JOANNA HALL
Next time you are out on a busy street, look around you. There will, no doubt, be people walking and going about their daily business. So far, so ordinary.
But stop for a moment to really watch. Hunched over, shoulders tense, arms unmoving, heads often bowed – the simple act of movement seems a struggle for many.
And that is because they are not walking correctly. I admit it sounds ludicrous – starting to walk is a milestone most of us pass shortly after our eighth month of life, usually with the help of our parents. But, typically, bar a little self-taught fine-tuning, there ends the lesson.
As adults, a life spent sitting at a desk, struggling around with heavy bags and wearing all kinds of lovely-looking but unforgiving footwear takes its toll on our posture.
Just as we often sit incorrectly, we also walk incorrectly. The knock-on effect? An epidemic of joint pain – in particular bad backs – affecting millions of us.
About eight in ten of us have one of more bouts of lower-back pain at some time in our lives. One Department of Health survey suggested that 15 per of adults are in continuous pain from a bad back.
With this in mind, I first set about researching efficient and posturally correct ways of practising the everyday activity of walking.
I studied sport science at Loughborough University, so I have a strong research background – and I drew from studies in the world of physiology, biomechanics and fitness disciplines such as Pilates. I now teach a simple way to master walking that is, I believe, the most beneficial way of moving.
I became my own guinea pig after having my first child. I didn’t want to do the same level of exercise I undertook previously – I used to jog for miles. Just from walking, my thighs got leaner, my waist tapered in, my bottom was lifted and I eradicated my saddlebags.
I can promise it will do for you what it has for hundreds of my private clients: walking daily will help you shed up to 10 lb in less than a month. Even if you don’t lose that much straight away, you will look slimmer, dropping more than a dress size.
You must make one diet tweak: no starchy carbs after 5pm. There’s no need to go to a gym, use expensive equipment or even to get sweaty.
This isn't power-walking, which involves all kinds of strange hip wiggling. Read this guide for everything you need to master the technique: your new walking style will look fast, smooth and fluid – and you’ll feel dynamic and buzz with energy.
'I TONED UP THE RIGHT WAY'
Karen Walsh, 42, lives in West London with her husband Richard, 46, a photo editor, and their two children, aged six and three.
She says: ‘I started walking two years ago. I was playing tennis with a friend in Battersea Park when I caught sight of a leaflet advertising Joanna’s method.
‘At the time, my daughter was just a year and a half old and I was desperate to get back some energy.
‘I’ve never needed to lose weight but I wanted to tone up. Joanna was an inspiration – amazingly fit and toned, and she glided rather than waddled along. It was great fun – and everything was explained to us on a one-to-one basis.
‘After just two weeks I could feel a difference. My bottom and upper thighs were much firmer.
As a freelance projects manager – I work for milliner Philip Treacy – I need a regime that works with a busy life and children. Now, I try to walk twice a week with a girlfriend.
‘I lost 10lb and have kept it off, but more importantly I stand taller and my body feels honed from top to toe.’
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The principle of my method is simple. It is based on correctly aligning the fascia – the connective tissue in the body, which starts just below the skin. In the 1990s, anatomists discovered that the fascia encases, separates and envelops every part of our physiology – muscles, organs and blood vessels. It’s like a net that holds us together.
The theory is currently supported by many chiropractors, podiatrists and sports scientists.
So by holding the body correctly as you exercise, you are effectively shrink-wrapping the muscles within the fascia and working the body from the inside out.
By aligning the body properly, posture is corrected and movement becomes fluid while discomfort –such as back pain – lessens. The body benefits from correct postural alignment in three ways:
- Cosmetically: by targeting the fascia, body shape is streamlined.
- Functionally: back, knee, hip and neck discomfort are alleviated as joints are correctly aligned.
- Posturally: as movement quality increases, you look more agile, stand taller and look younger.
WHY WALK?
The NHS scheme Live Well recommends that ideally we all walk 10,000 steps a day (about five miles), which burns up to 450 calories. But on average we walk only about 4,000 steps a day.
It takes about ten minutes to walk 1,500 steps. Professor Tudor Locke, an American academic specialising in physical activity, suggests that walking fewer than 5,000 steps a day indicates a sedentary lifestyle.
A 2010 Government report about sedentary behaviour showed that it is associated with higher mortality overall, heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.
WALK TO BEAT DIABETES AND BOOST MENTAL HEALTH
Aside from improvements in posture, higher calorie expenditure and protection for the joints, there are a host of other health benefits to be gained from walking.
CANCER
Ten thousand cases of breast and bowel cancer could be prevented each year if more of us took a brisk walk every day. Just 45 minutes of daily activity at a moderate level could prevent about 5,500 cases of breast cancer a year in the UK.
DIABETES
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US produced a fact sheet called The Relationship Of Walking To Mortality Among US Adults With Diabetes, which states that those with diabetes who walked for two or more hours a week lowered their mortality rate from all causes by 39 per cent.
HIGH CHOLESTEROL
A study was published suggesting that low-intensity exercise such as walking improves insulin sensitivity and blood lipid levels better than an hour-long high-intensity workout.
MENTAL HEALTH
Charity Mind advocates walking to relieve stress, improve sleep quality and fight depression, since physical activity causes the brain to release endorphins – chemicals that improve mood.
DEMENTIA
Researchers from the Boston Medical Center who studied people in their early 60s found that those with a slower walking pace were one-and-a-half times more likely to develop dementia.
Joanna Hall’s Walkactive Programme: The Simple Yet Revolutionary Way To Transform Your Body, For Life is published by Piatkus on June 6. joannahall.com
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