Table of Contents
Summer: time to get back in shape, to start over with a good and healthy one physical activity outdoors, especially after more than a year spent away from gyms due to the health emergency due to the new Coronavirus. And what better way than with one fast walk? “Researchers have shown that brisk walking can be just as effective as running. But, unlike the latter, it is certainly less demanding ”, explains the Ione Acosta VIP trainer, which boasts among its clients from the footballer Modibo Diakité to the international actresses Laia Costa and Ida Lundgren, to the princess Arabella von Liechtenstein and to Italian celebrities such as Carolina Rey, Luca Capuano and the singer Fiordaliso.
For the trainer, commit to increase speed what can be a simple walk is an easily achievable goal.
The benefits of brisk walking
Walking at a good pace every day can help improve health in various ways, to the benefit of functions cardiocirculatory, respiratory, mobility and muscular endurance. Also stress and mood are positively affected by this type of physical activity and even improves insomnia.
A recent study conducted by the University of Leicester (UK), the results of which were published in the Journal of Obesity, highlighted that those who walk fast can live up to 20 years more. “Fast walking improves cardiovascular well-being, which is a yardstick on the efficiency of the heart, and the ability to use oxygen, which in turn represents an indicator of the state of form ”, explains Acosta.
“Furthermore, with physical exercise and specific supplements we can stimulate the production of sirtuins, proteins that ‘rejuvenate’ the muscles and make us live longer ”, adds the expert. It is a class of proteins naturally present in our body that regulate important metabolic pathways and are involved, among other things, in aging and in stress. “Exercise activates these ‘longevity proteins’, which make us live well and longer,” says Acosta. And at the same time they have beneficial effects on muscle and physical fitness in general.
How to get started
“Exercising is good for every age and at all times, but you have to adapt your training to our physical conditions, to see results and benefit. An athletic boy under 30 will have a different workout than a 60 year old with joint problems ”, explains the expert. And then the training counts. “Who starts after a long period of inactivity – advises the trainer – must gradually walk the first week for maximum 10-20 minutes and then reach 40 minutes in the second week up to one hour from the third week onwards. The ideal is to walk everyday or at least three times a week “.
The ideal time? “Better train than morning – recommends Acosta – in the morning the levels of insulin are low, while those of the hormones are high, this favors the slimming, stimulating the “burning” of fat. The step must be harmonious, well balanced with respect to height and length of the limbs. The trunk must take on a upright position and the shoulders must assume a relaxed but not sagging attitude ”.
What to eat before and after training
Ione Acosta’s first rule on nutrition best suited to exercise is to eat and do not fast. “Many think that doing fasting training does burn fat previously accumulated. That’s not true, that is, not for everyone, especially for last-minute athletes ”, says the expert. “Exercise a empty stomach, especially in an untrained body, it risks affecting the proteins of the muscles, hindering the weight loss process ”.
So how do you go about it? “Before the walk it is important to do one light breakfast that it is nutritious and gives the right amount of mineral salts. Yes to a meal based on cereals, fresh or dried fruit, yogurt, toast. For lovers of coffee, walking could be further fat-burning. Taking a little caffeine or theine along with a few glasses of water can actually help you get your stomach down ”, assures the trainer. It is also essential to keep the body hydrated by taking in the adequate amount of water during the activity.
“This applies in the morning, but throughout the day: yes to meals with balance of proteins and carbohydrates, no to high calorie meals. For example: never an amatriciana before a walk, yes with cold wholemeal pasta with vegetables and light cheese or eggs ”, concludes the expert.
Read also
