Does Walking Hurt? Here’s 3 Ways to Make It Better
Part of this Summer’s Yoga for Cross-Training series
This past weekend I went on a wonderful walk in my neighborhood. I live in a semi-urban/suburban area that has both sidewalks in many areas, and trees along the way. I have done many routes, and usually finish by going around the large cemetery a few blocks away. Here are some beautiful lilies I saw there:
I love walking for exercise, especially outside. Fresh air, trees, birds, no screens, it’s fabulous. Year ago, I found after walking for awhile, my hip flexors would start to ache. I figured out that I wasn’t using my glutes to walk, and when I did, the ache went away. Since then I have explored walking posture more deeply to help other people, like you, enjoy walking more.
The combination of yoga with walking, like yoga with really any sport or activity, is an ideal match. Yoga builds strength and mobility, while it corrects your posture and body mechanics. When you walk, you can move with more ease and less pain.
Yoga can also become part of your warm up and cool down, two things that many people skip. As you age, your body loses resiliency. When you were twenty, you could go out for a walk or a run then come home and sit and watch TV, no worse for the wear. When you’re over 50, you need to ease into your walk, warming up your muscles, then stretch after so that you’re not stiff and sore the next day (or later that same day).
1. Warming up
Warming up prepares your body for what you are about to do. THIS DOES NOT MEAN STATIC STRETCHING! So many people think that stretching is how you warm up, but it’s not. If you stretch cold muscles, even if it’s warm outside, you can strain or tear your muscles. Warm your muscles through gentle movement. The idea is to get more blood flowing through the muscles while moving your body mindfully through a range of motion.
When your body is cold and you stretch, it’s like stretching a rubber band that has been in the freezer. You have much less elasticity. When you go through a range of motion slowly and gently, you encourage blood flow to the muscles and joints so that they can better tolerate the exercise that you are about to do.
Sun Salutations are a nice way to warm up the body in preparation for your walk. The first video is a demo of a basic sun salutation routine that you can repeat 4-5 times to warm up. The second video I guide you through 15 minutes of sun salutations. This was part of a program I did a number of years ago.
2. Understanding body mechanics through Tadasana/Mountain pose
Ideally when you walk, you want to be as vertical as possible. Tadasana, or Mountain Pose, gives you a solid baseline from which to start your walk. Mountain pose isn’t just standing there. Mountain pose is a strong, stable pose that gives you balance, builds leg and core strength, and helps you find your vertical alignment.
When you stand in Mountain pose, it’s important to stack your joints. Find vertical, rather than having a forward head or slouching, as is common when sitting at a computer or looking at your phone. You don’t want to slouch while you walk, as that will only end in pain.
Mountain pose strengthens the neck and upper back muscles so they can hold you upright without strain. It also slightly stretches the chest muscles and anterior neck so that you don’t get pulled forward into poor posture.
Stacking your hips over your ankles activates the quads, which support the knees, and engages your lower abdominals which support your lower back and pelvis. When you press your feet into the floor, you activate your glutes and pelvic floor (this may take some practice), both of which support you while you walk. I recommend practicing this pose against a wall first so that you can feel what vertical is supposed to feel like. Then take that feeling with you on your walk.
From Standing to Walking
Once you’ve established your vertical posture, it’s time to move. Most of us learned to walk when we were babies, but chances are, you no longer walk with proper mechanics. This is what causes pain when you walk.
Try to feel Mountain pose in your body as you walk, maintaining the vertical alignment as you move. When you don’t use your glutes to push off as you walk, you will over work your hips flexors and/or hamstrings, and they will hurt. If your hips are leading or following you as you walk, this leads to other types of discomfort and pain.
Walking is important exercise, especially as we age, but HOW you walk is just as important as the walking itself. The video below is a short tutorial on the Mechanics of Walking.
3. Cooling down
Just as important as warming up, cooling down returns your body back to stillness. Exercise like walking involves repetitive movements that strengthen muscles in your legs, hips, and back, but you don’t just want to sit down when you are done. Quickly going from movement to stillness can cause your muscles to tighten up and sometimes cramp. This is where static stretching is appropriate.
Holding stretches for 5-8 breaths allows your muscles to lengthen out again while giving your body the chance to return to normal. Your body is fully warmed up so it’s ready for static stretching. Be sure to breathe deeply and slowly through your nose as you stretch. The exhale creates a physiological relaxation response, so lengthening out your exhale helps you relax into your stretch.
I often say, “don’t fight it and don’t force it.” The deeper your breathe in, the longer you can exhale and soften, melt, and relax into the stretch. This will prevent you from overdoing a stretch, or moving beyond what your body is capable of. Slow and steady wins the race here.
After walking, there are many yoga poses that stretch out the muscles you just used. If you lost your ideal body mechanics while you were walking, even a 10-15 minute yoga practice can help you feel looser and more at ease.
Check out the two Post Walk/Run Stretch sequences in the links below! These yoga sequences are specifically for cooling down after you walk.
Post Walk/Run Stretch Sequence (9 minutes)
Post Walk/Run Stretch #2 (13 minutes)
Yoga as Cross-Training
I have found that yoga is an excellent way to cross-train for any sport or movement. This is what I am exploring this Summer in my Tuesday posts. I have worked with all types of athletes, and they have found yoga helps them not only physically, but mentally as well. Yoga improves focus, motivation, and encourages them to be kinder toward themselves.
If you have a sport or activity that you’d like to do, let me know in the comments. Upcoming topics include swimming, cycling, and kayaking, and I am open to others as well.
ICYMI, here are my previous Cross-Training posts:
5 Quick Yoga Poses That Get You Ready For Gardening
A Simple Way to Crank up Your Tennis Game
Feel Good Cross-Training for Golf to Keep You Playing
Join me on the mat!
I teach online yoga classes for active adults over 50 who want to build strength, improve balance, and increase their mobility for the long term. Classes are live over Zoom Monday-Friday and you can take all of the classes that I offer on demand whenever you like. In addition to yoga classes, I teach Mindful Core classes to build functional core strength, meditation classes to find stillness and calm, and stretch classes to focus on mobility. Click the button below for a 10 Day Free Trial to Purple Room Yoga!
I don’t always remember put this graphic in, but it’s always true. All of my essays are 100% written by me, not AI. They are my thoughts, my words, and my experiences from over 30 years of practicing and teaching yoga. Thanks for reading! 💜 Janine
