Walking meditation is a legit buddhist practice. Not that you have to subscribe to buddhism to practice meditative walking.

I miss my walks with my dogs. I can't wait for the time change.

CC09LawAg said:

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Read that as "legit bullsh**" practice" at first and I thought, well OK man that is just your opinion.

Need to get more coffee in my system.

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Haha. I'm hooked on meditation and I love doing it during cardio. I've watched a bunch of youtube videos and other stuff on meditation. I have several that stuck with me, but the one I use most - especially with walking and running is to focus on the breath exhale and count each breath up to 10 and back down to zero and repeat. For running, the exhale focus is the mouth and for walking or sitting it is the tip of the nose if I'm not out of breath. The mind wanders always, but I bring it back to focus on the point of exhale and counting. What's crazy is that sometimes, I find my count up to like 20 or so before I realize I'm completely lost in thought and stressing out too much over whatever and have to start over at 1.

The other is to have a mental image of two wicker baskets in front of me with lids. Focus on the exhale. When the mind wanders on whatever as it always does, I acknowledge the thought and put it in one of the baskets - the left is the unhelpful thought basket and the right is the helpful thought basket. The thought goes in the basket, the lid closes and I return to focusing on the exhale.

The third I found helpful is a mental image of sitting on a bench on a bluff on a river bank (it's our family vacation home for me but any similar mental image would work). When thoughts intrude on the breath as they always do, they are boats traveling down the river. You have found yourself in the boat on the river with the thought, you acknowledge it, but then you return to your quiet bluff and visualize that boat traveling away from you down the river as you return focus on breath.

The first one requires the least mental effort during physical exertion so I do that running and cycling all the time.

Hoosegow said:

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All of my family that I know who lived into their late 80s and 90s had one thing in common. They all walked just about every day. My mom's dad - every day - lived to his mid 90s and died of pancreatic cancer. My grandfather on my dad's side had one of the first by-passes in the early 80s started walking everyday after the surgery. He walked just about every day. My uncle (not blood), lived to his 90's - walked every day until he broke his hip. Died within a year of that. My dad's brother is 84 this year and is in great shape - walks every day.

I'm now in my 50s. Besides everything else I do, I try to walk at least 3X a week. I wear a weighted vest now to get a little resistance training in.

Walking is great. At work, when I'm frustrated, ticked off, etc., I'll put my hard hat on and walk all over the place. Clears my head and keeps me out of trouble.

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Love walking! It's my preferred way to burn calories. If I want to lose weight, I decrease my food and increase my average steps for the day

20 years ago, I would grab a Discman and headphones and still walk. Once wireless earbuds hit the market it made it so much easier

I always hated walking for exercise until recently. I just thought it was kind of pointless. I always liked to just get my exercise in with short intense sessions.

For some reason, one day I decided to put my wife's weighted vest on and go for a walk. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I've been doing it ever since. Great way to get outside and relieve some stress while getting in Some exercise.

One of the many benefits of having a dog.

The occasional walk without headphones in is good too. Even more calming to me. Sounds of nature and all that.

Walking is for sure medicine as much as almost any activity that is outside that gets you moving. One of the benefits i have seen in my neighborhood since a fair amount of my neighbors work from home is seeing people being more active to help relief stress and break up the day.

I do it frequently at my office since it is in a neighborhood. It clears my mind and is a great thing to do after lunch to jumpstart digestion. Less fatigue post meal and less likely to reach for caffeine in the afternoon.

I run or walk every day. The walk is more contemplative. The run is more physical.

My wife likes to go for walks but her "ostrich legs" sometimes get going and I have to speed up my stride to keep pace.

So when y'all "walk" is it a leisurely one or brisk or what?

I have a 40 pound vest on and I go as brisk as possible doing that. Hills kick my butt so I have to slow down after climbing to catch my breath.

Where do y'all generally walk? I have two parks in New Braunfel I enjoy. Will walk around the neighborhood if time is an issue.

Fischer Park - https://newbraunfels.gov/3379/Fischer-Park

County Line Memorial trail - https://comaltrails.org/trails/county-line-memorial-trail/

I want to try Panther Canyon but traffic in the afternoon is horrendous.

Park by the train/pool in Landa park. Walk on the back side of wurstfest along the golf course. Cross the train tracks and along the river up to prince Solms park. Do the loop down to the tennis courts and back up then turn right towards the square then back to landa.

I am in SA and do a lot in the neighborhood but that's usually just two miles or so. I frequently drive to Hardberger Park (5 minute drive) or one of the parking lots along the Salado Creek trails near the house. Then I usually do about 4 miles.

I'm also just trying to get more walking in throughout the day (parking farther away, etc.)

Sometimes in a pinch I'll make the block around my neighborhood (Deerfield) but I don't trust the drivers along Bitters. I get a little nervous on the sidewalks as people fly by at 50MPH along that windy road.

Dog and I walk every day, weather permitting. Generally a mile or two on weekday mornings and between 3-4 miles on weekends. I need to look into a weighted vest.

I walk in my neighborhood and it has some decent elevation changes throughout. I am not powerwalking but I'm not meandering. It's faster than I would walk in a grocery store but I'm not changing my normal stride, if that makes sense. The route I do takes me almost exactly 30 minutes every time I do it, so I've just stuck to that.

I have added a weight vest and it has definitely increased my heart rate. I am enjoying it.

What vests are you guys using? Would like to pick one up.

I'm usually walking at a decent enough clip to keep some slack in the leash with my dog.

I use the Condor Sentry. I like it a lot for the price. Wife has a 5.11 and it's nicer but not worth triple the price.

Also… I really like the Yes4All contoured plates on Amazon. The curved edges do make a difference in comfort level.

I got this one: Rogue Plate Carrier | Rogue Fitness

I got the pair of 10 pound weights. It's definitely noticeable, I will probably get the 20s at some point but for where I'm at the 10 is good.

It fits comfortably and snug, no movement or jostling around, and the weights are very secured. I did purchase the shoulder pads and I'm pretty sure it would dig into my shoulders and cause some pain after awhile without them.

I prefer ruckscaks so you offset the weight on your hips. Feels easier on my spine.

Rucking! Recently got into this but like others said, I use a pack with waist straps to keep weight off my shoulders because that ****s up my back.

I use a Gregory Zulu 45. Packed it with 20 pounds and took it out this past weekend on an 10+ mile hike. Afterwards, I noticed torn skin on my waist where my waist straps/belt were too tight. Gonna have to watch for that next time

What good rucking weights do you recommend?

I'm also in search of a good rucking calorie burn calculator that takes elevation into account.

Thanks for the reply CC

I don't think there are any very good calculators specifically for rucking. I have searched some forums on Reddit and also a Facebook group. No one has found anything.

Good luck, my dude. Hope you land something soon.

BassCowboy33 said:

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Huge into walking. Having an Aussie helps. I'm over 70 days breaking my 10,000 step goal. Major role in dropping 15 lbs.

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Those are some impressive numbers. Well done.

I've always looked down on the people I see walking/hiking with weight vests, but I fully get it now. Wisdom...it only comes with age/experience. Y'all have got me looking at them now.

Geriatric Punk said:

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BassCowboy33 said:

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Huge into walking. Having an Aussie helps. I'm over 70 days breaking my 10,000 step goal. Major role in dropping 15 lbs.

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Those are some impressive numbers. Well done.

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I'm helped out by (1) Having an active dog (2) Living near The Beltline in Atlanta (a giant set of inner-city trails and parks) and (3) Moving a bunch for my job.