Happy New Year to you all!
We would like to take this opportunity, to wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. Fear not, this isn’t going to be a ‘new year, new you’ article. That’s not our style!
But we would like to share our thoughts when it comes to the outdoors and your health.
How many people do you think, are sitting right now wondering which gym membership to buy? What supplements to order? What changes they are going to make in the new year? Our guess is, that it’s probably rather a lot. It’s a bumper time of the year for the fitness industry. But, what if you’re not a ‘gym’ person or perhaps, you’d like to save some money? We have the solution. WALKING!
Walking offers many health benefits. It can improve heart health, it can aid weight management, lower blood pressure, improve your sleep and even reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. To name a few. It’s also free!
We are confident, that walking/hiking can become your principal method of exercise in the new year. No more treadmills, queueing for weights or paying for classes. Make nature your gym!
Here’s a little background, about how and why we decided to make walking our principal method of exercise.
We’ve always had dogs here at GHC, so getting outdoors in all weathers has always been part and parcel of our lives. If you have dogs, you’ll understand this. You find yourself outdoors in all kinds of weather. In terms of being gym-goers, we’d always preferred to exercise at home. Having professional exercise qualifications and the space to do resistance training at home, made this easy for us. We viewed our cardio as taking the dog out for a walk. So, why did we decide to change? Well, the simple answer is boredom! We got bored of chasing reps, doing circuits, trying to get a new pr and, if you’ve ever tried it, deadlifting after a long day, can take some serious motivation! So, we said to ourselves; ‘we spend a fair bit of time walking, why not just walk a lot more?’
We decided to divide up our dog walking duties and allow ourselves time for a solo walk either each day, or every other day. We made a rule to spend twice as long walking solo as we normally would with the dog. We are very lucky to have a few pockets of countryside left near to us. Creating a walking route was therefore easy. We appreciate this isn’t the case for everyone. Our initial target was three, two hour walks each week. We’d walk as quickly as we could, count our steps and as we weren’t going to be lifting weights, we’d change our calorie intake too. Gradually, we found a ‘system’ that worked for us. We might aim for 10,000 steps one day and on another day 18,000. When we looked back over a few months, we found we could manage anywhere between 40 miles to 60 miles a week. We lost weight, we slept far better and unlike with resistance training, didn’t have to worry too much about recovery.
Here’s some advice we think might be helpful to you, if you plan to make walking your principal method of exercise.
Think about where you’d like to walk and, what you might like to see. You can look up some local footpaths and bridleways, either online or on an OS map. This is easy to do. There are some great resources online and plenty of apps you can play around with. You should be able to see how far the walk you plan to do is and, how long it might take you to do.
Now, you can start to plan a route that suits you. Think of this as a bespoke exercise programme. There may already be some routes, that have been plotted by local walking groups. Research these too and see if there’s one that works for you. Why not consider contacting a local walking group? Walking is a great way, to meet people and make new friends. Once you have a route and, an idea of how long it will take you to complete it, think about how this might fit into your day. Or how many times you might be able to do it a week. Now, you have a bespoke exercise program, free of charge!
Time for a reality check………
Ok, it’s winter. We get it. It’s cold, it’s dark and it’s damp. Don’t get us started on the mud! Motivation can be a challenge. So, how can you stay motivated?
You can do quite a few different things. You could count steps. You might try and get quicker each time you do a route, or you could try and increase your mileage every week. It may well already be a challenge, just getting outdoors. That’s fine too! Maybe you like nature? Winter can be a great time to spot wildlife or even take some pictures. Particularly if you are an early riser. We’ve seen deer leaping around in fields blanketed by frost, buzzards soaring against crystal clear skies and hares thumping across our path.
What do we do, to keep ourselves motivated?
In all honesty, winter is a challenge. The cold, the rain, the mud, the lack of sunlight, the mud! But you will be rewarded, you just have to be patient. If you make it through winter the rest of the year is a blessing.
Our advice is simple. Get kitted out first.
What might your kit look like? Well, it might be a waxed jacket and a flat cap, or it might be a modern down jacket and merino wool hat. Jeans over leggings. Wellingtons instead of boots. A fleece or a wool jumper. Whatever works for you! Consider your winter walking kit carefully. Prioritise layering and keeping yourself dry. You must make going outside when the weather is against you, as barrierless as possible. You don’t need to spend a fortune! You’ll find out over time what works best for you.
During the winter months, we rely on the following. A warm hat, gloves, scarf, wool jumper, base layer, a waxed cotton coat, breathable underwear, warm socks (including a liner) and some tough trousers. As for footwear, that’s a whole other blog! But we have some reliable old friends let’s say.
Once you have your outdoors kit assembled, keep it for that purpose only. Think of your kit like a soldier’s fatigues. Those are for the battlefield; the dress uniform is for parade days. That is to say, your other clothes aren’t for the outdoors! Having this kit, means that you won’t have to think about what you are going to put on. You’ll be able to grab it and go! No excuses. We find that having a kit means that; you’ll always be comfortable and you won’t waste time looking for clothes to wear.
Ready to set off? Not so fast! There are a few things to keep in mind before venturing outdoors. Once you turn these tips, into a mental checklist, they’ll become second nature to you. Here are our tips.
- Check the local weather before you set off
- Make sure that your kit reflects what might be in store for you that day.
- Tell someone that you are going out for a walk and where you are heading. Should anything happen (we sincerely hope that it doesn’t) they’ll know where you are.
- Take a mobile phone with you. We keep ours inside a zip seal freezer bag, just in case we end up soaked or they fall into a deep puddle. It works for us!
- Ask yourself, if you need to take some water with you. Hydration is critical during exercise
These considerations will vary, based on how long you plan to be out walking for. What we are trying to get across to you, is a sense of best practice. If for example, we are planning on being out for more than a couple of hours, we’ll take a litre of water each. We also take a first aid kit. Does any of this sound like overkill to you? Or does it sound realistic and sensible? Consider the balance between what is essential i.e. your kit and what is a sensible precaution.
Our final piece of advice, enjoy it!
We’ve used walking/hiking as our principal form of exercise for just over three years now. On the 23rd of December this year, I had walked a total of 3000 miles in one year. By the 31st of December I hit 3068.5 miles.
We really pushed ourselves this year. We took advantage of the dry spring/summer that we had in the UK and didn’t look back. It’s not been easy, but we’ve learned what we are capable of now. We don’t know what 2026 will bring. But we do know one thing, we’ll be outdoors!
HAVE A GREAT YEAR AND GOOD LUCK!