How to Walk Faster
Feel the need for speed? Walking
faster can satisfy several goals.
1. Finish your walking workout faster at a set distance.
2. Get your heart rate up to your target level.
3. Increase calorie burn by being able to walk a longer distance in the
same time, or by increasing speed to the point you are burning more calories due to using
more muscles (12 minute miles and under).
4. Finish walking races in better time.
The following techniques are not legal racewalking technique, and so it cannot be used in judged racewalk events. It borrows good posture, stride, arm movement and other elements from racewalking to have you walking faster and more efficiently, turning more of your exertion into forward speed.
How to Walk Faster: Shoes
Your shoes are your chief walking tool. When trying to walk faster, you must find the right shoes or you will have pain and problems.
- Running shoes vs. walking shoes: For walking fast, a running shoe will be your best choice. Running shoes incorporate the latest research into how the foot moves. Move away from cross-trainers, which are often inflexible, to the right running shoe.
- Fit: Your shoes must fit well, but leave enough room so your feet can expand while walking. Your walking shoes should be a size to a size and a half larger than your dress shoe.
- Flex: Good fast-walking shoes are flexible to allow your foot to roll through each step. See if your shoe bends in the ball of the foot and if you can twist it from side to side. If it is stiff as a board, you need different shoes.
- Flat: Walking shoes should be flat, with little difference in height between the heel and the ball of the foot.
- Heel: Avoid any heel flare, what you really need is a slightly undercut heel if you can find it.
- Where to Buy: Find out where the serious runners buy their shoes in your area and go there to be fitted. If the clerk doesn't understand the terms overpronation, straight last, or motion control -- you haven't found the right store. Good stores are listed in Runner's World Magazine as technical atletic shoe stores.
- Replace your shoes every 500 miles.
How to Walk Faster: Your Baseline
Before you get faster, take some baseline measurements to see how fast you are now and where your heart rate is.
Measured mile: This is a good standard measurement. Use a local track or measure a mile with your car odometer. Time yourself in walking this mile after you have warmed up for 5-10 minutes of walking.
Heart rate: Knowing what heart rate you currently achieve while walking can help you set goals when you speed up. Warm up first by walking for at least 5 minutes. Then take your pulse while continuing to walk. Measuring for 30 seconds to a minute will give you better accuracy. Or, you may use a heart rate monitor.
How to Walk Faster: Technique
Walking faster begins by walking with the right technique at any speed, a technique that has your body aligned, legs and arms working together to transmit energy and power to your stride, and no wasted motion.
You may need to slow down at first and concentrate on good technique before you let the right technique take you to new speed.
Using the right technique will help prevent injury.
You can expect to be stiff in some new places as you learn a new technique. This should work itself out, use the stretches to get looser and be sure to include the warm-up and cool-down phases in each workout. Pain beyond stiffness that doesn't go away should be checked out with your medical provider.
Posture
How you hold your body is very important to walking comfortably and easily. With good posture you will be able to breathe easier and you will avoid back pain.
- Stand up straight.
- Think of being a tall and straight, do not arch your back.
- Do not lean forward or lean back. Leaning puts strain on the back muscles.
- Eyes forward, not looking down but rather 20 feet ahead.
- Chin up (parallel to the ground). This reduces strain on neck and back.
- Shrug once and let your shoulders fall and relax, your shoulders slightly back.
- Suck in your stomach
- Tuck in your behind - rotate your hip forward slightly. This will keep you from arching your back.
How to Walk Faster: Arm Motion
Arm motion can lend power to your walking, acting as a balance to your leg motion. If done properly, it looks natural and fluid.
- Bend your elbow 90 degrees.
- Hands should be loose in a partially closed curl, never clenched.
- Keep your elbows close to your body - don't "chicken wing."
- With each step, the arm opposite your forward foot goes straight back, as if reaching for something in your hip pocket.
- As the foot goes back, the opposite arm comes straight forward, not diagonally.
- Your forward hand should not cross the center point of your body.
- Your hand when coming forward should be kept low, not higher than your breastbone.
- Many poor examples of arm motion are seen with walkers pumping their arms up high in the air, this does not help propel you, it is wasted motion.
- On the back swing, don't overextend past where it is comfortable or you may restrict your breathing or get a bent-over posture.
How to Walk Faster: Foot Motion
The walking step is a rolling motion.
- Strike the ground first with your heel, your ankle flexed.
- Roll through the step from heel to toe.
- Push off with your toe.
- Bring the back leg forward to strike again with the heel.
- Flexible shoes will ensure you are able to roll through the step.
- If your feet are slapping down rather than rolling through, your shoes are likely too stiff.
- At first, your shin muscles (anterior tibialis) may tire and be sore until they are strengthened.
- Show them your sole: If you are really striking with the heel, someone watching you from in front will see the sole of your shoe on each step. Think about showing them your sole.
- On your forward foot, let the ankle do the work of flexing your foot, don't lift your foot with your toes.
- A good push off by your toes on your rear leg will add power and speed to your step.
Strike with heel. Back foot rolls through to push off.
Front foot continues to roll through step as back foot comes forward. Front foot strikes with heel and here we go again!
How to Walk Faster: Leg Motion
What we need to stamp out: Overstriding.
Overstriding is taking longer steps in front of your body in an attempt to
increase speed. This is potentially harmful and is inefficient.
The stick walker on the left is overstriding, on the right is better.
Have someone observe you from the side. Which figure above do you resemble?
Work first on eliminating the overstriding.
- Keep your natural stride length, but learn to use it powerfully.
- Your stride should be longer behind your body, where your toe is pushing off, rather than out in front of your body.
- Think of keeping your rear foot on the ground the maximum amount of time,
to really roll through the step and give a good push off with the toes.
- The rear foot then passes under your body, knee flexing and driving forward but not up.
- After the foot passes by the other leg, the ankle then flexes and knee straightens (still think of driving forward, not up with the knee) to present the heel to the ground.
- The heel should strike the ground close to the front of the body, as it strikes the rear leg is rolling through the step and preparing to toe off powerfully and come forward.
- Take more, smaller steps. Fast walkers train themselves to increase the number of steps they take per second and to get full use out of the back part of the stride.
- Open up your stride behind your body by concentrating on getting a full roll through the rear foot and good push off with the rear toes.
- If you find your feet slapping the ground in front, you likely have too stiff of shoes and/or weak shins. The shins will build with practice. But you will want to look into getting some more flexible shoes.
- Hips: Your hips should rotate with each stride front to back, not side-to-side. Do not concentrate on adding hip motion at first, it should come naturally as part of a good stride and push off.
How to Walk Faster: Warm-up/Cool-down
Warming up
You want to wake up your muscles, work out the stiffness and get your blood
moving before going to full speed. This will also help prevent muscle
pulls and other injury.
Start out at a slow, easy pace for each walking session.
Warm up for 5 minutes at this easy pace.
Stop and stretch and do flexibility exercises before starting the speed portion
of your workout.
Cooling down:
Again, at the end of your walking session, slow to an easy pace for 5
minutes. Finish with some gentle stretches. This helps keep
the muscles from knotting up.
How to Walk Faster |
||
| Stretching | Drills & Workouts | |
Come Discuss it in our Forum
Or Chat Live
