Ella Creon, who works with the online magazine Apartment Therapy, admitted in one of her columns that despite the pandemic, she managed to maintain a healthy routine and regularly workout (though it wasn’t easy). At one point, Ella decided to see what impact walking would have on her fitness and physique, replacing her usual exercises. She didn’t expect the results she got.
Walking challenge versus traditional home workouts
The journalist began by describing her usual routine, which recently consisted of workouts using weights ranging from 4.5 to 11 kilograms. The walking challenge came to her mind when she temporarily moved to another place for a month and didn’t want to bring her workout equipment. Can walking help maintain fitness? Would this form of exercise still trigger endorphins? Her daily walks over 14 days were meant to help her find answers to these questions.
Walking workout - the challenge process
Ella started the challenge with 20-30 minute walks at a brisk pace. A podcast full of useful tips, tailored to her fitness goals, helped her monitor the training. After a week, Ella realized that she looked forward to her next walk, which had become one of her favorite parts of the day. On the eighth day, she decided to up the challenge by increasing her walking speed. For the first time, she experienced sore calves the next day.
14 days of walking - the conclusion
"After two weeks, I learned a few things about my habits and preferences around walking. First, I realized that while walking to the corner store certainly counts as a walk, I prefer dedicating a few minutes each day solely to the task. Second, I discovered that mixing up my walks with listening to lessons, playing my own playlists, or even calling friends for a virtual walk-and-talk session kept me from getting bored (even if I often walked the same path),"
Ella wrote in her article for Apartment Therapy
Creon decided that walks would become a permanent part of her new routine. However, she doesn't plan to give up her previous workouts entirely; she wants to mix different forms of activity. Working with weights engages different muscles than walking. Both activities yield slightly different results, so combining them is key to enjoying overall enhanced fitness!
