Make Your Walk A Workout

By Lisa Fenton

Those nine months weren't just for building baby; your entire cardiovascular system morphed to handle a larger volume of blood necessary to support placenta, baby, and, to be perfectly honest, a bigger you. Your baby is growing and pumping on his own now, but you have, as a special gift from the baby-making gods, leftover physiological changes that competitive athletes train years to achieve. Lucky you. This increased heart stroke volume, literally pumping more blood on each beat, gives you the potential to become the fittest you yet. Fasten baby's seatbelt, it's time to make stroller-time a workout.

So, the first step is to create a walking route.  The best way to do this is with the car.  Drive a loop that is somewhere between 2 and 3 miles long. At an easy to moderate tempo, you should probably be able to tackle this walk in about 45 minutes. Instead of adding more time to this precious window of physical activity, you're going to take your walking to the next level by modifying your walk to capitalize on that heart stroke volume.

Your first 5 minutes is your warm-up. Focus on good posture: shoulders back, stroller grip relaxed with arms outstretched to provide ample space for strong strides. Make note of the feeling of the ball of your trailing foot pushing off, propelling you forward with each stride. Look at your watch and count how many steps you take in a minute. A moderate pace is about 115 steps per minute. This is your baseline.
 
Here's how to vault over that baseline:

1. Add intervals to your walk by adding several short bursts of speed (increase your steps per minute) between two phone poles or mailboxes or verses of "I'm a Little Teapot."
2. Boost your walking time. If you're only walking for 30 minutes, increase it to 40 minutes and you'll increase your calories burn by 33%.
3. Walk REALLY fast. Ever hear of racewalking? It's a great workout when you're short on time. For 20 minutes: Stay tall, think quick, not longer, steps. Now try to run without ever using the spring in your knees, basically one foot is always touching the ground. Your only push is from the ball of your trailing foot. It's more work than running at the same speed.
4. Add strength training exercises to your walk. See below.
5. Take on hilly terrain. A route over hills can boost calorie burn by anywhere from 15 to 50%. Plus, your leg muscles get added strength work.

Strength Moves

Park baby at appropriate "audience participation" distance. You might be surprised at how willing he is to hold your water bottle.

Upper Body Press:

Stand facing a big tree, wall or the back of a bench, feet hip width apart.  Step back two paces, position hands on the stationary object slightly wider than your shoulders. Bend your elbows and lower your body keeping your spine neutral, you are a plank. Feel the stretch in your calves, the power in your chest, arms and shoulders. Repeat until baby chucks water bottle, hopefully about 12 times. As you become stronger, increase the distance between your feet and your hand support.

Squats:

Position yourself smack in front of baby, feet apart, slightly wider than hips, your upper body erect.  Hands are out straight, holding the ends of a rolled up towel or blanky. Lock your eyes on baby's, exhale as you tell her how perfect she is, bend your knees, hinging at the hips as you lower down, maintaining an erect spine. Secret to the perfect squat: as you lower your hips poke your butt out as though you're trying to sit on a stool way too far behind you. Your outstretched arms are your counterbalance as well as baby's current distraction. Inhale and return to upright position. Count up to 12 reps out loud, soon baby will be counting for you.

Standing glute raise:

Stand two paces from the back of a bench or your stroller (lock the wheels first). Bend supporting knee slightly while extending other leg straight behind you, toe touching ground. Gently lift extended leg, squeezing glute with each lift. It's a small, subtle movement, but effective. Repeat until it burns and alternate legs.

Lisa Fenton is the co-author of Walking Through Pregnancy and Beyond (by Mark and Lisa Fenton with Tracy Teare: Lyons Press), and is also a gym rat and mother of two.