I bought my resistance bands from FitMag I noticed them promoting a specialist book on the subject: Strength Band Training 2nd edition by Phil Page and Todd Ellenbecker.

It's excellent.  Recommended.

Exercise: walking boots

Standard boots tend to disintegrate on me.  The heels in particular seem to collapse after a hundred miles or so (about a months wear).

There's a branch of GO nearby. I popped in to see what they could offer. Much the same, or much more costly.  Not being confident that any available pair would last 1,000+ miles, I left.  Only to find our local Asda selling good ol' fashioned steel toecap workboots for £16.

Once upon a time, all too long ago, I worked full-time as a bar-cellarman in our then local. Steelies was all I wore for 4+ years.

Having just visited my dad, I'm pleased to say they are still as comfortable as they were then. And, as they have solid heels rather than fancy cushioned ones, there's a good chance they will last a reasonable distance.

Exercise: kit

The Transcend book introduced me to a kind of exercise I'd not heard of before: resistance tubes.  For less than the cost of a single month gym membership I got a starter kit from Fitmag Ltd.

When they arrived I thought the weakest band, and maybe the next one, would go unused.

How wrong I was!  Stretching the mid-strength of the five once was easy. Trying repeating the act a dozen times, holding the maximum stretch for a couple of seconds for each, was a humbling experience.  The weakest band is enough to make my muscles know they've been used; and I suspect will be so for at least a month.