Wait! Is walking backwards good exercise? Should you take some backwards steps on your next walk?
Why is everyone talking about backing up?
There’s been some recent buzz about walking backwards and how it can aid your health. This really isn’t ground breaking. Professionals in physical therapy have been having their patients take some backward steps for decades. Is it really better to back up?
Well, your body behaves differently when you make unusual moves. Walking in reverse more than a few steps most definitely will have your body reacting in new ways.
What’s the big deal?
It mostly is all about making your system react to this new stimuli. When you’re backing up, you take smaller steps. You put different pressure on your joints. You have to think more about what you’re doing with each step. There’s also usually pressure taken off your back as you work your core differently.
Your muscles will have to react in different ways. You will often burn more calories walking this way-at least the first few times. It is a fantastic occasional thing to do to keep your mind thinking clearer.
So, how far backwards are we talking about?
Is it just a few steps, a block or two? They can’t want you to go for miles right?
Like most exercise, the more you do it, the more you’ll have to do for it to remain an actual challenge. I have a bit of an advantage over many. In highschool, we had to walk backwards for many of our competitions. I quickly grew accustomed to not only walking confidently in reverse but doing so on my toes!
If you don’t have similar experience you’re probably going to want to start by doing it for a minute, maybe two. As you’ll be having to work at this, you may find it raises your heart rate and makes you feel a little uncertain. Like any new exercise, take it slow.
But it looks so silly!
So do most things to someone out there. Is it unusual to see a person, let alone a group of people walking backwards? You bet it is. Is it going to have people take second looks? Most likely. I still wouldn’t define it as silly, though. Being confidant enough to be different is never silly. If you are self conscious, but want to give this a go, you can always just do it on a treadmill or just around your house in general.
There’s no reason to not give something a try because you feel it’s silly. We’d never have developed bikes or skates if everyone was too concerned about looking silly out there.
Walking backwards can help you.
No, it’s not likely to overtake other forms of exercise anytime soon. It’s best used in small doses to alleviate pressures and allow your mind to think differently in an active way. If you decide to give it a go inside or out just do so carefully. It’s not likely you have eyes in the back of your head.
Can’t wait to see you strolling along,
Kimmie