Use these walking stickers in your planner, diary or “to do” list to remind you to walk and to track your walks. The first page is icons and the second page is prompts and “done” stickers. You can print them on A4 or letter size and if you have a cutting machine there’s a blackout version for easy tracing. The stickers can be downloaded in either PNG or PDF.
Walking stickers sizes
Icons – 2cm wide
Text boxes – 2.5 cm wide
The benefits of walking
#1 Burns calories
An obvious one. The more active you are, the more calories you burn.
#2 Makes your heart stronger
When we exercise, our heart has to work harder to get more blood to the working muscles. It adapts to this by growing bigger and stronger. This means we have more energy and a healthier heart.
#3 Improves your circulation
As well as improvements to heart function, the circulatory system also adapts to become more efficient at delivering the blood to the muscles.
#4 Reduces stress and anxiety
All exercise can be beneficial to mental health, but walking outdoors is particularly beneficial.
#5 Improves mood
As well as reducing stress and anxiety, exercise causes endorphins to be released, which give rise to feelings of wellbeing.
#6 Strengthens your muscles, ligaments and tendons
Although walking won’t strengthen the muscles and other tissues as much as strength training, it does have a strengthening effect.
#7 Improves your flexibility
Lack of movement makes muscles tight. Regular exercise maintains muscle length.
#8 Improves your balance and coordination
All exercise is good for balance and coordination. If you walk on different surfaces, in different weather conditions and on different gradients, all these factors help to improve balance and coordination.
#9 Helps build or maintain bone mineral density (meaning reduced risk of osteoporosis)
Loss of bone mineral density is a problem for women as we get older, especially after menopause. It makes our bones more prone to fracture and can become a serious health problem, known as osteoporosis. The best protection against loss of bone density is weight bearing exercise. After middle age, the potential to build bone density is limited, but weight bearing exercise will still help to maintain existing density. Weight bearing exercise means exercise in which we are on our feet, supporting our body weight and moving around. Obviously, walking is a good example of this.
#10 Improves joint mobility
There are two factors to being able to move all our joints freely through a wide range of movement. One is flexibility and the other is having healthy well-lubricated joints. Exercise strengthens the ligaments which keep our joints strong and stimulates the joint lining to produce lubricating fluid.
Get a free printable of the walking stickers
Sign up for My Fitness Planner updates and get the free printable download link e-mailed to you:
After you sign up, you’ll get 2 e-mails, one will have a link to your printable download and the other will be a welcome e-mail.
If the e-mails haven’t turned up within a few minutes, please check your junk folder, as some service providers have very strict filters.
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