Good Housekeeping puts a spring in your step – one per cent at a time!

Familiar sight of daffodils heralding the arrival of spring!

CAN’T believe it’s been so long since I posted an entry. Where does the time go? I’ve done plenty of walking, mind you. Had to, really, after my car was written off in, ahem, a slight bump! Pounding the pavements has certainly burned up a few plums’ worth of energy, according to my app!

I now have four wheels again, but having to get everywhere by Shanks’s pony (oh, and the occasional bus or two!) has been interesting!

I can take comfort from the fact that I've been getting my 'exercise' in, though, and this month there’s been even more support for the activity with the enthusiastic promotion of walking by a popular glossy mag.

Open the pages of Good Housekeeping (March edition, pictured right) and you'll find an inspirational feature on why it’s good to walk. After a front page plug on 'How to walk yourself fitter, younger and calmer' (I like the ‘younger’ bit – can live in hope!) two double-page spreads highlight the benefits of the easy physical exercise that's free.

The benefits of walking are well known, of course, but what Good Housekeeping does - in what it refers to as a 'Health breakthrough' - is come up with a 'brilliant, easy way to make walking even more effective.'

In the eye-catching pages, the magazine applies the approach adopted by the record-breaking Olympic Team GB cycling team – that is: ‘Small changes, big gain.’ In the words of Team GB Performance director David Brailsford, this means: 'If you broke everything down that you could think of . . . and then improved it by 1%, you will get significant increase when you put them all together.'

The beauty of thinking of it in terms of 1% is that it’s such a small amount – and so ‘do-able.’ Think of that one single tiny penny. By itself, not much at all. But put 10 of them together, or 20 or 30 or more – and they make up a much larger and more useful sum.

Good Housekeeping points to how ‘little things’ like wearing the right shoes or varying your speed can make all the difference. Tips include:

      ·         Making a basic walking plan (there’s a useful link to a two-week plan
      by Nina Barough on the magazine’s website)

      ·        Good Posture

      ·         Mindful walking

      ·         Eating the right foods and even, wait for it . . .

      ·         Walking like a crab! (Though you may want to do this in the privacy
      of your own garden!)

There’s even a suggestion for Nordic walking, where you use poles to help propel yourself along and build upper body strength.

The recent weather hasn’t exactly been ideal for walking – you’re more likely to have been blown along - but spring is in the air. You can tell by the daffodils!.

Why not follow up Good Housekeeping’s useful tips? Flick through the pages and give yourself a health boost at the same time!

As for me? Well, continue with walking that I've actually chosen to do, rather than have thrust upon me! In an odd sort of way, I've enjoyed having to get around on foot - but it'll be a relief not having to allow that extra time for everything, including hanging around for buses that may or may not turn up!

PS: The magazine’s editor Lindsay Nicholson puts her action where her words are – and is currently limbering up for the London Moon Walk in May to raise funds for breast cancer charities!

Good Housekeeping is out now, price £3.99

Daffodil 'gallery' taken this morning (22/03/14)