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If you’ve committed to a consistent walking routine, you’re making major strides for your health. Walking improves your cardiovascular health, helps you maintain a healthy weight, boosts your mental health and can even add years to your life.
But there should still be room in your routine for other types of movement, too — specifically strength-training exercises.
Studies show that doing a combination of cardio and strength training is more effective in improving strength, lean body mass and cardiovascular fitness than performing just cardio exercise alone. And when done strategically, it actually can improve your cardio performance, helping you to be more stable and efficient when walking and increasing your walking speed and endurance.
This strategic way to design your workout routine is called cross-training. Essentially, cross-training means incorporating different exercise modalities that complement each other into your routine. If you’re a walker, it means training your body in a way other than walking, like adding strength-training to your routine.
Why is cross-training good for walkers and runners?
Training your body in different ways will help you build endurance and improve coordination, form and posture.
By engaging muscles that support you every step of the way (literally!) you’re training your body to move functionally and in tandem, instead of just using your legs and feet to move your body forward.
Specifically for walkers and runners, training the body to move side to side helps support the muscles used to move forward. Building strength in the upper back allows your shoulders to draw back to improve your posture while walking. Strengthening your core can help you to walk with more ease, less soreness, a longer stride and even a faster pace.
In addition, cross-training helps to prevent injury due…
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