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These 10 Quick Steps to Take Before Your Next Walk will get out the door and in your best frame of mind.
How many times have you been excited to do something whether it was a big project, or you had a burst of inspiration you wanted to act on only to be sidetracked and ultimately derailed as you hunted high and low for the necessary items you needed to go forward with your task.
“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” -Alexander Graham Bell
Exercising is no different than any other activity you may undertake. You’re excited to begin getting back into shape and you want to take advantage of the beautiful day and get out for a walk.
Then it happens; you can’t find your sneakers, your best socks are in the wash machine, you put on your pant and shirt and they don’t match, and you feel self-conscience about it. Then your undecided about what jacket to wear. Yes, it’s sunny outside but that breeze is making it feel much cooler than you thought it was and now you’re not sure whether wear the heavier jacket, but you know it’s bulky and doesn’t look as good on you as the light jacket.
So, should you put on a heavier sweatshirt underneath the light jacket? You can’t find the sunscreen you purchase two weeks ago, and when you finally get out on the road, you realize you left your ear buds home and now can’t listen to your favorite podcast.
That may be an exaggeration, but if even one of those things comes into play for me, it gets my walk off on the wrong foot… no pun intended.
Your walking time is a great time to get deep into your thoughts and discover things about yourself you might not have considered before. Walking is great for problem solving, being creative and slowing yourself down in this hectic world. Make your walking time special by being prepared and know what you want to get out of each walk.
In this post, I will discuss preparations you can do to make getting out the door and walking a well-organized routine that puts you in the right frame mind to have an awesome walk. And you’ll learn about the seemingly odd items I carry with my on my walk. This will make perfect sense in a few moments.
Getting Out the Door to Walk
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" is a common saying that originated from a Chinese proverb. And that feels like a great start point for this first podcast and your walking journey. But, before you can take that first step outdoors, there are few steps you should take in preparing to get out the door.
Let’s break down the how and why of doing a little prep work will make getting out the door easy and how this will increase your overall fitness and enjoyment of walking.
10 quick steps to take before your next walk.
1. Prepare your Walking gear before-hand.
Now, here is my number one strategy to get out the door and walk more.
Develop a “Get Out the Door” routine that takes away the guesswork on what to wear and carry with you on your walks.
Being organized and prepared makes getting out the door easy. There is nothing more frustrating than wanting to get going only to hunt around for sneakers, pants, shirt, jacket, or question what to wear for the weather conditions.
Next thing you know it’s a half hour later and you’re still not out the door and you’re frustrated and your motivation to exercise is gone.
Or, you finally get out the door and discover that you left your ear buds at home. And now you can’t listen to the last chapter of the audiobook you started last week.
2. Have a place for your walking gear.
Keep all your walking gear in a central location. If you have everything within arm’s reach, you’ll greatly reduce the effort it takes to get out the door and walking. Your motivation will remain high and you’ll have a clearer mindset as you take your first steps.
I have a place in my home where I keep my walking gear. Sneakers, hip pack, and water bottle and other walking gear.
3. Mindset considerations before you even get out the door.
While you are getting your cloths on and preparing to get out the door, give a thought to what you want to accomplish on your walk.
Going out on a walk will give you so much free time to let your mind wonder and explore your deepest thoughts.
Mindset considerations before you walk; ask yourself, “What I you want to get out of this walk?”:
Are you walking for Fitness?
Calm your mind?
Stress reduction?
Sense of adventure?
Listen to an audiobook or podcast?
Listen to your own thoughts?
When you know what you want to do or accomplish while you’re out on the road, it makes you that much more motivated to keep organized and get your walk off on the right foot.
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4. Weather Considerations Before You Walk
Walking can be done in just about any weather conditions as long as you are prepared and properly dressed. There is a certain kind of satisfaction when I’ve completed a walk in less than ideal weather conditions. But you must take precautions.
In hot weather, you Must know the Real Feel and in cold weather, you must know the wind chill.
Walking in Hot Weather: Know the heat index which is the combined effects of the temperature and humidity of the air.
For example, if the temperature outside reads 84 degrees, you may think that it is not too warm to walk in, but if the relative humidity is 85%, then the heat index will read 96 degrees.
This could lead to some pretty serious consequences if you are not prepared for this much warmer “real feel” temperature.
By know the real feel, you may then carry more water or wear a hat to protect your head from the effects of the sun.
National Weather Service Heat Index
Walking in Cold Weather
Wind and cold together make up wind chill. Know the air temperature and wind chill index before going out to walk.
The key is to dress as if it is 10 degrees warmer than the wind chill temperature. That 10 degree difference will be made up for with your body heat. 32-degree weather with a 10 mile per hour wind speed will make it feel like 23 degrees So you should dress as if it’s 33 degrees… 10 degrees warmer then the wind chill.
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Beware of wind chill temperatures
You must take the 9 degree difference between the air temperature reading and the wind chill temperature into account when dressing for the cold.
If you only dress 10 degrees warmer than only the air temperature (32 degrees), and you dress as if it’s 42, in reality, you would be 19 degrees underdressed (wind chill temperature 23 degrees).
This is the difference between walking comfortably and being miserable. And there are very few things more miserable than being uncomfortable when you spend a lot of time outdoors.
Check out the link below to the National Weather Service and to a video I made on dressing in layer.
Take notes on what you wear when go out for each walk. Over time, you will build a walking logbook of information and clothing options.
I take notes on what I wore based on the weather conditions. After doing this for some time, I know exactly what to wear based on the weather conditions; temperature, wind, rain, snow, sleet, sunburn index, etc.
This takes the guesswork out of dressing, and you’ll be comfortable every time you walk.
It’s a must to check the Real Feel in summer or Wind Chill index in the winter and know exactly what to wear to stay comfortable during your walks. Simply noting what you wore will make is so easy the next time those conditions come up.
5. What essentials should you carry when you walk?
At the very least, you should always carry your cellphone and be sure the “In Case of Emergency Information” is filled in.
As a safety precaution, you can never be to prepared and the time it saves EMS personal may be the difference between getting the help you need and not getting it in time.
I’m a big believer in carrying water with even on my short walks.
Water is one of the key components of a healthy diet and a long-term weight-loss undertaking. It not only nourishes your body by keeping your cells hydrated, but it fills your stomach so that you are less hungry.
Drinking eight glasses of water per day is a good rule of thumb if you wish to retain a properly functioning body. This is just a general guideline.
If you are sweating while walking, you’ll need to add more water intake throughout your walk and during the day. I have a hip back with a water bottle holder that carries a 20oz reusable bottle. If it’s really hot, I’ll put an extra 16oz bottle inside the pack. I’d rather have it on me than not.
Safety Equipment
If you think you will be walking in dusk of the early evening or into the darkness, then you must carry a flashlight or head lamp and a reflective vest. At night, these two objects may save your life.
I’m not exaggerating about the saving your life. Just think how often you’ve driven in a car and how often you’ll pass someone walking at the side of the road dress in dark color. Think about how difficult it was to see them until you were nearly on top of them.
74% of pedestrian fatalities occur during dark conditions with or without artificial lighting.
If this sounds like a lot to carry, then wear a small hip pack.
They are light weight and allow you to carry your water bottle and everything you will need to thoroughly enjoy your walking experience. I’ve found a pack that is so comfortable I barely feel it.
I’ll leave a link in the show note to the pack I carry.
What I carry on my walks and why
In my pack I carry earbuds, pen, paper, reading glasses, and any other items I might need during my walk. I have my water bottle and headlamp, light reflective vest, power bar, and other stuff I like to have with me.
What will you listen to when you walk?
The personal development possibilities are endless:
Podcasts
Music
Audiobooks
Affirmation audio tracks
Your own thoughts
Also, your walking time is a great time to catch up with family and friends. Once you are out the door and walking, you can start enjoying the benefits of walking:
6. Mindset Benefits of Walking
Reduce stress
Ward off anxiety and feelings of depression
Boost self-esteem
Improve sleep
Increase your creativity and problem-solving ability
How does walking do all this?
Walking releases four vital neurotransmitters that impact your motivation, productivity, creativity, and wellbeing.
Endorphins
Dopamine
Serotonin
Oxytocin
So why is this so important?
Neurotransmitters transmit electrical signals within the nervous system. Each of these neurotransmitters plays a specific role in your emotional state.
Endorphins:
Endorphins are natural pain and stress fighters.
Stress and pain are leading factors in the release of endorphins
Endorphins interact with the opiate receptors in the brain to reduce the perception of pain.
Endorphins act similarly to drugs such as morphine and codeine BUT without addiction or dependence. So, endorphins are released to decrease the feeling of pain.
The Secretion of Endorphins Leads to:
Feeling of euphoria
Modulation of appetite
The release of sex hormones
Enhancement of the immune response
Endorphin release varies among individuals. Foods such as chocolate or chili peppers can enhance the secretion of endorphins.
Dopamine is another neurotransmitter released when walking
Dopamine motivates you to take action. It is responsible for the surge of reinforcing the feeling of pleasure and reward you get when you take action towards accomplishing a goal.
Remember all the times you’ve had that sudden “eureka” moment when the “light bulb” goes off in your head as you hit upon the breakthrough idea of an elusive problem. This feeling is the dopamine working its “magic” on your wellbeing!
A study of lab rats revealed just how vital dopamine is to you taking action. Rats with low levels of dopamine always opted for an easier option and less reward/food; those with higher dopamine levels exerted the effort needed to receive double the amount of food.
The next neurotransmitter released is Serotonin
Controls your mood and is responsible for happiness. It helps regulate when you sleep and wake, helps you think, maintains your mood, and controls your sexual desire. Serotonin is released when you feel significant. Most anti-depressants focus on the production of serotonin.
Your brain has trouble telling the difference between what is real and what you imagine, so it produces serotonin in both cases. Re-living and reflecting on past achievements will cause the brain to produce serotonin.
More ways to raise your serotonin levels:
Listen to affirmations
Positive self-talk
Gratitude
Positive reflection
Sunlight’s UV rays promote Vitamin-D and serotonin production
Oxytocin is another neurotransmitter that gets released when you walk.
Oxytocin is the glue that binds together healthy relationships. Oxytocin release creates intimacy, trust and strengthens relationships. Often referred to as "the cuddle hormone," a simple way to keep oxytocin flowing is to hug someone.
Research is still limited, but a few small studies have found evidence to suggest music can help boost oxytocin levels in your body.
From John Medina's Brain Rules. The Act of Walking Makes You More Productive:
Exercise improves cognition for two reasons:
Exercise increases oxygen flow into the brain.
Exercise reduces brain-bound free radicals.
One of the most exciting findings of the past few decades is that an increase in oxygen is always accompanied by an uptick in mental sharpness. Exercise acts directly on the molecular machinery of the brain itself. It increases neurons’ creation, survival, and resistance to damage and stress.
7. Know your walking routes
Over the years, I’ve developed a go-to list of about 20 go-to walking routes of various distances and difficulty. This makes it easy pick a distance or how much time I want to walk, then just look at my list for a walk.
Having this list as a start point also makes it easy to modify the route to add a new section or add more or less distance to it. I like to be out for more than an hour when I walk.
I typically like to walk at least 5 miles when I’m out. It took time to build up to this distance after my back injury and now it’s a very comfortable walk.
On my current list are 2 10 mile walking routes and a long 20 mile route that I do a few times a year.
I have a great 5-mile fitness route that has 4 big hills along the way and I have my spots to do my pushups and other bodyweight exercises. This is my fitness route and it’s a tough walk.
8. Add a motivational element to your walks
Another motivational tool you add to your route in keep a log of you walks. Track the miles you walk, your route, when you wore, and any thoughts and insights that come to you.
I did something interesting a few years ago, I fact it started back in 2004 and I began a virtual walk around the United States. Well, initially it started as a virtual run to Key West Florida and over the years morphed into a virtual walk around the perimeter of the United States. Many cool things happened over the years and I finally completed the walk in June of 2020 at the height of the covid epidemic. You can read all about on my website, the blog post is titles My Virtual Walk Around the United States.
And I’ll tell you this, have a large goal help me get out the door on days that I would have loved to stay in on the couch… that’s why setting goals is so important to your fitness progress.
On my long walks, I like to break them up:
9. The My Mid-walking turnaround.
As I teased in the introduction, you might wonder why take along pen, paper, reading glasses when I’m out walking? I call it the My Mid-walking turnaround.
This is my favorite motivational tool that keeps me walking longer.
This is where plan out my walking route and stop at the midway point of my long walk for coffee. Either at a local coffee shop, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, or a diner.
I then take my time and put down all the great thoughts and ideas I had during the walk.
If you’re the creative type, your walking time will have the ideas flowing. If you don’t think you are the creative type, keep an open mind to your thoughts and jot them down over coffee. You will be pleasantly surprised at the thoughts and ideas come to you during a walk.
Send me an email at: Frank@walkingforhealthandfitness and tell me about how creative you are while out walking.
10. Other Considerations in preparing to get out the door:
Use Mappitpedometer.com to calculate the mileage of your walk.
Use Google Earth and click the 3D mode to check out the terrain of the places you will be walking.
Knowing the mileage and landmarks are important.
Bathrooms
Coffee and break
Chilling out
I use different apps on my iPhone to track mileage. I currently use the app Map My Walk.
I use the walk setting in the Workout Setup.. At the end of my walk I save the walk and give it a name, and the app shows me a summary of my route on a map, as it give me details such as distance, pace, ave. pace, calories burned, steps, and elevation gain. I can then easily share my walk on social media with the click of a button.
The Map My Walk app is free and I’ll leave a link in the show notes.
In conclusion, begin to implement these 10 Quick Step to Take Before Your Next Walk one at a time. Very quickly, you will have a go to routine that will quickly get you out the door and enjoying your walking and fitness time on the road.
Walk on,
Frank S. Ring
Author: Walking for Health and Fitness, Fitness Walking and Bodyweight Exercises, Walking Inspiration, and Walking Logbook Journal.
