Reverse walking may seem strange to hear about initially but learning about reverse walking benefits will make you take your steps backwards. It is believed that 100 steps of reverse walking can equal 1000 steps of forward walking, that is, conventional walking. Though having tried to do reverse walking a few times in the past years I never went past the second day. This time though, I decided to do reverse walking for one week without break and started backward walking last sunday and successfully completed a week today. Reverse walking benefits are immense but first I will share my experiences after backward walking for a week.
Photo by Tatiana Twinslol from Pexels
What Happened After I Did Reverse Walking for A Week?
I did reverse walking in our terrace. My goal was to reverse walk for one week for 20 minutes each day.
Day 1: On the first day I was slightly off balance in the first couple of rounds. It worked like this. I had to reverse walk 32 steps to reach one end of the particular part of terrace and returning to the starting point completed one round. After the initial trouble with balance, I was able to walk the next 15 minutes with better balance. The last 5 minutes was when I felt I was walking off the path. Unlike forward walking this tired me sooner. I felt the most impact on my thighs on day one of reverse walking. I had walked 1664 steps in 20 minutes of reverse walking on day one.
Day 2: The second day of backward walking was much better as I was able to balance right from the word 'go'. After 10 minutes of casual reverse walking I started reverse jogging prompted by my husband. I was able to reverse jog only for about 4 minutes. The first minute was quite tough. After 4 minutes of backward jogging I completed the remaining minutes in reverse walking. I did not keep track of my steps today as I did reverse jogging as well.
Day 3: Today we completed 40 minutes of outdoor walking, returned home and performed reverse walking in our terrace. Today I was unable to reverse walk beyond 15 minutes. While it was tiresome after regular walking, we decided to end it after 15 minutes as we were already behind our schedule for the day's workout.
Days 5 and 6: These two days went really well with backward walking becoming more comfortable. I was able to reverse walk more easily and with more confidence. The number of steps were increasing with each day. I did not experience thigh pain.
Day 6: The day started with low back pain. I started the day's exercise with 20 minutes of reverse walking. By the time I completed 20 minutes my low back pain disappeared.
Check here for yoga poses for back pain.
Day 7: Today I experienced a sense of satisfaction after completing reverse walking for a week as planned. There was noticeable difference in speed on day 7 compared with day 1. The number of steps increased to 2240.
Here is what I experienced after one week of reverse walking:
- The difficulty in placing the steps backward I experienced on day 1 was not felt on day 7. I was able to reverse walk at a comfortable pace throughout the 20 minutes.
- I was able to feel that the effects of 20 minutes of backward walking were higher than brisk walking in forward direction.
- Temporary low back pain I experienced disappeared after 20 minutes of reverse walking.
- I felt energetic physically and mentally after completing reverse walking every day.
- I feel there was a positive impact in the quality of sleep throughout the week I did reverse walking.
Still, I performed reverse walking in our terrace. Doing backward walking in public places can be more challenging and more rewarding as you need to take into account fellow walkers and vehicles, which will give a great boost to your co-ordination skills and confidence.
Benefits of Reverse Walking
Some of the most important benefits of reverse walking include:
- Promotes balance
- Some of the underused muscles in forward walking are used well in reverse walking. According to a study, rectus femoris and vastus medialis get well-exercised in backward walking. Further more, the research says that ankle muscles also get more involved in reverse walking.
- Helps with weight loss
- Boosts energy
- Exercising in open air improves heart health.
- Boosts metabolism
- More calories are burnt in reverse walking than in conventional walking.
- Reduces knee pain
- Relieves low back pain
- Improves sleep quality
- Improves brain power. According to a study, reverse walking improves cognitive skills. A study conducted on reverse walking proves that walking backwards helps to handle tough situation and come up with solutions.
- Relieves stress
Rama Thamizharasu
Welcome to yogaaatral. I am a yoga therapist, SEO consultant, writer and translator. If you love pets, we invite you to visit our pet blog @ https://voiceofapet.blogspot.com/ and our YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/@PetsDiaryandMomsToo
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