We all get into routines, and you may find yourself hitting your step goal in the same way every day by going about your business, on your commute or around the grocery store.<\/p>\n
While all movement is good movement and this type of walking\u2014called ambient walking<\/a>\u2014carries plenty of benefits, there\u2019s a simple way to get more out of walking.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s recommended by NASM-certified personal trainer Baltazar Villanueva, who owns Relentless Spirit<\/a> in Denver, Colorado.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Villanueva says that walking uphill on trails is a great way to increase the challenge without carrying extra weight or speeding up to a jog, and it can help develop your balance, too.<\/p>\n Walking uphill on trails is a great way to increase the challenge<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t have to be a particularly steep hill, but it gently increases the intensity of your walk without ramping up other factors like distance. It can also help you to burn more calories if you have a limited amount of time each day to walk each day.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re walking over uneven terrain and you\u2019re going uphill, you\u2019re certainly going to get stronger. It doesn\u2019t have to be a steep hill, but it will mimic movements that you would be doing in the gym to build muscle.\u201d<\/p>\n How walking off-road improves balance<\/p>\n Walking on different terrain also supports balance, stability and even focus. \u201cAs we get older, we need to work on different parts of our bodies to stay healthy and balanced as we walk,\u201d says Villanueva. \u201cWhen you walk on an uneven surface, you engage the deep muscles of the core, like your transverse abdominis<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The transverse abdominis wraps around your torso like a corset, protecting your organs and keeping you upright and balanced. It\u2019s a key postural muscle and is one that comes into play when you rotate your body in a twisting motion.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you happen to slip on some ice in the wintertime and catch yourself, that\u2019s your internal weight belt [the transverse abdominis] activating to tighten your core and keep you stable,\u201d Villanueva explains.<\/p>\n Much like spending time on a wobble board<\/a>, walking on uneven ground helps your body to practice the mechanics of balance, and helps to improve your reactions and stability.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is something you can work on when you\u2019re trail walking because you have to pay attention to where you\u2019re walking and to make sure that if you step on something, that your feet are firm enough to be able to brace yourself to take another step,\u201d says Villanueva.<\/p>\n About our expertAbout our expertBaltazar Villanueva<\/p>\n Social Links Navigation<\/p>\n <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n Baltazar Villanueva is a NASM-certified personal trainer and nutritionist who provides services to the Denver metro region. Formerly a mixed martial arts fighter and self-defense trainer, he now provides clients with customized fitness programs that address whole-body wellness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We all get into routines, and you may find yourself hitting your step goal in the same way…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6647,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-132730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}