Are you tired of the old, ridiculous ways of working out? Are you looking for new and exciting ways to feel like a fool as you exercise? Consider walking backward. It’s the scientifically backed way to lose weight while looking like a dumb** at the same time!
Known officially as “retro walking,” experts say that walking backward can spice up your workout routine while alleviating some of the pressure exercise can put on your knees.
Janet Dufek, a biomechanist and ex-college basketball player who now studies human movement, says backward walking can add some much-needed variety to your workout routine. Much-needed not just to keep things interesting, but to keep your muscles guessing.
People Are Walking Backward Now as a Workout. Does It Work?
Walking forward, no matter the speed, works the same muscles over and over again. Walking backward engages a whole different set of underused muscles, especially your hamstrings.
There’s also the added benefit of forcing your brain to rewire how it thinks about movement. If you’re thinking that this sounds like the most basic form of crosstraining that could possibly exist, you’re not too far off.
The Associated Press spoke to a Nashville-based trainer named Kevin Patterson, who sings the praises of walking backward to spice up a workout routine. He has his clients walk backward on a treadmill that’s moving either at a snail’s pace or while it’s completely turned off, forcing the client to move the treadmill belt with their own force.
Patterson told the AP that he likes to use retro walking as an “accessory exercise,” meaning either as a warm-up or as a small addition to a regular workout that targets a specific muscle group.
Dufek isn’t suggesting that you permanently flip the direction you’re facing when you’re going for a walk or a light jog. All she’s saying is that you should add as little as a single minute of retro walking to your usual strolls, at least to start.
She says that in time, you’ll notice improvements in your balance, coordination, and spatial awareness. She recommends starting with only small doses since you’re training your brain how to move in a completely different way than you normally do.
Think about it: how often do you walk backward in life? And when you do, is it usually for any longer than a few seconds, tops? Knowing that, would you be able to walk backward for a solid minute before getting disoriented or stumbling, or losing balance?
If walking’s getting stale, don’t retire from ambulatory movement. Instead, consider looking like a fool while looking the opposite direction for just a little bit as you retrain your brain on how to do something that’s more sneakily complex than it seems on the surface.
The post Get Fit Faster by Walking Backwards, Like a Fool appeared first on VICE.
