Challenge yourself a little
If you are already smashing the 9000 steps but would like to make it a little more difficult, perhaps you could consider some of the following suggestions?
Speed it up!
Start off with a warm-up of a focused pace of easy walking.
Then walk fast—at a speed where your heart starts beating faster and you’d be able to speak only in short sentences—for one minute, followed by one minute easy. Follow that with two minutes fast and two minutes easy, then three minutes fast and three minutes easy. Work your way back down again with two minutes fast and two minutes easy, then one minute fast and one minute easy, before finishing with a five-minute recovery or simply pick a tree or mailbox ahead of you, walk fast until you reach it, then spend a few minutes walking at an easy recovery pace before selecting another destination.
Add some weight
Carrying light dumbbells or even household objects works too, maybe 1 to 2 kg wrist weights. That way, your hands stay free, your arms can swing naturally, and you minimize the strain on your hands and wrists that can come with gripping for long periods of time. Ankle weights, while great for mat workouts, can interfere with your knee alignment when worn walking and running, so you should avoid them.
For an overall more intense workout, you can also wear a weighted vest
Use elevation to your advantage.
Heading up hills naturally increases the intensity of your walk even if you’re moving at the same pace or slower. Walking up an incline can be even harder than running. Maybe map your route to include regular walking as a warm-up, then hitting a flight of stairs for some higher-intensity work, and then walking back home as a cooldown.
Add upbeat music
Spotify and Apple Music has playlists for songs of various beats per minute that Lewis loves for keeping the tempo up. Choose one that’s comfortably challenging—say, 130 to 140 BPM—and will last for the duration of time that you want to walk, and aim to keep up with it.
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Challenge total so far