Health Benefits of Walking

Aug 17, 2011 by guestcontributor

Walking is one form of exercise that is best health enthusiasts who can no longer jog or run. Although jogging and running are the more popular forms of exercise for busy individuals, walking alone has offers a variety of health benefits that anyone can enjoy. Don’t ever think that walking is a lazy man’s exercise and you can’t benefit anything from it. In reality, walking basically offers more or less the same benefits as jogging and running. Walking though is the preferred choice because it is natural and doesn’t need any preparations. Here are some health benefits that health enthusiasts can achieve when they are walking.

Walking develops the leg muscles. Mountain climbers or hikers often exercise by several miles of walking in preparation for a major climb. They do this so that by the time when the climb proper arrives, their muscles have been prepared for the strenuous activity. Second, it keeps cardiovascular diseases away. Studies have shown that health enthusiasts that walk for at least thirty minutes are less prone to heart attacks and cardiovascular diseases. Blood test in Knoxville show that cholesterol level in those who walk everyday is less compared to those who rarely walk. It is therefore a must for corporate individuals.

Third benefit of walking is to improve sleep. Sometimes people complain of irregular sleeping pattern. This has become a problem for them because their sleeping pattern has already affected their work as well as their relationships with other people. Another study showed that after walking for at least thirty minutes, their sleeping patterns improved and one month later, sleep pattern has become normal. Walking after all is a simple yet effective way of exercise. So what are you waiting for? Grab your shoes now and go outside and enjoy all the benefits of walking.

Why Race Walking is so healthy?

Aug 3, 2010 by admin

It is a fact that simple walking quickly never equate with race walking in healthiness because there is difference in techniques. Power walkers and fitness walkers do quick walking to remain fit and fine but people do not know that no walking technique is as healthy as race walking. As race walking is, an Olympic game and rules followed to play this enthusiastic game, so if any one violet the rules he/she announced as disqualified.

Many people do race walking but not all do this game for competition. A large number of people play this game to remain healthy and fit, as they know the benefits of this healthy game. If you want to know the great advantages of race walking, then here is some information for you.

• Compare with the same pace of running, race walking is more beneficial to burn calories per mile and higher muscular activity. James Rippe, MD of University of Massachusetts, compare race walking with running as that race walking burns 120-130 calories per mile, which is higher than 100-110 calories burn during running.
• During race walking, the movement of arms is at very high rate and ultimately your body does healthy workout. This activity helps to strengthen your arms, neck and chest muscles.
• According to new research conduct in Wayne State University, the competitive race walkers have better health and fitness profile than ordinary runners. They reported that professional race walkers have low body fat and balanced cholesterol level in their body. This is no doubt, a good sign of healthy body.
• Due to one golden rule of race walking, which is as your one foot always remains in contact with the ground, the strain on ankle, knees and hip joints is less than free style running.

Judging a Race Walk

May 18, 2010 by admin

Like every sport competition, Judging is very important for race walk too. The basic reason to have judges in race walk competition is to insure the fair competition between all contestants.  There are mainly two things, which a judge considers while judging the game. Firstly, straight leg movement and secondly, continuous contact with the ground. The front foot must come on the ground, before the toes of back foot lose the contact with the ground.

To judge this contact is very difficult, when feet are moving quickly, it is very tough for the judge to focus. Human eye cannot concentrate on such tiny thing, but when judge see that feet are floating, it is time to take action.

Judges cannot use any camera or video equipment to judge the race; they have to make all decisions with unaided eye. Yes, eye is not a perfect tool to judge this event, but this is the method considered as most effective for a fair game.

Bent knee race walking is the incorrect way, which can also lead to loss of contact with the ground. When a judge in race walking competition notice a player breaking one or both rules of the game, the judge call out the violation to the walker and also show a black and yellow sign to the competitor. This sign has two symbols on both sides, one for loss of contact and other for bent knee. Showing of these signs are called as cautions, these cautions alone cannot disqualify a contestant from race.

If walker is losing contact with ground or walking with bent knees, the judge will write a disqualification, i.e. a red card. If a walker gets three red cards from three different, the competitor will be disqualified. Only head judge will notify the walker that he or she has been disqualified.