Routine walking is one of the best activities you can do for your health. Just walking for 30 minutes most days of the week can improve your heart health, strengthen your bones, lose fat, boost muscle growth, and improve mental health.
Specifically, regular walking can reduce your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and some types of cancers. Besides walking for weight loss or other health benefits, there are plenty of ways to motivate yourself to stick to this healthy habit. This article will summarize 8 ways to motivate yourself to walk more often and help you gain the benefits of this healthful practice.
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Set Specific and Achievable Goals
With walking or any goal, it’s important to set your sights realistically. It’s improbable to expect to walk a marathon on your first day, and it can be disappointing when you don’t achieve that goal, barring you from ever walking regularly again. Instead, start small with your walking goals, and let the pride of completing these walks motivate you to increase your time limits and mileage goals. Sometimes, even just making it outside of the treadmill is a win in and of itself.
Find a Walking Buddy
Having a friend, family member, or even a pet walk with you can be a great source of motivation. These loved ones can remind you of your schedule and hold you accountable for your commitment to walk regularly. These companions also help ease the monotony of walking, giving you a chance to catch up or simply share space with one another in peace.
Create a motivating playlist
If walking with others isn’t in the cards, create a walking playlist filled with music that encourages you to get your body moving. Pick upbeat songs with a strong beat for the best results. For bonus points, don’t let yourself listen to songs on this playlist when you’re not walking. Soon enough, the joy of listening to these beloved songs will merge with the joy of walking, and the two habits will be inseparable.
Explore new routes
Variety is the spice of life, and when you’re exercising, that’s no different. When you get tired of walking the same path every day, try finding a hiking trail or another park where you can walk the same distance but enjoy the novelty of a new location.
Try to see these different paths at different points in the season, too. No two walks will be identical and you’ll be more engaged trying to pick out the nuances in how your scenery changes.
Remember the Health Benefits
As mentioned earlier, there are a multitude of benefits to regular walking, but there are many additional helpful, healthful benefits, just a few of which are listed below.
- Improved Circulation
- Longer Life
- Improved Mood
- Strengthened Muscles
- Better Sleep
- Limited Age-Related Memory Decline
- Stay Independent Longer as You Age
Add Walking to Your Schedule
In our increasingly busy lives, it can sometimes feel like you can’t spare any time for a thirty-minute walk. Between work, family responsibilities, meal-prepping, and sleep, many people’s schedules are already almost filled. If anything, though, this should be more motivation to carve out time to take care of yourself.
To help motivate yourself to walk, put your daily walk on your calendar; make it an untouchable practice. This time is time for you to prioritize your mental and physical health. One half-hour walk won’t derail all your plans; enjoy this break.
Practice Mindfulness
If you find yourself stressing out on your walks, thinking about all the things you could be doing with your time, take the opportunity to practice mindfulness. Instead of making to-do lists inside your head, take time to clear your mind of the intrusive thoughts and practice enjoying the scenery around you, whether that be the bustle of other people alongside you or appreciating the beauty of nature, appreciate your surroundings with gratitude.
You are lucky enough at this moment, at this age, to be able to walk as long as you can. Thank your body for being able to move you, thank the world for allowing you to experience this peaceful moment, and thank yourself for taking the time to do something for yourself.
Reward Yourself
After you finish your walk, take the time to treat yourself a little. Whether it’s a small treat at the end of every walk or a system where you reward yourself after a series of walks, make sure you recognize key milestones in your journey and progress. One way to do this is to track your distance cumulatively in relation to larger-than-life goals. For example, you can look up the distance across your state and track how long it takes you to “walk” across it. Or look up bigger goals and track your walking across the country or even to the moon.
There are a multitude of different benefits to regular walking, and those benefits can be motivating on their own, many people require an additional push to stick to healthy habits. Practices like walking with a buddy, exploring new routes, or rewarding yourself can all be great ways to ensure you’re motivated to continue your routine and receive all the helpful benefits. Sooner or later, you won’t even need any outside motivation, and the joy and the routine of the walk will be enough to urge you to continue your regular walking routine.
