My Walking Challenge

You're going to get to know the various walking paces: slow walking, day-to-day walking and active walking.

Total 35min.

Warm up: 10min slow and day-to-day walking
- Exercises: 4 x 5min = 2min day-to-day walking + 2min active walking + 1min slow walking
- Warm down: 5min

This is "your" time.
Stay focussed on yourself and your exercise. Try to unroll your foot fully along the ground before thrusting forwards into each new step.
Hit the ground with your heel first and feel the whole foot unfold on the ground before pushing off from your toes.
This is a new experience for you, so don't worry if you feel slightly apprehensive - it's normal.
Keep your head up and your eyes forward: you can be proud of taking up fitness walking.

It's a sport that exercises your whole body and it deserves more recognition!

Well done for your first session!
You've done the hardest part: you've started!

Take a minute to consider your outing: How did you feel? Has it done you some good?
Walking is going forwards: And now you're on your way!

Feel like improving your performance?
On the next session, you're going to feel the exercise throughout your whole body: your feet, your lower legs, the back of your thighs, your glutes, not to mention your abs, your arms and your back!

This session will call your cardio-respiratory capacities into play and make you feel new muscles!

Now you're in for an intense experience!

The point of these exercises is to increase your endurance: walking for a long time, comfortably and at an even pace.

Your heart will get stronger and your muscles become more efficient!

Duration 45min

- Warm-up: 15min
- Exercises: 25min: 5 x 5min = 2min brisk walking / 3min recovery slow walking
- Warm down: 5 min

A new exercise for you: take your time figuring it out!

You're going to have 5 repetitions of 2 minutes. Take the first repetition as your first try: a test run to try out this brand new exercise. Then, you'll know how to adapt your exertions for the next 4 repetitions.

If you think you could go a little faster, set off at a slightly faster pace. If, on the other hand, you don't think you could do all 4 repetitions at this pace, then set off at a slightly slower pace.

Here's how to tell if you're doing it properly: You should be puffing a little and your leg muscles should be getting warmer!
A little tip for you: It helps a lot to swing your arms with gusto!

Be proud of walking, get right into it and don't be shy!

That session went beautifully, well done!
As well as thoroughly exercising your heart, you've definitely put plenty of muscles to work, so they'll be feeling warm - possibly even aching a little.
That might be the case for your lower tibia muscle (between knee and heel), glute muscles and also your hamstrings (at the back of your thighs). They'll get stronger over time, gradually growing in strength, endurance and resistance. This session has really put them to the test, and now they'll need a little tenderness and stretching. So here's my advice: wait until tomorrow morning or evening, and then take some time to do some stretches. To find out how, check out our professional tips further down. See you very soon, walkers!

This third session focusses on endurance: 3 sets of active walking, for periods that gradually get shorter.

Duration 50min

- Warm-up: 12min
- Exercises: 33min
- 10min active walking + 3min recovery slow to day-to-day walking
- 8min active walking + 3min recovery slow to day-to-day walking
- 6min active walking + 3min recovery slow to day-to-day walking
- Warm down: 5 min

During this session, the main area you're going to work on is endurance.
The most important thing is to experience and get to grips with the active walking pace.

As you already know: It's faster than day-to-day walking.
I'd advise you to go for a loop circuit no longer than 1km, if you can.
That way, you'll be able to compare the 3 active walking sets of different durations.

#Tip: Take a small bottle of water with you. Hydration is always one of the keys to success.

Have a good session!

You've got yourself thoroughly warmed up.
It seems you worked on intensity more than endurance... so what's going on here?
The idea is to prepare your muscles, tendons and heart for exercise.
This also minimises the risk of injury.
You can be proud of your session, you've put in lots of concentration and energy!

How would you rate the session?
Take a step back and consider what you've just done.
Did you enjoy this exercise?
Did you manage to find your own pace?

These little questions you can ask yourself are beneficial; they'll make you realise how much you're progressing.
You'll notice it over the next few sessions.

In order to improve, it's important to combine endurance efforts with an increased intensity of effort.
That's what you're going to do on this session!

Today, we're stepping things up a notch.
The goal is to be able to last 3 minutes at a brisk pace. That's 1 minute longer than last week but with one repetition less (4 times)

Duration 40min

- Warm-up: 12min
- Exercises: 4 x 6min: 3min brisk walking + 3min slow walking to recover
- Warm down: 4min

It's getting harder!
My advice: just follow our lead.

Put your heart into it and stay focussed on your arms and the rhythm of your feet.
You're going to make it and you'll even be surprised to find yourself doing better than expected.

#Tip: Remember to take a small bottle of water along to stay hydrated. Make sure you wear an outfit suited to the exercise you're going to do today: one that's breathable when you're hot and that keeps you warm during recovery phases.

Well done for all the effort you've put into this session! You'll see how much good it's done you on the next session.

You'll be more comfortable in terms of breath; your arm swing will come more naturally; and you'll feel more coordinated in general.

Are your muscles feeling tired and a bit stiff, particularly the calves and glutes?
Here's the solution!
Do a few stretches tomorrow, especially on your legs and glutes.

For total recovery, make sure you stay properly hydrated over the next few days and eat all different colours of food to take in the maximum amount of minerals and vitamins.
In three days' time you'll be on top form again!

Your progress continues.

Duration 60min

- Warm-up: 15min
- Exercises: 40min
- 20min active walking + 4min recovery slow to day-to-day walking
- 12min active walking + 4min recovery slow to day-to-day walking
- Warm down: 5 min

This session is obviously a bit more demanding.

Continue to apply what you've learnt so far: attack with your heel, unroll your foot, use your toes to propel yourself forwards, regulate your breathing, swing your arms and walk proudly!
Look into the distance and stand straight, keeping your shoulders back and your chest open.

The challenging aspect of this session is the duration of the exercises.
Want a tip?
Choose a small loop circuit so you can do it several times over and keep an eye on your watch: Is each loop taking you the same amount of time?
The suspense of checking your time gives you another incentive to try your hardest!

You've never gone quite so far!

Well done. How many kilometres? Take a note of it.

You've gained in endurance, both physically and mentally.
Sometimes you might feel discouraged during a session, but don't worry, it's no big deal - it's completely normal!
Consider how far you've come. Bring your focus back onto your physical sensations, feel your muscles, your breathing, count your steps…

Whatever you do, don't downplay your achievements. Don't rush, be kind to yourself and allow yourself to be surprised by your own performance!

Stick to your good post-walking habits: hydration, nutrition, stretching, resting, sleeping.

See you next session - it's going to be a tougher one!

You're improving fast because your sessions are growing in intensity.

Your challenge this time is to last 5 minutes at a brisk pace. That's 2 minutes longer than last week but with one repetition less (3 times)

Duration 40min

- Warm-up: 15min
- Exercises: 21min: 3 x 7min = 5' brisk walking / 2' slow walking recovery
- Warm down: 4min

This session might well be considered the hardest yet... but you've improved so much you won't even notice!

You're now familiar with all the various sensations that come with exercise and you're better at managing your exertions. Now it's time to get a taste of intensity.

Here's the good news: You're going to be proud of yourself when you get through it!

My advice: visualise the course in terms of distance, not time. Divide it up into small stages (I'll get to the lamp-post over there); this way, you can keep setting yourself new goals (now to the bench further on).

Stay focussed, don't rush and don't allow yourself to get discouraged. There's so much you're capable of!

What a session! You can be proud of yourself! You didn't give up, you gave it your all! Now it's time for a good rest.

Stay properly hydrated, and make sure you eat healthy, varied food.

For those who want to try something new:
After showering, spray very cold water on each leg, and then hot water (hotter than lukewarm); do this 3 times. from heel to thigh. This promotes blood circulation, speeding up the flow (your blood vessels contract, then dilate) and making your legs feel really light!

See you next week: The last week of our Walking Challenge!

Duration 50min

- Warm-up: 15min
- Exercises 30'
- 3 x 10min = 5' active walking / 2' brisk walking / 3' day-to-day to slow walking
- Warm down: 5 min

While we're on the subject of novelties... here's a brand new session.

You're going to set yourself the challenge of blending endurance with intensity.

As you've probably guessed: that means an exercise that keeps growing in intensity!

Take the first repetition as a trial run, to get an idea of the effort required and thus be able to manage it better over the next two repetitions.

Your mission is... To try and cover a few more metres with each repetition!
The key to success is to make your strides flow (even frequency) while maintaining the amplitude (length) of your steps.

Well, that session was far from easy! Once again, well done!

You've had to manage the various walking paces and put your heart to work in terms of both power and endurance.

Did you enjoy this exercise? This type of session breaks up the monotony with constant changes in pace and increasing difficulty.

Now you deserve a good rest, to be able to keep progressing.

For a good recovery, you know the basics: it's all about hydration and nutrition.
And if you want to take it a step further, there are exercises you can do to strengthen your muscles, improve the mobility of your joints and increase your flexibility
.
Yoga does all three! You'll soon notice that working on your strength and flexibility allows you to walk faster, and for longer, without getting tired.

This is the last session!

The goal is pure endurance!
Duration 60min

- Warm-up: 15min
- Exercises 40' active walking
- Warm down: 5 min

This is the longest session of the Walking Challenge.

You're going to do active walking for 40 minutes!

Does that seem too long for you?

Don't tackle these 40 minutes head-on, instead try to step around them. Every minute your attention is engaged elsewhere is another minute clocked. Concentrate on your body, on what you're feeling and how your muscles are working, on your technique and the force of the ground underfoot, and listen to your breathing.

These are precious moments: walking at an even pace helps you empty your mind and leave all your worries behind. When the going gets tough, just focus on the vocal coaching and you'll soon get back into the session.
Enjoy this last session!

What a session! What a week! What a challenge! You've finished, you made it!

Never mind what speed you went at or how many kilometres you covered - the only thing that really matters is all the effort you put in.
Have a look at your first sessions on the Challenge, you'll see how much you've improved. Take your time savouring that progress!

I hope this Challenge has helped you discover your sports abilities and an inner strength you didn't know you had.

Take advantage of this new-found energy to keep right on going. There are other fitness walking programmes on our app; go ahead, check them out and find a challenge suited to the level you've now reached!

And if you're feeling even more adventurous, why not try out something new, such as Pilates, at Domyos?

Allow yourself to dream a little, too; imagine yourself going out on hiking excursions near where you live... Now that you have the endurance to walk from 1 to 2 hours, what's to stop you?

And lastly, if you're hungry for some scientific facts, invest in a heart rate waistband so you can monitor your heart rate zones during exercise.

And... Let's get active!