Walking Your Way to Better Health: A Beginner’s Guide for Seniors

We hear it all day, every day: for better health and longevity, get moving!

We all know we should walk more. We have watches and phones to track our steps. We see friends passing our windows, waving to us as they stroll past our houses. We tell ourselves we’ll start walking….tomorrow.

We know there are health benefits. According to AARP research, walking 10,000 steps per day can cut dementia risk in half. In half! Research in the field (GeroScience) of aging and exercise notes, “low-intensity physical exercise, including walking, exerts anti-aging effects and helps prevent age-related diseases, making it a powerful tool for promoting healthy aging.”

Starting a walking routine is one of the best ways for seniors to stay active, improve their health, and enjoy a sense of community and well-being. Walking is a low-impact activity that improves cardiovascular health, supports mobility, and reduces the risk of various diseases. Walking is accessible for most people and is relatively cheap and easy to start!

Here are 5 Tips for Starting a Safe & Sustainable Walking Routine:

1. Consult with your doctor.

While walking is low-impact and one of the most accessible forms of exercise, any new exercise program should begin with a visit to your doctor. This is especially important if you have any health issues or conditions, such as arthritis, heart disease, respiratory issues or balance/mobility issues. Even hearing loss can make walking less safe without a proper plan. Your doctor can help you create a healthy, safe plan and is the first stop before taking the proverbial first step in your walking plan.

2. Set realistic goals and track your progress.

We often become excited to start a new health journey or exercise plan. In our hearts and minds, we can see ourselves hiking through the woods for hours on end or running across a finish line at the end of a race. But to get to any finish line, we have to set reasonable, scalable goals. A walking program is no different than starting to train for a marathon or begin a strength-training program: start small, set achievable goals and let your body adjust and adapt at a natural pace.

If you’ve been sedentary for some time, you might start walking for 15 minutes, three times per week. After several weeks at this pace and rate, you can increase your time to 20 minutes 5 times per week.

The key is to make the goals achievable and buildable. You want to slowly increase your intensity or the time you’re walking, rather than going gung-ho right out the gate. Remember, walking for health and wellness is all about the long game!

Some great online resources include this Complimentary Walking Schedule from Silver Sneakers, this scalable planfrom Readers Digest The Healthy.com or this 6-Week Beginner Walking Plan from Boston University.

A great way to track your progress is with a smart watch (such as Apple or FitBit) or a pedometer, which are easy to use and cheap to purchase through sites like Amazon.

You can track how often you walk, how many steps you take, how far you walk and how quickly you’re walking. Increasing any of these measures means you’re making progress, and progress is invigorating and motivating!

3. Choose proper footwear.

While it might be tempting to hit the sidewalks or garden trails in your favorite sneakers, finding properly fitting shoes is one of the keys to a successful, safe and sustainable walking program.

Harvard Health has some great tips for finding great walking shoes such as:

• Go to a specialty running or fitness store rather than a large chain.
• You can wear a running shoe to walk (but not the other way around).
• Choose socks first, as the thickness matters when trying on running/walking shoes.
• Look for a shoe that bends easily for greater range of motion and easier push-off.

Don’t skip this important step. Finding the right footwear will help avoid pain and suffering later and keep you moving for the long haul.

4. Warm up and cool down.

Warming up may not feel like the most athletic part of a workout, but it’s important for lubricating joints and other tissues. Warming up also helps increase blood flow, which helps reduce the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles. Less lactic acid in the muscles mean less muscle soreness the next day, so if you want to feel good while you’re working out AND the next day, be sure to warm up!

After our walk, we’re ready for the shower or a glass of water on the front porch. But don’t forget the cool down, another overlooked and underrated part of a healthy exercise plan. It’s important to gradually slow a workout rather than abruptly stop. If we stop exercising too quickly, we can feel nauseous or even faint. And remember that lactic acid? Cool downs help our bodies get rid of it more efficiently.

Here are a few great warm up and cool down options for starting out:

• Warm Up/Cool Down at Heart.org
• How To Warm Up & Cool Down at Mayo Clinic
• PBS’s Pre-Walk Warm-Up Routine

1. Use walking aids if needed.

Like any other sport or activity, sometimes we need aids or support. Many seniors benefit from the use of walking sticks or canes while walking, and walking for exercise is no different. These aids can help reduce joint strain, support balance, and make walking a safer activity. For those concerned about uneven terrain or balance issues, walking at a local park, on a school track, or indoors at a shopping mall might provide more stable, flat surfaces.

Amazon has a great selection of fitness walking sticks/poles and walking sticks for seniors.

These walking poles from York Nordic help with balance and rehab.

Using these 5 Tips can help you go from thinking about walking to getting up and out the door. With an all-clear from your doctor, proper shoes and gear and attainable goals, walking can be a safe, accessible exercise for any age. You can do it all over the world and right in your own back yard. You can even do it in your living room, with YouTube videos geared toward walking in the comfort of your own home.

However and wherever you walk, these tips can help you meet your goals and get healthy and fit along the way.