Natural Arm Swing Power Diet – This is one of the most common arm-motion. Place your hands naturally at your side. Hold weights with palms facing the body, and as you walk alternately swing your arms gently as you bend your elbows slightly. This motion is used during your 6days per week diet-step walking weight loss plan. To avoid load on the joints swing arms naturally.
This exercise strengthens your triceps and upper shoulder muscles.
Locomotive Arm Motion – This exercise strengthens the muscles of the upper arms, triceps and shoulders. Joggers use this arm motion while running. Hold your arms bent at 90degrees at the elbow and hold the weights with palms facing your body. Alternately move your arms forward and backward.
Hammer Curl – This exercise strengthens your forearm and biceps muscles and is safer to do while walking. The exercise starts out like natural arm swing. As you walk with the weights bend each arm alternately at the elbow toward your shoulder and then lower to the side of the leg and pretend to hammer a nail into a tabletop.
Flap Your Wings – This exercise strengthens your upper back, chest and shoulder muscles. Hold weights next to the sides of your legs, palms facing in. Lift both the arms out to your shoulder level as you walk and then lower both arms to your sides. This exercise is to be done carefully or you may lose balance.
Reach For The Sky – This exercise sculpts and strengthens the upper back and shoulder muscles. Hold arms out to sides, elbows bent in line with chest. Hold weights in arms with palms facing forward at shoulder level. Now raise weights above head, until arms are fully extended and then lower weights back down to shoulder level.
Butterfly Power – This exercise helps in developing and sculpting mid-chest and upper-back muscles. Hold weights in both the hands in front of you at chest level, palms facing each other and elbows bent at 90degrees. Raise both arms to your sides like butterfly and then bring weights back in front of you at chest level.
Walking Workout Exercise Tips
For the initial 4-6 weeks, use 1pound handheld weights and if you feel comfortable, later you can switch to 2pounds.
When you are doing these workouts tighten your abdominal muscles to provide support to the upper body, and for toning and flattening abdominal muscles.
If any particular exercise feels uncomfortable stop it immediately, don’t overdo or overstretch because it may cause muscle and tendon injury.
Vary the exercise as you walk. And if any exercise is too difficult, do them at the end of the walk. Only do 10-12 repetitions of each exercise.
The Power Diet-Step exercises should be done only 2-3 days a week for maximum benefits.
On a hot humid day you can carry 16or20 ounce plastic bottle with water in each hand during your 20min walk. As you walk you can drink alternately from each bottle to keep yourself refreshed and re-hydrated.