Have you ever wondered why they don’t say, “walk for your life?” I mean, seriously! Walking has been linked to increases in nearly all measurable health markers, and decreases in the risk of nearly all preventable diseases? I know, big surprise, right? Of course, everyone knows that walking is really good for us, and people like Dr. Mike Evans will show you why walking might actually be the single best thing for our health.

But what if I told you that not only is walking a universally beneficial activity that is accessible to nearly everyone with two good legs, but it’s also very easy to do. And I’m not kidding either. Pick up one foot, lean forward slightly and then put it down. Go ahead. Try it right now. Then do that same motion with your other leg. See? It’s almost like we were made for walking. Keep practicing, and it’ll get smoother in no time.

Around here, we take walking seriously.

So, we’ve identified something that is incredibly good for us. We’ve also identified that you can do it yourself – or at least well enough to not require a personal trainer at this stage. You can book some sessions to improve your technique later.

So, now that you can do something that’s good for you, what’s stopping you from getting out there and soaking up all the rewards that come with regular walking? Ah, willpower – of course! Most people would love to have a regular habit of walking and experience the myriad of benefits to be had. The problem is that, for whatever reason, it just doesn’t happen. That’s an easy one, too, and I’ll make you a deal. If you will commit just 1 more minute a day, then I’ll get you into a regular walking habit in one month or less – seriously. I’m going out on a limb here, but this may just be the easiest walking program ever devised. In fact, the first step is so easy that we’re going to get started right now. Yes, right now.

The “1 Minute a Day” Walking Program

Grab a watch, cell phone, or anything that will help you measure a minute (or you could always just count, “one one thousand, two one thousand…” for now). Now that you have your time keeping apparatus handy or heady, as the case may be, I want you to stand up and walk for 30 seconds straight – without stopping. After the 30 seconds is over, immediately turn around and walk right back here and then continue reading.

…

Back already? You’re pretty fast! You didn’t cheat, did you? It’s very important than you actually go for that 1 minute walk, and I’ll explain why.

Note: you don’t NEED to do it right now, it’s just the author’s recommendation.

You see, willpower behaves much like a muscle. It gets tired when it’s overused, and it grows stronger when we stimulate it just enough to adapt to a slightly more challenging stressor. Believe it or not, but it actually took a small bit of willpower to get up and walk for a minute. But it was hardly enough to challenge you, and I bet you felt a little silly doing it. I mean, what’s the point? Sure, you got your blood flowing, and maybe saw a few sights, but you might have burned, what – half a calorie? Honestly, how could a minute of walking seriously benefit anyone? More than you and I might realize actually.

You just made a conscious decision to do something positive for yourself. You probably didn’t add 7 years to your longevity, but if you learn a lesson from that short experience, you might as well have. Whenever anyone tries to do anything positive for themselves, they always encounter some form of internal resistance. You may have just experienced some of this yourself. It could have been in the form of thinking “this is silly, why am I walking for a minute? I feel like a dummy.” Or, it could have been a little more sinister. Whatever the case, it almost always happens when we get out of our comfort zone and try to change anything about our daily habits. Understanding the nature of internal resistance is of paramount importance when it comes to making changes to your lifestyle.

John’s 1 Month Walking Program

(Hint: this is a walking challenge in disguise. Sneaky, I know)

Now, I told you earlier that if you commit just one more minute per day, then I will get you into a regular walking habit in one month or less. I meant it, and I’m going to make it so ridiculously easy for you, that you might laugh at me in a second here. I’m just going to roll with it though.

So, here’s the plan. Regardless of what day of the week it is, today is day one of your new walking plan. If you walked for 1 minute today, then congratulations because you’ve been accepted into the program. Your first assignment is that I don’t want you to walk for exercise anymore until tomorrow. If necessary, regular walking for normal daily activities is still fine. Since today was day one, that would make tomorrow day two. On day two, I want you to walk for 2 minutes straight. I know, I know. It’s pretty harsh doubling the workload after only the first day, and especially without an “off” day to rest, but I’m a mean coach and you’re just going to have to deal with it. You’re doing double the training tomorrow. On day three, you’ll walk for 3 minutes, and so on and so forth.

In the first week, you’ll have walked a total of 28 minutes (1+2+3+4+5+6+7= 28). And if my calculations are correct, that’s less than half an hour.

Now, here’s the thing: For “important health benefits,” the U.S. Center for Disease Control “recommends that adults need at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity (ie brisk walking) every week.” Some good news for you is that once you’ve completed the month long program, if you keep up the 30 minute daily walks, you’ll be annihilating that 150 minutes per week standard by a whole hour. I’m all for going above and beyond the call of duty, especially when getting to that point is ridiculously easy.

And that’s what this entire walking program is all about – making it easy to do. They say it takes 21 days to build a habit, but I say it’s better to be safe than sorry because so many people try to begin a new fitness program and quit. These stepping stones are designed to be so unbelievably easy to accomplish that each day should feel hardly different than the last, and you’re literally starting from square one.

Please note that there may be tremendous temptation to skip ahead and start at 10 or 20 minutes and then add a minute a day from there. I would say this is fine, under one very important condition: only do this if you have already been walking every single day for the past few weeks already. The point of this program is to make the habit of walking easy to acquire – so easy that the transition is seamless, and without any apparent effort. All it should require is an eency-weency bit of willpower that should be hardly noticeable at all. If you skip ahead without an already ingrained habit, then you run a much higher risk of falling off the wagon. You’ve been forewarned.

Get Your Printout of the Complete Walking Program

Oh, and you can print out this walking plan I created for you here…

(click for larger)

All kidding aside, if you don’t feel like writing something up yourself and you want an actual printout of the 30 day program above, click here to download a PDF. You’ll notice that you are still actually going to have to write something. Again, sneaky. If you’re not going to print this and log your results, then it’s not much use otherwise.

Wrap-Up

Well, now that you’re fully equipped, all it takes is a little old-fashioned effort in the form of daily action. Those first 28 minutes will take care of themselves this first week, but you’re gonna have to take care of the actual walking part yourself. Good luck, but I doubt you’re the kind of person who needs it.

Now, if you haven’t actually gotten up to walk for a minute yet…ahem. And my wife suggests stretching out those hammies before your one minute walk (kidding).

Related Posts:

Why Walking Is The Single Best Thing You Can Do For Your Health

Meet The Man Who Walked Across America

HIIT is 5X LESS Effective Than Steady State Cardio

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CST Coach, CST-KS
Health-First Fitness Coach

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References:

http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2011/11/07/how-willpower-works/XlOvEG4FipvZ8vM8VUNBpK/story.html

This internet protest happened because of two pieces of legislation that are facing America today: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). Those are really nice sounding names that instill faith in each bill’s terms, and who wouldn’t want to stop online piracy and protect those important IP addresses? But the makeup of these bills is much more sinister than their facades may reveal. These bills would deliberately take away many of the basic Internet freedoms we enjoy today, and would enable the government to regulate even more of this wonderful, currently-free tool. I won’t get into the details here (see references below for further reading), but the logical extreme of this type of legislation could easily turn into a nightmare for internet users.

Here’s a short infographic to give you an example of some of the end-user consequences if such legislation becomes law.

Note for my international readers: If this happens here in the USA, then it would set a global precedent and it may be coming to a neighborhood near you sooner than later.

Created by: Online University

The good news is that the protest did make an impact, and last I heard, at least six U.S. Senators changed their stance on the issue to stand with the people - including NH’s Kelly Ayotte, I might add. Live free or die, people. Live Free or Die (NH state motto) . That’s refreshing to hear, to say the least, but the fight is not over. These bills are still pending, and they could be back in the spotlight any minute, or quietly addressed in Congress without anyone knowing about it.

No, the Internet isn’t perfect, but if you like the way it is, for the most part, and don’t want to see it change exponentially, then I would urge you to contact your local representatives and strongly urge them to oppose these two bills. If you’ve never done that before, it’s not hard and takes no more time than sending an email.

If you’ll do that, you have my thanks. I want to keep bringing information to you, and that just wouldn’t be likely if these bills were signed into law.

You can Click Here to find and contact your local Representatives, and you can Click Here to find and contact your local Senators.

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CST Coach, CST-KS
Health-First Fitness Coach

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References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/wikipedia-blackout_n_1212096.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/google-joins-online-sopa-protest_n_1210990.html

But when I published that article, I knew something was missing, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I clicked “Publish” anyways, for fear of allowing this story to slip into the dreaded archives of Physical Living drafts, which is fast approaching nearly 100 unfinished blogposts. So, I published it in it’s not-yet-perfect condition because I wanted to ship it regardless.

Well, lucky for you and I, the “missing element” just hit me a few minutes ago. This is a brain fart that actually smells good, and here it is…

How to Use and Benefit From Inspirational Stories

I hear about remarkable people all the time: people who dare greatly, defy the odds, break rules, and achieve success that most “normal” people only dream of. In fact, I’ve read hundreds of very inspiring stories over the years. By now, you’d think my inspiration meter would be maxed out and that I would be ultra-successful in everything I do as a result. Of course, this isn’t the case. Somehow, the inspiration always seems to run dry eventually. Maybe you can relate.

Fortunately, all you have to do is look around to be inspired these days, and the hard truth is that there are lots of people who are undergoing much harder circumstances than I am and still finding a way to succeed. While there is certainly no shortage of inspiration to be had, the problem is that when we hear about these remarkable people, we automatically assume that they are somehow superhuman and their accomplishments are nowhere within our own reach. How could we possibly compare ourselves to super-athletes and world record holders anyways? They’re just on a completely different level, right?

I mean, come on, how can a former Marine who is now a personal trainer who exercises for 5-7 hours a day and just did a plank for an hour and 20 minutes possibly supposed to inspire us mere mortals who don’t strive for world records and eternal glory?

I’ll tell you what I do. You see, I can’t imagine in my wildest dreams ever trying to do a plank for an hour and 20 minutes or longer. It’s not that feeling like a rock star isn’t cool or anything. It’s just that earth-shattering performance is not my cup of tea – doesn’t interest me in the least. And that’s a fact. But that doesn’t mean I will simply dismiss this story, archive it in the depths of my mind, and never again use it to inspire myself or others.

The fact of the matter is that if this old Geezer can hold a plank for an hour and 20 minutes, then I most certainly will not settle for mediocrity, and I will, so help me God, be able to nail at least a 5 minute plank for the rest of my life. Even though that’s considered an above average performance in fitness circles, it should be a cakewalk compared to what that guy went through. He probably hadn’t even broken a sweat after five minutes, and that’s why he’s inspiring to me. He has shown the world that he can do a plank for an hour and 20 minutes, so why can’t we hold a plank for a little longer than we thought we could? Why can’t we do a little better?

I mean seriously, a five minute plank is about 1/16th the amount of time that this guy did it for, and that doesn’t seem all that outrageous now, does it? Said another way, you’d have to do a 5 minute plank over 16 times in a row to match his performance. Surely, you and I can do just ONE five minute set!

So, next time you hear about some person doing something remarkable – something larger than life – don’t dismiss it immediately because you don’t think you could match their performance. Use it by modeling their success strategies yourself.

A Secret Perspective For Long-Term Success

Here’s a little fun fact, that actually came from a 58-year old lady who coincidentally just nailed a 30 minute plank last Friday. Janice Smith said in an article on the Burn The Fat Inner Circle about successfully losing weight over the long term…

“What I didn’t know was that the changes one makes to lose a single pound and keep it off are the very same changes one makes to lose a hundred pounds. The skills required to lose a single pound and keep it off are the same skills to lose forty pounds and keep it off.”

There’s a lot of wisdom in those two sentences. Similarly, the changes you need to make to achieve any small, seemingly insignificant goal, are oftentimes the exact same changes you need to make to achieve a very large goal. So, if you have a goal of doing an abdominal plank and hear about a guy who can do a plank for longer than you could ever imagine, then decide immediately that you will model his success anyways. The action steps are exactly the same whether you want to build up to 5 minutes or 50 minutes.

Unless you’re looking for everlasting glory, settle with a challenging, yet realistic goal that will inspire you to succeed instead of scare you into inaction. Hint: it doesn’t have to be a plank. Make this personal! Go for that 5k race or your first marathon, set a PR next time you lift, or say no to a second serving of dessert at the next holiday party. Know that the strategies you’re using to accomplish your personal goal are very likely the same exact strategies that the pros use to break world records and expand the scope of human potential.

Wrap-Up

Sadly, I’ve only reported on a few inspiring stories over the years, and I will try to do better because there are so many stories that need to be heard.

The world needs to know about how new world records are set, and how Nate Damm walked across America, how Josh Hanagarne cured himself of Tourette’s syndrome with strength training, how a kid who was sent to a mental institution grew up to become a world champion martial artist and develop a cuting-edge fitness system, how a guy who can make riding a bike a work of art, how dudes who make playgrounds look like gymnasiums and make cities look like playgrounds, that defying gravity is possible (with a little rope), that biceps are good for more than just flexing, that you don’t have to live like Tarzan to move like him, how Jack LaLanne lived his life to inspire others by exercising every day well into his 90′s, and about a few kids who do more trekking than most hardcore backpackers.

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

“20 years from now you will be disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the one’s you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover” – Mark Twain

“At first dreams seem impossible, then improbable, then inevitable.” – Christopher Reeve

And with that, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Enjoy the holidays and make 2012 the best year yet. I’ll be taking a brief hiatus from the blog for awhile, but I’ll be back soon, and I’ve got big plans for 2012!

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CST Coach, CST-KS
Health-First Fitness Coach

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