You think that walking your dog is enough

Well maybe you have been doing that for a long time… How’s it working for you? Lose any weight? Lose any inches? Feel better about your physical conditioning?
In my block there are two women that I see everyday walking their little tiny dogs. If these dogs are as big as my left foot I would be shocked. One day one of them stops me in the street and asks me what she needed to do to get in better shape. You see both of them could stand to lose about 50 pounds. Well I asked her what she had been doing and she told me that every morning she goes out for a walk with her dog and friend. After listening to her for a few minutes I told her that I understood that she was thinking she was exercising but in essence she was exercising her mouth more than her body. I would see her talking up a storm and making frequent stops for Fighto to tinkle.
The problem with using Fighto as your excuse to go out and “exercise” is that Fighto probably makes frequent stops to relieve himself. What this does is never get your heart rate up to a point where the exercise you are doing is beneficial for your cardiovascular system. Studies have shown that the average person does not begin to perspire for 12-15 minutes. If Fighto is stopping every 2 minutes to smell that latest flower or relieve himself, how can you get that heart rate up and then hold it there for 15 minutes. Yes, for exercise to be truly beneficial you must hold that heart rate up for 30 minutes at a constant pace. Once that heart rate gets up to its maximum (which is about 120bpm for the average person) then when it naturally comes down there is where the results are.
If you ever want to measure how fit you are, it is actually in the way your body recovers not how hard you push. The quicker your body recovers after interval training the better conditioned you are. After a hard interval, if your heart rate comes down relatively quickly, within 30 seconds, back to normal to start again then you are in really good condition. If after a hard workout it takes you hours to recover, well then you have work to do.
The human body is wonderfully made. The harder we push it, the more it compensates for the stress. The harder we challenge it, the more it responds in a positive manner. Don’t be afraid to leave Fighto home for a few minutes and go for a run or a real fast walk. Your body will thank you and you may just lose a few inches and get in better shape.