Although walking is championed as the "unsung hero of exercise," the truth is that it does have its drawbacks, pitfalls and occasional rough patches.
Let me emphatically state, though, I am a fan of walking. At the same time, there is a point when walking turns into "bad medicine."
What point might that be?
It's when your joints are hurting, in part because your tendons are being traumatized.
There are many potential reasons that walking is actually doing your body more harm than good. Listed below are a few that el Furecathas observed - and in some cases, experienced.
5 Ways that Walking Can Hurt Your Body
1. You've bought into the idea of wearing minimalist shoes, or walking barefoot.
Minimalist shoes are wonderful. I have an assortment of them, including the 5-finger variety. But if you go cold turkey into wearing them, and your feet, fascia and tendons are never getting a break, your body can take a brutal premature beating.
If you're accustomed to walking three-to-five miles (or more) per day, I wouldn't dive whole hog into wearing minimalist shoes. Keep your old comfy shoes on board. Give them a part-time job. Otherwise you may be hurting yourself more than you want to admit.
2. You have pain in your hips, knees, ankles and feet.
The pain you are suffering from may be due to injuries from sports, martial arts. It may also be due to neglect. A body that is not being used tends to get rusty and injured from lack of use.
Either way, when you decide you want to turn your situation around with a lot of walking, you may feel inexplicable pain. Not to worry, el Furecat has some solutions for you toward the end of this message.
3. You walk with bad form.
This one is a hard one for many people to accept, but the truth is the freakin truth.
Most people (and by "most" I am talking about 99% of the population), walk with bad form. Their arms are frozen and barely move. Their legs are stiff. One foot is going sideways, the other is moving straight forward.
Most of the time the heel strikes first (which contrary to many of the schmexperts is NOT always bad).
All of these errors in what is supposed to be natural, can lead to pain, especially when you're putting a lot of miles in.
4. You walk the same way all the time. There's no variety in your gait.
This point may appear to contradict what I mentioned above, but I am not telling you to walk with bad form.
What I am referring to is changing it up. Walk on the balls of your feet, then switch to deliberate and conscious heel-striking. Then walk with your feet in sumo wrestler fashion, with the feet angled at 30 to 45 degrees.
Walk sideways. Walk in a zig-zag manner.
And most importantly, go in reverse. Utilize the methods and ways I teach in my Dao Zoucourse, which incidentally, helps to alleviate and eliminate much of the pain people have in their hips, knees, ankles and feet.
5. You refuse to recharge, revitalize and recuperate.
Regardless of how much pain you're in, you are adamant that you are going to walk everyday, come hell or high-water. Eventually, this do-or-die mentality leads to chronic inflammation, and this can lead to getting one or more of your joints replaced.
Well then, what do I recommend you do when your lower body is banged up from walking, from neglect, or from injuries you have suffered over the years?
My advice is simple.
You loosen up all your major joints, then you practice standing still in the regenerative stances I teach in my Power Posturesprogram. These exercises have done the trick for me countless times, and they work for the people who do them.
Stop walking so much (hard on the tendons) and start standing still. This is the prescription that truly works wonders.
The wide variety of stances I teach in Power Postures puts spring back into your legs. They put a bounce back in your steps.
And they do this by elongating and strengthening the tendons in your lower body.
Again, excessive walking can damage the tendons. So even if you're not in pain at this time, if you don't have Plan B close at hand, you're eventually going to pay a painful price.
These loosening exercises and the stances and postures I teach benefit everyone, including those who are not injured. They are a major part of my training that I learned in my lifelong study of martial arts. They can give you uncanny abilities that almost defy logic.
These postures are considered by many to be life-preservers, longevity-builders.
And not just the living a long painful life type of longevity. They lead to living a loooooong healthy, full of pep type of life. The life where you are clearing life's obstacles and hurdles with a single bound.
If you think you've tried everything, you haven't.
Give yourself MORE than a fighting chance with Power Postures.
Plug yourself in and recharge. Observe the transformational difference it can make in your life.
Get the program NOW - and write to tell me how much a difference it has made in your life.
Want more spring in your step? Without pain?
Then get my course NOW.
That's how you...
Kick ass and take names.
Matt Furey
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