It’s the easiest exercise in the book – but you are likely to be walking wrong.
This is according to sports scientist Joanna Hall, who told The Post that most people sabotage, unknowingly, their bodies and fitness goals every time they reach the sidewalk.
Determined to help, Hall has developed Walkactive, a science-supported method that promises to turn a basic ride into a whole body tune, improving posture, joint health and overall well-being.
Already a success across the lagoon, Walkactive was recently released in the US. Curious about the tinnitus, I dare my sneakers to see if Hall could teach me how to walk smarter (no longer difficult) in just two weeks.
The four errors ruining my walk
When Hall first told me that I could improve the way I walk, I was skeptical. As a new car without a car, accumulate more than 10,000 steps per day. How bad my march could it really be?
But the moment I saw her slide down a busy street – a head up, shrugged back and take me a confident and soft step – my SHUFFLE SUAL SUAL SUVER SUVERS
“Anyone and everyone can walk better,” Hall told me as we got our first lap. She quickly realized that I was guilty of the same four mistakes that most people made while walking.
First: My hip flexors were doing all the hard work.
“These muscles are like the perpetrators in the playground,” Hall explained. “We train them to carry on us, but what we really want is to involve our later chain” – the muscles that pass from the upper back to the calves.
By using my hip flexors too much and neglecting my buttocks and abdominal, I was unknowingly creating a robotic and robotic walk that shortened my step and stretched my lower back. Worse, studies suggest that this imbalance can limit how far you can walk.
Then I was landing standing, trusting what Hall calls “passive attack of the foot.”
“Wherever we have an articulation, we should have a movement,” she said. “When we walk incorrectly – using a passive foot attack and using the surface of our hip flexors – we commit our ability to involve all the joints of the foot.”
Over time, this reduces foot and ankle flexibility and can lead to knee pain and the bad function of the tendon, Hall said.
“This is an intelligent way to connect with how your body should move, as opposed to the way our bodies have learned to move.”
JOANNA HALL
Then there was the position of my head.
As a writer glued to my computer and a generation Z’er always on my phone, I spend most of the day looking down. This habit was naturally transferred to my walk.
“This has great implications for the way the body moves,” said Hall.
The front slope places the upper back, limits the spinal rotation and restricts the diaphragm, reducing oxygen ingestion. It also decreases the mental health benefits of the walk.
Hall explained that keeping his head high increases the “optical flow” – as we realize the objects that pass through us – which helps reduce stress and anxiety.
“If we can take something that is the glue of our lives and perfectly, the effect can be deep.”
JOANNA HALL
“If someone goes out for a walk through their mental well-being, but is walking with bad technique and looking down, the benefits are really reduced,” Hall said.
Finally, I was neglecting my arms, letting it be passively beside me as I walked.
“When the arm does nothing, we are losing the ability to have full body movement,” said Hall. “This limits our ability to use abdominal muscles and create shape around the waist.”
A 14 -day renovation
To improve your march and get more of your walks, you might think you need to go longer, harder or faster. But according to Hall, this is not the answer.
“In fact, we need to find a smarter way to connect with our body, so that we use the right muscles the right way, at the right time, in the right sequence,” she said.
To find out how, I tried the Walkactive-A 14-day program course at $ 64.99 to which you get access to life.
With over 30 years in sports and fitness, Hall has observed a common pattern: most people are disconnected from how their bodies should move. This disconnection – usually caused by lesions, bad habits or muscle imbalances – avoids an efficient walk.
Walkactive intends to correct this with four simple steps. “If we can take something that is the glue of our lives and perfectly, the effect can be deep,” said Hall.
“Every step you take will give you a postural benefit,” she explained. “This will give you a functional benefit of how your joints align. And it will also give you a cosmetic benefit of body shape changes.”
Science supports. A South Bank University study tested the Walkactive method in 24 healthy adults. After 28 days of hall training, its average walk velocity increased by 23%, body mass dropped 2%and body fat decreased 3%.
Participants also had improvement and skeletal alignment while experiencing less tension in knee and ankle joints.
Even more impressive, 96% of participants reported a boost in overall well-being, and everyone was more physically active than before the experiment.
“This is an intelligent way to connect with how your body should move, as opposed to the way our bodies have learned to move,” Hall said.
From clumsy to confident
Hall and I met in Bryant Park to analyze the basics of Walkactive.
Your first drill: the “open ankle” move. You leave your foot back on the floor a little more and then remove – heel to your foot – as if stuck with velcro.
“Feel the shell,” she reminded me, step by strange step. I instantly felt a stretch in my thigh when my buttocks and abdominals involved.
Then I had to prolong the space between my ribs and hips – a small adjustment that finds the belly, improves posture and relieves the pressure of the hip.
So I concentrated on increasing the distance between the ear lobes and the collarbone, which pulled my shoulders back and up.
Finally, I worked in my arms. Hall instructed me to throw them naturally as pendulums, unlike the robotic and robotic movement of a walker of power.
I will not lie – at first, I felt like a newly angry deer. But after a few turns, the technique began to seem more natural. I could immediately say that I was moving me differently.
After our initial meeting, Hall released me on the 14 -day program.
The Walkactive application offers a mixture of instructional videos and audio training sessions to guide it before, during and after each walk. Hall Pimenta in tips and reminders, keeping you on the right track.
At first, maintaining proper form required real focus. I was moving slower than normal and kept going back to my old and sloppy habits.
“When you start, it can be a little clumsy,” Hall reassured me during my first individual training session.
We found ourselves virtually several times during the two-week leading course available for all Walkactive users. Hall assured me that the adjustment period was completely normal. After all, recycling your body to do something you did all your life doesn’t happen overnight.
But over time, the method began to click. The tension on the upper back and shoulders decreased. I felt a new pain in the muscles that clearly neglected, like my calves and tendons.
After I had the basics, I was ready to speed up the pace. One of my favorite features in the app is timed walking sessions, which are defined for music with varied rhythms to help you find your ideal rhythm.
In a short time, I was excited to tie my sneakers and hit the sidewalk, Hall’s voice in my ear twisting me with every step.
At the end of two weeks, I was walking louder, moving faster and feeling lighter in my feet. I could go further and really saw myself sweating.
“It’s deeply empowering to have a positive connection with your body,” Hall told me after the course wrapped it. “We want to help you get it in a fun and pleasant format. But if you take it seriously, it will really help you feel better.”
Two months later, I’m still putting the method to work. I feel stronger, I’m more confident and even have a few lighter pounds on the balance.
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