The Load Bearing Walking Workout For Ultimate Fitness!

So many times I hear people talking about their personal strength and fitness programs and I am always amazed when listening to their logic. It amazes me that people try so hard to separate their strength and resistance training from their cardiovascular program. The fact is that if they structured a truly effective program they would know that the 2 variables can be combined. There is a simple fact that is universal when it comes to fitness and getting in shape. To have fitness or to get into shape you have to work your muscles. Well, the last time I checked your heart is just as much of a muscle as the rest of your muscles. Granted heart tissue is different than skeletal muscle tissue, but they both are worked through the very act of exerting the body.

I personally like talking about this load bearing walking workout because this is a single example of how to exert and train both your skeletal muscles and your cardiovascular fitness. The key to any successful strength and conditioning program is the act of progressive overload.

What is progressive overload? Well let me give you an example by using this workout. Imagine standing on a flat straight surface such as a football field, your lawn, or a public park. You have to have a designated distance marked off to execute this workout. For this workout I am going to use a sandbag as the resistance of choice. To start, lets say you can hoist a 50 lb sandbag onto your shoulders and walk the designated distance of 50 yards. For the sake of argument lets say that you only make it 40 yards before having to drop the bag. You keep practicing and eventually you can make it the full 50 yards. Lets say you continue to practice week after week for about 10 weeks and now you can hoist a 100 lb bag and walk the full 50 yards. This is an example of progressive overload. You are steadily adding more and more weight to the task at hand over time to produce amazing strength! This is the true secret of building strength and superior fitness. Give this a try and I promise you won’t be disappointed in the results.