Chrissie’s top tips
Walking is for everyone! No matter your age or fitness level, here’s how to get started.
1. Start small
The hardest thing is leaving the house. I started with 300 metres around the block. But I did it every day. And then the walks got longer and longer.
2. Sort out any niggles
I dislocated my hip 20 years ago and never got it sorted out. I just lived with the pain. When I started walking, just 300 metres hurt. I spent six weeks with a physio and he fixed me. I have flat feet and so, while I was getting my hip fixed, I got orthotics. After that I could just walk and walk. It was amazing! So if you’ve got any niggles – if your knee is sore or your ankle is weak – take the chassis in for a service.
Get it sorted out.
3. Be renady to go
I needed to remove any obstacles that stopped me from walking. Wear runners with absolutely anything because then you’re ready to go at a moment’s notice. And if you can, wear something comfortable every day. I wear exercise gear everywhere.
4. Incorporate your daily errands
I made a New Year’s resolution not to rush. When I’m walking, I often think of things I can put in place to make sure I keep that commitment to myself. I always go out with a backpack because that way if I walk past a butcher I can grab half a kilo of ground chuck for burgers, then I’m not rushing to think about what’s for dinner.
5. Change your mindset
Take your focus away from movement as punishment for being fat or lazy or other messages you’ve been given since you were a child. Nobody likes punishment and that’s how I saw moving my body – punishment for the way I lived or the way my body was. But when I started walking 300 metres a day, for the first time ever it had nothing to do with that. I was doing it for another reason and that was so freeing.
6. Reap the mental health benefits
I’d read that moving your body is great for your mental health, and would make you feel better in your life, but those messages never hit me as loudly as “you will look smaller if you get your heart rate up between 95 and 110”. Get your head around the mental health benefits, because this is for you, and you can do this.
7. Use your walk as a problem solver
When I have bigger things to sort out, my walks are longer. I have notes on my phone I add to when something pops into my head. Say at 6pm – I don’t have time to think about anything then because I’m busy finding uniforms or making dinner. I’ll think about that on my walk tomorrow. Every idea I’ve had has come to me on a walk.
8. Utilise walking as self-care
An eye mask is great, and a jade roller is nice but for me, self-care is about how I feel. How I show up – in my own life, for myself and for people I love. The ultimate self-care is what you can do for your brain, and that’s what I’ve found walking to be.