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When it comes to exercise, walking is a great low impact workout that the vast majority of people can do. There’s no need for any special equipment, training or expertise – and you can slot it into your day whenever it’s most convenient for you. The potential health benefits of walking read like an advert for some new miracle drug – but they are very real and can be obtainaned with no more than a few small changes to your daily routine.

The majority of health professionals recommend a target of 10,000 steps daily in order to obtain the numerous health benefits achievable. For the majority of people that equates to a distance of between four and a half and five miles. It does sound like quite a long way – but it’s easier to achieve than you might imagine. Bearing in mind the potential health benefits on offer, finding a way to fit walking into your day is well worth the effort.

It’s possible that you will be somewhat lower than the recommended 10,000 daily steps. If you’re not sure how many steps you currently take then it might be a good idea to get hold of an Omron pedometer in order to find out what your daily average is. You can find these at fairly low prices these days – but be sure to pick one which uses a double axis sensor as these are more accurate.

Once you know the average number of steps you take on a daily basis, you should seek out ways to make up any shortfall between your daily average and the 10,000 step target value. There are any number of ways to do this – just be sensible and start off slowly, there’s no need to do it all at once.

If you can manage to find a dedicated time in your day for a walk then that’s fantastic. If that’s not feasible for you then don’t worry – there are plenty of other ways to increase your step count. Leave the car at home and walk to school, the shops or work. Take the stairs instead of the lift every now and again. Get off the bus a couple of stops before your final destination and finish your journey on foot.

Make modern technology work for you by walking around whenever you talk on your mobile phone. You can squeeze in an additional 1,000 or 1,500 paces in the course of a fifteen minute phone call. There are any number of opportunities to build walking into your daily schedule – and they soon add up.

One more way to make use of modern technology would be to use the new style of exercise footwear which is specially designed to increase the amount of work the muscles in your lower body muscles perform whilst walking normally. Reeboks Easytones, Skechers Shapeups and Fit Flops sandals are all examples of this style of fitnessshoe.

If you haven’t exercised for a while, if you are over forty years of age, or if you have any pre-existing medical conditions then you should talk to your doctor before starting any new fitness regime. However, considering that walking is a low impact workout which carries a very low injury risk, it should provide you with many health benefits. You will be feeling better, enjoying increased energy levels and losing weight before you know it – and you won’t need a pedometer or a set of scales to tell you how well you’re doing. You will be able to both see and feel the results.