Walking is almost an everyday must-do. However, many people fail to walk properly. Bad walking habits not only increase the burden on the body but may lead to a variety of small ailments such as shoulder stiffness and backache.
Here are some dos and don’ts of walking. You can check the walking mistakes you might make and correct them.
How to walk properly? Don’ts of walking
1. Head down and slouch
It’s quite easy to get tired if you walk that way. Walking slouched over compresses the body’s organs such as the lungs, so breathing will become shorter, which may have an impact on cardiopulmonary function. Besides, you might get a HUNCHBACK! For any type of walking, please stand tall.
2. Shuffle your feet
Due to fatigue, shin injuries, poor leg muscle strength, or just a pair of heavy shoes, some people fail to drive their feet from heel to toe when walking. Instead, they “shuffle” on the ground. These bad walking habits may cause strain on joints, muscles, and arches with poor buffers. Also, this way of walking makes you look sloppy! If you make a lot of noise, others may give an eye-rolling.
3. Swing your arms up too high or not swing at all
If you don’t swing your arms when walking, it will be slightly more difficult to keep balance. You may naturally want to put your left foot forward with your left arm out. However, if you swing too high, you may slow down. The upper arms perhaps get tired or even strained. Just relax your arms and let them swing naturally.
4. Lean your body
Many people walk with their bodies not straight but slanting forward or backward or left or right sides. This posture can cause back pain and slow your walking speed. To change your lean walking inertia, use sit-ups to strengthen your abdominal muscles and help you stand up straighter.
How to walk properly? Dos of walking
1. Keep your head up
The proper way of walking should be keeping your head up, relaxing your shoulders, and your eyes 3 to 6 meters in front of you to help avoid obstacles, with your chin parallel to the floor.
2. Heels land first
Your heels should land on the ground first rather than the whole sole of the foot flat. With your weight on the front foot, you should put your feet on the ground in a heel-arch-toe order with each step.
Strengthen the ankle and calf strength exercise in your spare time. You can find some workout plans for different legs on Justfit! One of the simplest ways is an on-tiptoe exercise: stand on the edge of steps with the heels suspended. First press the heels down as far as possible, and then try to lift up, repeat 10-20 times.
If you have made such mistakes, now walk properly for a good figure!