Try This Fun Walking Challenge for Women 50+

In this Video...
Coach Sheree introduces a motivating walking challenge for women over 50. Learn how to get moving daily, improve your cardiovascular health, and enjoy walking again with this strength-supportive habit.

Cardio Habit | Beginner Friendly | Daily Active Movement

The GrandmaSTRONG™ Walking Challenge

Set a Measurable Walking Goal

Hey there, I want to put out a challenge in the Grandma Strong program and it's for everyone.

So the challenge I want to put out there is a walking challenge.

So I want you to do a walk that starts in one certain spot, you always know where it is, and ends in a certain spot and I want you to time it.

So time your walk and then every week see if you can get a little bit faster and increase the timing or decrease the timing on that walk so you're getting better and better each week.

Make it Harder with Load

And the other thing that you can be doing, if that gets good, you can actually start to load up with a backpack on your back with some weight in it.

Stay tuned till the end because I'll show you more of what I would look for in a backpack if I'm putting it on my back.

You need something really supportive. But you can also be wearing a weighted vest, just a way to make that walk that little bit harder for yourself so you challenge yourself each week.

Add Intervals or Hills

The other things you can be doing while you're on your walk:

• Is too do some interval training. So you can be doing going a little bit faster, a nice fast walk for eight seconds and then slow that down for 12, then back up to eight seconds, slow it down for 12.
• And also a way that you can increase that challenge is by choosing a hill to go up. And this can be something that you can do a little hill or you can do a big hill.

Step Beyond Your Regular Walk

But I just want to challenge you to come away from the status quo, maybe that walk you do every week where you're walking with the dog or whatever and you go at a slow pace.

I want to challenge you this week that you're going to actually take that walk and we're going to start to make that walk work more and more for us. So see what you can do with that.

Track Your Progress

Stay tuned till the end and I'll show you my backpack and why I love it.

Have fun with it and each week we'll check in and we'll see how we're going with our walk.

Don't forget to write it down when you get home, 

• what time you did and actually
• what weights you had on that walk

just so you can see for yourself how you're progressing along.

The Right Backpack Makes a Difference

So I'm just going to show you my backpack. My backpack is a very comfortable one. It's one that I've worn quite a few times.

I make sure if I'm wearing a backpack it's got nice thick straps so it sits nicely on my shoulders. But the main thing I want is a nice waist belt so that when I've got weight in my backpack it sits so the weight should sit on your waist and it shouldn't all be on your shoulder because then you just get sore shoulders. So as I walk along I've got this nice thick band.

How to Load it Up

When I want to load it up a bit I can take a few drinks.

So this is a drink container. If you want to start light start with your drink container but hey if you want to challenge yourself that little bit more you can be taking your eight kilogram kettlebell and whoa now it's weighing a whole lot more. So then I have to pick it up a whole lot harder.

Now my walk becomes even more challenging as I'm heading along particularly if I'm heading uphill.

Your Walk, Your Challenge

So this is a great way to challenge yourself without doing too much stress having to hold anything. All the weight comes through and onto my hips.

My shoulders shouldn't be taking much. Try it out see how you go.