Hot Weather Hacks to Keep Walking
By spending more time outside walking and trying out new activities like hiking, swimming, and cycling, you can often increase your activity level throughout the summer. However, when the temperature rises, excessive heat can provide its own difficulties, particularly if you’re attempting to boost your step count.
Here are suggestions to keep you on track with your walking schedule throughout the hottest months of the year:
SET APART TIME FOR LONGER WALKS:
If you know you’ll be walking for more than an hour, map out a route that will allow you to stop at a water fountain to rehydrate. An alternative is to drive the route in advance and store a few extra water bottles at strategic spots to avoid carrying excessive weight.
CHECK YOUR WEIGHT:
Weighing oneself before and after your workout is one quick technique to determine how well hydrated you are. Each pound you lose equates to roughly 16 ounces of liquid on average. Try to replenish this amount plus an additional 6 to 8 ounces to make sure you’re well hydrated. Long workouts can result in a few pounds of weight loss, but if the loss is excessive, you may not have been drinking properly and need to carry additional water.
ASSURE YOURSELF OF HYDRATION:
It’s a good idea to take a water bottle or hydration pack if you’re going to be walking for longer than 30 minutes at a time in warm weather. In addition to when you exercise, being hydrated throughout the day benefits your general health, performance, and weight-loss objectives. Consider drinking a hydration beverage that contains electrolytes, vital minerals that are lost through sweat.
FIND SHADE:
Wearing brighter colors and applying sunscreen with a high SPF in the summer is always a smart idea because not all neighborhoods are dotted with trees that provide shade. Even though you might have to drive there, try finding a trail or multi-use path away from the sun to keep cool. Even better if you can avoid the asphalt, which absorbs and retains heat. You won’t have to walk as far as you might ordinarily to attain the same weight-loss advantages because walking on steep terrain also burns more calories. You can always work out on a treadmill while listening to a nice audiobook.
SPLIT YOUR WORKOUTS:
Getting all of your miles in at once during the summer can be difficult if you enjoy long-distance walking, especially if you don’t rise early. Instead of enduring a two-hour walk in the sweltering heat, think about splitting the distance in half and walking half in the morning and half in the evening. Alternately, you can break up your workout into two sessions by beginning outside and concluding on a treadmill.
CONSIDER AN ALTERNATIVE DEHYDRATION BEVERAGES:
For prolonged workouts lasting more than an hour in extremely hot weather, a sports drink may be necessary to replace lost sodium and electrolytes. Just be careful to choose a non-processed or non-concentrate version because they can have higher sugar and additional sweetener content. Coconut water is a healthy alternative that may hydrate you and give you electrolytes. You can also try chocolate milk, which also contains calcium, magnesium, vitamins A and D, and a balanced amount of protein and carbohydrates to aid in muscle recovery.
MONITOR YOUR URINE COLOUR:
Keeping an eye on the color of your urine is one way to determine if you’re getting enough fluids. This is beneficial in the days leading up to a particularly difficult effort as well as after your workout. A clue that you need to increase your hydration efforts is cloudy or darker-colored urine, whereas lighter, paler urine indicates that your hydration levels are in check.
