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Is Interval Walking Training the Secret to Better Health and Fitness?
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May 14, 2025
Walking is often overlooked as a form of exercise, but research shows it’s one of the most effective ways to boost overall health and fitness. While a casual stroll has benefits, Interval Walking Training (IWT) takes things up a notch by alternating fast and slow-paced walking to improve endurance, burn calories, and support heart health. Listen now to the Reluctant Low Carb Life podcast as Anita explores why IWT might be the smartest way to walk for results. You can also read more about Interval Walking Training (IWT): The Best Way to Train for Walking by clicking here (https://reluctantlowcarblife.com/interval-walking-training-iwt-the-best-way-to-train-for-walking/) . #ReluctantLowCarbLife #IntervalWalkingTraining #WalkingWorkout #FitnessTips #LowCarbLife #HealthAndWellness #CardioTraining #WalkToFitness Support the show (https://www.buzzsprout.com/2029615/support)
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[Music]
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hi this is Anita from Reluctant Lowcarb
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Life you know when I hear about
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something that's interesting I always
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like to sort of pass it on because if
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any of you have been listening for a
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while you know it the Reluctant Low Carb
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Life we believe in the trifecta of
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health our trifecta of health it's not
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earth shaking it's not it's actually
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very simple it's three basic things one
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eat foods that help you feel that are
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fresh don't eat multi-processed foods
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which means you know don't live off of
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McDonald's or other type of
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multi-processed foods but eat foods that
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are fresh foods that you cook yourself
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you know foods that you know don't have
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a lot of chemicals in them the second
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one is to um eat foods that help you
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feel full longer you know things like
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Greek yogurt is wonderful that you'll
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feel full for much longer time after
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eating Greek yogurt than you will for
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many other things or protein or other
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things that help you feel full longer so
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that you eat foods that help you have
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some satiety and finally the last one is
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fitness so when I hear something
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interesting or learn something
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interesting or discover something
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interested interesting from any of these
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I kind of like to pass them on and and
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talk about them here in this podcast and
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and in my blog and so today I want to
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talk a little bit about interval walking
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which is known as
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IWT i recently listened to a study that
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the Japanese did where the Japanese had
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people do what they call this interval
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walking and interval walking essentially
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was they'd have them you know first of
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all warm up for about 3 to five minutes
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and then people would start going fast
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for three minutes you know regular
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slower walking for three minutes fast
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for three minutes slower walking for
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three minutes and they keep this up for
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about five rounds or for about 30
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minutes they started doing some testing
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of people that were just doing this you
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know doing you know doing this interval
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walking versus those that were doing
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just regular
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walking and they found that those that
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were doing the interval
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walking overall were doing much better
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that they were pushing themselves
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pushing their heart and then the long
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term they did much better so you know
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interval walking is basically a
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structured walking technique which is
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alternating between highintensity and
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lower intensity recovering walking this
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is similar if you go to a boot camp as I
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do where maybe you do 40 seconds of this
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or one minute of this and then you stop
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and then you know you sort of do this
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high intensity and then slow down high
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intensity slow down high intensity slow
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down this method allows you to push
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yourself and push your heart rate up at
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a faster segments and recover during the
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slower paced ones over time this
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training will strengthen your
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cardiovascular system you'll have
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improved endurance and it will maximize
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fat burning so a typical workout for IWT
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or interval walking would be you warm up
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walk at a moderate pace for like three
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minutes to prepare your body or it could
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be three to five minutes depending upon
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what you need walk at a fast pace for
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three minutes increase your heart rate
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and then slow down walk at a comfortable
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rate for three minutes and then you can
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repeat this five times and ensuring you
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completed at least 30 minutes of walking
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cool down you can end with three to five
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minutes of slow walking to decrease your
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heart rate why is IWT this interval
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walking more effective than casual
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walking well here are seven reasons why
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one it will increase your heart rate and
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your cardiovascular fitness so in other
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words you're working your cardiovascular
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fitness while you are walking it burns
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more calories and enhances weight loss
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it improves endurance and stamina the
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more you do it the easier it'll become
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you can push yourself further you can
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walk further you can push yourself in
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those three minutes to walk faster and
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faster and faster and you know
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consequently get your heart rate up more
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it can boost your metabolism and and
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post exercise calorie burn it can help
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you reduce the risk of chronic disease
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they found like with some heart patients
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where they you know had them do this you
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know they could maybe first of all
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hardly walk and as they got them on the
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interval walking then they began to be
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able to walk further and further and
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further and further and we're doing
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better than they've ever done before so
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so it's actually a way too that you can
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build your fitness or build your fitness
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level which brings me to the next one it
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can enhance your muscle tone and
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strength it's more engaging and less
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monotonous so if you're you know if
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you're doing this type of thing you're
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going fast and slow fast and slow you
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have a purpose you're out there walking
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instead of just sort of walking along
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without any type of purpose at all you
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actually have a exercise plan you have a
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training plan with this there's lots of
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research that has supported this and
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said that this is a great way to be able
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to walk and I'd like to add that if if
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you wanted to add something extra we
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talked about before would be Nordic
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walking if you want to walk with your
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Nordic walking sticks you could do the
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same thing with interval walking you
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could go you know fast for three minutes
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slow down fast for three minutes slow
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down fast for three minutes slow down
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and then you'll get a really really good
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workout in it's multiple studies have
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shown that IWT is a great way to be able
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to do walking a study published in the
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Journal of Applied Physiology found that
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interval walking significantly improved
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aerobic fitness leg strength and blood
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sugar control in older adults compared
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to regular walking so there you have it
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there they found that this really helped
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with your overall fitness level a
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research from the University of
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Copenhagen demonstrated that interval
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walking training led to more significant
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fat loss and increased insulin
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sensitivity compared to the continuous
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moderate intensity walking so in other
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words this will help balance some of
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your blood sugars and other things like
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that which can help you to lose weight a
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European Journal of Sports Science study
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con confirmed that the interval walking
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training increases cardiovascular
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endurance more effectively than
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traditional walking so one of the things
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that I love about this is if you're
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already walking you can very easily
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implement this into your walking routine
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now that you're doing now in other words
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instead of just going out for a slow
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walk you can say "Okay I'm going to walk
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fast for three minutes then slow fast
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for three minutes and slow fast for
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three minutes and slow." And you can
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push yourself for that time if you can't
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do three minutes start with one minute
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start with two minutes start with it and
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build up you don't have to do it all at
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once if you can you can just start
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building up on it you know you you know
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choose a walking location you can do
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this in and determine your speed you
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know fastpac aim for a speed that
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challenges you when you're walking fast
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but allows you to talk in short
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sentences slow pace walking this should
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be at a comfortable pace where you can
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easily hold conversation and if you have
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a smartwatch like I have an Apple
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smartwatch you should be able to see
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your heart rate starting to go down you
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know during the slower section and then
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when you're doing the fast one you see
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it go up so you can see your heart rate
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going up and down and of course the the
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more your heart rate's be able to go up
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and down the more healthy it becomes you
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should also watch that heart rate and
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see what's going on with your heart rate
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while you're doing it use a timer or use
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an app you know to sure you stick with
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it to three minute intervals use a
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stopwatch use a smartwatch timer you
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know or fitness app that alerts you to
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switch speeds so you know find some way
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to be able to do it i myself will watch
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my watch and I'll I'll go like a certain
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amount of distance and then you know
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each day I try to add on a little bit of
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distance and each week I'm trying to add
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on a little bit more of the distance
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that I'm doing too track your progress
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you know keep a journal use a fitness
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tracker find some way to track your
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progress to monitor your walking
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distance speed and heart rate so you
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know somehow monitor it you know to to
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be able to see exactly what you're doing
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stay consistent you know this is
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probably the most important one is to
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stay consistent to say how many times a
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week will you do it and to be consistent
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with that for getting the most out of
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your interval walk training you should
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have comfortable shoes you should
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maintain good posture and if you have
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problems with the posture again we
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recommend considering maybe doing some
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things with Nordic walking which will
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help you with your posture stay hydrated
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drink water gradually increase the
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intensity as you get fitter try
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increasing the intensity and the speed
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of the fast-paced intervals and listen
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to your body if you feel over fatigued
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take a rest redo the intensity of your
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session don't try to do it all at once
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that's a mistake a lot of people make
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they go out and they're going to do it
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in one day and then they're exhausted
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and they don't do it anymore instead
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look for consistency interval walking is
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an incredibly effective way to enhance
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your overall fitness and it's actually
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very easy to do anyone can do it anyone
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can do it that's out there walking can
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be able to do this but there's so many
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benefits with this so maybe commit
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yourself first of all to doing 30
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minutes three to five times a week and
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just really try to commit yourself to
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start with that and then you can go from
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there you know so lace up your shoes
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let's start walking and experience the
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power of interval walk training for
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yourself and see how this will help you
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with your fitness this is Anita from
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Reluctant Low Carb Life thank you so
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much for listening we really do
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appreciate you our listeners we really
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appreciate you being part of our
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community coming on this journey with us
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we hope that you find this information
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informative that it's something that you
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can use throughout um your life and help
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you on your fitness journey if you're
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not yet a part of our group that you'll
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press the subscribe button and subscribe
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to us we'd love to have you join with us
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thank you
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[Music]
#Beauty & Fitness
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