Walking for Fitness, Pleasure and Health
A new book called Walking for Fitness, Pleasure and Health will be on sale on 8th October. This is the walker's ultimate guide – written by long-time walker Helen Vause, with a foreword by Wonder Walkers' co-founder Dame Susan Devoy.
It tells the personal stories of women of all ages, shapes and sizes who love to walk. The one thing these women have in common is their determination to achieve their goal, be it a half marathon, a weight loss or a commitment to lifestyle change.
Books will be available for purchase from this site after its release. Don't wait to buy a copy for yourself or to put in the Christmas stocking of someone special!
Go Red for Women September Breakfasts
Go Red for Women Campaign
Go Red for Women is a heart health movement to save women’s lives, organised by the Heart Foundation.
In September Go Red for Women is on the road, with breakfast events taking place in Tauranga, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, with outstanding speakers including Dame Susan Devoy and Dame Jenny Shipley.
We'll be giving out more information about these events soon but in the meantime you can get the details here.
10,000 steps a day makes a happy employee
Employees who walk 10,000 steps a day and work out in the gym three times a week can give their employer an extra $2500 worth of productivity a year, an Australian clinical trial has found.
In addition, they can add five years to their lifespan in the process.
Read the full article on stuff.co.nz here
How to prevent shin splints
I don't know about you, but I really suffer from shin splints while walking. After putting up with it for far too long, I decided to do some research and find out how to get rid of them.
Here are six tips to help prevent shin splints from Health Search Online
Doogle - for dog walkers
If you are looking for some great exercise areas to walk your dog, wanting to adopt, have lost or found a dog in your area, or looking for some people to walk your dog with, then Doogle is for you.
Doogle was initially created due to a lack of easily accessible information on where you can walk your dog, both on leash and off leash. As the site gained popularity, it grew with the demand for more features such as exercise areas and lost and found both incorporating Google Maps to pinpoint locations, an adoption service for re-homing or looking for a new addition to the family.
Read more
Walking Marathons
A friend of mine who is training to walk the Lion Foundation Rotorua marathon in May has shared this training schedule and I thought it might be useful for anyone contemplating this enormous challenge. (Just click on the link to open the PDF.)
Enormous but achievable and let me assure you that it is a great sense of accomplishment finishing your first marathon.
These days walking marathons is becoming as popular as running one so you wont be alone but you will need to prepare as 42 kms is a long way to walk.
Wanganui Ladies "Splurge" Group Have Some fun and Get Active
We are a group of 10 ladies who have formed a "splurge" group in Wanganui. The idea behind "splurge" was to meet new people when you are new to a town. Two women started the group by inviting 4 other people each. Then we get together once a month at the hosts place, everybody puts in $20, the host puts on the wine and the nibbles and at the end of the night one persons name is drawn out and they win $200 that they must 'splurge' on themselves i.e no bill paying and next month the winner becomes the host and so on.
Continue ReadingWoman's Best Walking Partner
Peak Bagging
I have mentioned before that in the process of developing WonderWalkers we have met some amazing people and found out a lot about the wonders of walking. Jon and the crew from PeakBagging are testament to this and I think you will find the whole concept of Peak Bagging very interesting.
If you have ever had the pleasure of visiting Scotland, you may have encountered the peculiar pastime of 'Munro Bagging'. A 'munro' is a Scottish mountain over 900m and thousands of people have climbed some or all of the 284 munros in Scotland. During a trip to Scotland in 2002, we discovered the joys of munro bagging for ourselves, and we immediately wondered if such a peak bagging list existed for New Zealand. We quickly dismissed the idea however, as any such New Zealand list would be full of alpine peaks, and we are anything but mountaineers!
After bagging more peaks in Italy, Switzerland and Egypt, we caught the peak bagging bug, and just couldn't let go of the idea of a New Zealand peak bagging list. Upon returning to New Zealand in 2004, we started researching a list of North Island peaks we could bag, with plans to eventually compile a South Island list as well. Eventually, the list started to take shape in the form of the www.peakbagging.co.nz website.
Click here for rest of story
App of the Week
Walkmeter GPS Walking Stopwatch for Fitness and Weight Loss
This app was named best of the show at Macworld 2010 by Beatweek and featured by Apple in What's Hot in the App Store. Walkmeter turns your iPhone into a powerful GPS stopwatch, giving you feedback and motivation to go farther. Walkmeter tracks your time location, distance and speed. This app also allows you to connect with friends to keep you motivated. These are just a few of the features this app has to offer.
Walkmeter has had excellent reviews by users and costs $4.99
Putting the right foot forward
Asics have kindly provided us with some information specific to walking shoes.I know many of us just use your old running shoes and that shoes are an expensive item..but let's face it,shoes are about the only expense you incur when walking.
If you want to ask a specific question in relation to walking shoes fire it through to info@wonderwalkers.co.nz and the team at Asics are only too happy to help.
The most important requirement for any walker is a supportive pair of shoes. Due to the very different biomechanical features of walking, the needs of a good pair of walking shoes are quite different to the requirements of running shoes and unfortunately many walkers rely on running shoes to suit their walking needs.
Walking is different from running. When we walk we keep one foot on the ground and our body weight is therefore distributed differently over the shoe than that of a runner.
The three key differences in a walking shoe are: Firstly, the shoes are lighter to reduce fatigue of key muscles in the shin and calf; secondly they are more durable because walkers spend more time on their forefoot than runners do, so the forefoot is more flexible, more cushioned and more wear resistant than running shoes; and thirdly they have the GEL pad positioned in the centre of the shoe to give better cushioning for the walking stride.
ASICS now offers a complete range of walking shoes based on real research and design. With nine dedicated walking shoes in their range for both men and women, this line caters for any foot type and any surface.
Click here to use the Asics guide and select the Asics walking shoe that best fits you.