Speed Walking

The activity of speed walking or brisk walking is performed in different ways. The Olympic-style of speed walking is also known as 'Racewalking'. Power walking and fast walking are other forms of this activity. Walking is one of the best forms of exercise which keeps the body healthy. Brisk walking is even recommended by doctors to keep the body fit. It is a good cardiovascular exercise and also helps keep the health problems like diabetes under control. Let us understand more about speed walking exercises through various aspects of this topic.

Speed Walking
In the speed walking technique, one of the foot is always in contact with the ground surface. Back foot should be maintained in a position without bending the knee from the time front foot touches ground until it passes underneath/completes a cycle. A simple rule which explains the speed walking technique in a better manner is that the toe of back foot should leave the ground only after heel of front foot has touched the surface. This form/technique of walking leads to a rolling hip action. In order to attain speed, length of the stride should be reduced. If we take a look at the speed walking records, Sergey Morozov of Russia holds the record for fastest athlete to complete the 20 km distance. He completed this distance at Saransk (8th June, 2008) in a time period of 1 hour, 16 minutes and 43 seconds.

Power Walking
In this form of leg exercise, the exact technique of racewalking is not used. Instead, the arm motion helps in gaining speed. It is a general form of walking without any kind of set guidelines/rules. Few people make use of weights i.e. carry weights while performing a power walking exercise. Doing it in a proper manner is useful; carrying weights without following a proper technique doesn't help.

Fast Walking
It is the simplest form of speed walking. One doesn't have to follow any technique. Maintaining a good posture, pushing off powerfully and rolling through steps (being taken) also is recommended. There is no need to take long strides. One has to just follow the proper arm motion. The speed walking vs running comparison shows that calories burned in both these activities are almost the same. At high speeds (during walking), this marginal difference too is reduced to zero. Thus, one should consider speed walking as a good exercise.

How to Increase Walking Speed
A simple workout described below should help increase the walking speed gradually. One should start walking with a comfortable position. The legs and arms work in tandem to create a smooth and effective motion of speed walking. Walking should be continued with regular/moderate speed for a period of 5 minutes. It is after these 5 minutes that the speed has to be increased till a complete 1 minute. The speed should drop back to normal after this period of minute. This routine should be continued until one feels comfortable with the exercise. Gradually the duration of time in which speed is accelerated should be increased.

Calories Burned: Speed Walking
One might not feel that speed walking could be a vigorous exercise. It is however, a good cardiovascular exercise which also helps burn calories. According a study conducted by the Harvard University, speed walking at 4.5 miles/hr should help lose 300 calories for a person weighing 125 lbs. Number of calories lost by a person with 185 lbs weight are 440.

The topic of speed walking is dealt in short, in the article above. The different forms of this kind of walking are discussed in the paragraphs. Information about calories burned while walking briskly and technique for increasing speed also is presented in the article.