Alright fellas. I want to jump right into it and give you the cheat code on why walking is so beneficial for us old timers. I say cheat code because it’s the thing we naturally do to cover short distances but too few of us understand its holistic magnitude. It’s been beat into our heads that we need to train in the gym like we’re jumping on stage for a bodybuilding show or run north of 1,000 miles a month to stay lean. But I want to let you in on a little secret: The body doesn’t care what you do, as long as you’re moving, thus let us get into one of the most effective and simplest tools to keep you looking and feeling good.

Why Does It Matter?

I was hoping you’d ask: The answer is 20-30 minutes per day can reduce the risks associated with heart disease by 30-40%. Cardiovascular disease and the prevention of it should be top priority for us over 40. Putting one foot in front of the other repetitively keeps the heart strong, maintains healthy blood pressure, cholesterol and improves circulation. Additionally we know that keeping unhealthy weight away becomes more of a challenge as we age, thus when we walk we’re also increasing our insulin sensitivity and naturally burning additional calories without having to go to the extremes of unhealthy dieting and grueling workouts. Oh, and let’s not forget those aches and pains we sometimes wakeup with: Walking also helps protect our muscles and bones: Because of it being low impact, it increases bone density which helps reduce osteoporosis and arthritis from showing up later on down the road. Aside from the physical, walking is a superb stress reliever by reducing cortisol, anxiety and depression.

Passively Add Walking In

There are definitely times where you purposely put on your shoes, select your favorite playlist, grab a towel and/or water bottle and head out the door to circle the block. Of course, I’m not here to stop you and actually encourage you to do this as many times as you can per week, but the reality is life calls and your time gets snatched away from you (often). Before I get into the passive ways of adding it in, I do want to stress the importance of 4am to 6am and simply advise you to take advantage of this precious window to set the tone for the day by getting a quick walk in if you’re not going to the gym. I’m talking as little as 15-20 minutes to not only get you up and moving around but to give you some time to think about the day and plan a bit rather than being totally reactionary to everything thrown at you. If you work from home and not tied to a headset, you have to start looking at your meetings as 30 and 60-minute walking opportunities: Walking will actually help spark creativity and give you a bit of an edge over those you work with. If you have to report to an office or physical location of some sort; then obvious thing to do is to park as far away as you can while still ensuring you’re not sweaty and musty by the time you get to your desk or work station. For those of you in a multi-level building, the elevators and escalators are now off limits: Let’s find those stairs and take them so often you know how many there are to get to each floor.

How Many Steps?

8,000 to 10,000 should be the goal, as this range has been proven to significantly reduce the mortality risk for men over 40. And with this, we’re not only talking about extending our lifespan but doing so with a high degree of quality. I know for me and in order to hit 10,000 steps, I have to walk a total of (2) hours per day. Now, I’m sure the mind goes into panic mode trying to engineer a way to walk for that set amount of time, but it’s because you’re likely looking at it as (1) big block of time. The truth is I treat walking like the water jugs people carry around with hashes on them showing what time it is and how many ounces they should have drunk by then: If I know I’ll be up for (16) hours and my goal is (2) hours of walking, that means I’m aiming to walk 7-minutes and 30-seconds every hour in order to hit my goal. Cleary life is never that perfect, especially on a re-occurring basis, thus as I miss an hour, I simply add it to the next hour and so on and so forth. Personally, I tend to get close to half of my daily steps in first thing in the morning but as far as the rest of the day, I try to make it as social and passive as possible. Sometimes this means a family walk in the evening after eating and before showering. Other times it’s grabbing a work colleague and walking around the building or outside while talking about an idea or problem. A friend may call and I’ll walk around while they bend my ear on the latest and greatest going on with them. Again, the goal is to stay active, not sit for too long and know that I’m doing my body something good by finding opportunities to get those steps in. So go ahead, get up, look down and know that those (2) things touching the floor will ultimately determine how many years you add to your life!!!

Affiliate Link (Below)

Here’s the under the desk treadmill that makes it easy for me to get a quick 10-15 minute walk in after meals as well as during phone calls and meetings. It has an incline of up to 10%, speeds up to 3.8mph, a 300-lb weight capacity, weighs 45lbs and is less than 4′ long for easy storage.