walking backwards as an exercise

[fatlazyless]

Hey, here's a new wrinkle on walking as personal exercise ...... by walking backward ...... ha-ha-ha!

http://www.uclahealth.org/news/artic...ased-cognition ..... "Walking backwards may have link to increased cognition"

I have easy access to the #1 best, most safe, public town sidewalk to make this happen for myself with a very high degree of safety because the sidewalk is very wide with a continuous indented center line for navigating walking backward without looking to see where I am going for about 300-yards, length. I just look down at my two feet and follow the indented line while walking backward plus this sidewalk usually does not have too many others on it. Is sort of like rowing a row boat where you always look to the stern and not forward to see where you are going. This public sidewalk construction is very unusual and totally excellent for walking backward.

Like, who knew? Probably nobody knew it is an ideal sidewalk for walking backward ...... ho-ho-ho!

Typically, I walk a 2.5-mile loop walk in the early morning about six days per week, and will try to walk backward on this 300-yard sidewalk as part of the 2.5-mile loop. I did it today and walking backward uses some different muscles in the lower back and hips that do not get so much use when walking normally forward.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/b...king-backwards ...... Health Benefits of Walking Backward

Got a few strange looks from passing cars but so what! And it's a paved black asphalt sidewalk complete with a perfect continuous gray granite curb, about six inches high that helps to separate the sidewalk pedestrians from this passing automobile traffic on the town, two-way road with 25-mph speed limit.

It feels like it's working areas in both hips that do not normally get worked when walking forward. It also works on my sense of balance, the inner ear.

This side walk was constructed where there was no sidewalk before by the Pizzagalli Construction Co., Burlington, Vermont in 1990 and they did one hell of a good sidewalk construction job because 35-years later it is still totally solid and in excellent condition ........ www.pcconstruction.com ....... a sidewalk built to last and last and last with real gray granite curb and black slightly crested designer asphalt.

Who knows but if I do this six days per week, maybe others will see me and try it for themself what with this high visibility town sidewalk? Like, what's the h is he doing? And, why is he walking backward? Is too early for him to be drunk? ........ ....... so what the heck is up with that ...... walking backward?

Maybe I can snag a video from Clark's Bears in North Woodstock, NH with a black bear walking backwards while standing up vertical on its two rear legs ...... www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAlH01O3cuw ........ and post it here?

So, if a black bear can walk backwards can it also dance the Cha-cha-cha?

[bobkatfly]

Originally Posted by fatlazyless

Hey, here's a new wrinkle on walking as personal exercise ...... by walking backward ...... ha-ha-ha!

http://www.uclahealth.org/news/artic...ased-cognition ..... "Walking backwards may have link to increased cognition"

I have easy access to the #1 best, most safe, public town sidewalk to make this happen for myself with a very high degree of safety because the sidewalk is very wide with a continuous indented center line for navigating walking backward without looking to see where I am going for about 300-yards, length. I just look down at my two feet and follow the indented line while walking backward plus this sidewalk usually does not have too many others on it. Is sort of like rowing a row boat where you always look to the stern and not forward to see where you are going. This public sidewalk construction is very unusual and totally excellent for walking backward.

Like, who knew? Probably nobody knew it is an ideal sidewalk for walking backward ...... ho-ho-ho!

Typically, I walk a 2.5-mile loop walk in the early morning about six days per week, and will try to walk backward on this 300-yard sidewalk as part of the 2.5-mile loop. I did it today and walking backward uses some different muscles in the lower back and hips that do not get so much use when walking normally forward.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/b...king-backwards ...... Health Benefits of Walking Backward

Got a few strange looks from passing cars but so what! And it's a paved black asphalt sidewalk complete with a perfect continuous gray granite curb, about six inches high that helps to separate the sidewalk pedestrians from this passing automobile traffic on the town, two-way road with 25-mph speed limit.

It feels like it's working areas in both hips that do not normally get worked when walking forward. It also works on my sense of balance, the inner ear.

This side walk was constructed where there was no sidewalk before by the Pizzagalli Construction Co., Burlington, Vermont in 1990 and they did one hell of a good sidewalk construction job because 35-years later it is still totally solid and in excellent condition ........ www.pcconstruction.com ....... a sidewalk built to last and last and last with real gray granite curb and black slightly crested designer asphalt.

Who knows but if I do this six days per week, maybe others will see me and try it for themself what with this high visibility town sidewalk? Like, what's the h is he doing? And, why is he walking backward? Is too early for him to be drunk? ........ ....... so what the heck is up with that ...... walking backward?

Maybe I can snag a video from Clark's Bears in North Woodstock, NH with a black bear walking backwards while standing up vertical on its two rear legs ...... www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAlH01O3cuw ........ and post it here?

So, if a black bear can walk backwards can it also dance the Cha-cha-cha?

I remember reading an article awhile ago saying part of Mick Jagger's workout regimen was walking or running backwards. He said it keeps his buttocks tight or something to that effect. Is that what you're really after?

[chachee52]

I do this with my patients all the time, especially after hip or knee surgeries. Helps with balance, improves gait pattern walking forward by dynamically stretching the hip flexors (in a round about way), and as you said: it utilizes the glutes and hamstrings more which helps with other functional activities.
Just as long at its a safe area, it's a great exercise. I typically tell people down the hallway, that way you have something to hold onto if your balance is off.

[BillTex]

Nothing “new” about walking/running backwards. Us runners have been doing that as part of our training for decades. Good for balance, hams, plantar, Achilles etc.

[ApS]

Even though seen as a healthy exercise, it's too easy to trip over one's own feet.

I'd wear a bicyclist's helmet if I were you.

Falling forward is one thing (you may only break a finger--a "foosh" in hospital-speak).

Falling backwards risks a head injury, and we can't have that--with FLL!

[fatlazyless]

Riding a bicycle or chainsawing a giant tree usually requires a good helmet, but a helmet is not needed for me while walking backwards down a 300-yard stretch of public town sidewalk. People will think I'm some type of a handicapped or something. Hey, I am like the greatest 74-year old pickleball player that ever played pickleball since pickleball was first invented! ..... plus I still play some tennis, too.

Have done this walking backwards three times in the last four days with no problem, and am about to hit the trail again like right now ........ hut-hut-hut! ....... oopsie, is raining heavy so maybe not today? The rain is pounding on the roof, right now. Got out there in the morning rain with a big golf umbrella and got wet.

You ever hear the saying "Walking two miles each and every day, will keep the doctor away!"

New Hampshire has a physical fitness problem because people simply do not walk enough!

And, this 300-yd length of high visibility asphalt sidewalk is nine feet wide, a 4' Pizzagalli side that includes the granite curb, and a 5' Tom Corcoran side, built maybe one year later, and they are different asphalt and for walking backward or RETRO WALKING, there is a slightly indented, 3/4 to one inch wide space between the two sides which helps to guide walking backwards. One can easily look down and keep the line between your two feet, plus its a very smooth asphalt surface with a gentle downhill or uphill grade. Have done this four different days recently with no problems, so far ........ hut-hut-hut!

www.youtube.com/shorts/zGTWQEOB9Zs ....... Walking backwards can help ..... hut-hut-hut!

[fatlazyless]

Hey there, here's what looks like an excellent, year round, walking route in Weirs Beach. It includes three roads: Lakeside Ave, Endicott St, and Tower St so it's a triangle of maybe two miles walking distance, plus Tower St is a super steep hill without a sidewalk but with very little car traffic. It doesn't matter which direction you go on this triangular route because Endicott St is also a long hill with an excellent sidewalk.
For a 300-yard walking backward zone, either Lakeside Ave or the sidewalk on Endicott St will be good to go backward.

Very few people go walking these city public sidewalks and road, especially in the off-season.

The Cumberland Farms store has a public rest room plus is a good spot to buy a cup of hot coffee located at the height of land on this triangular 2-mile walk.

Endicott St is the local name for Route 3, Daniel Webster Hgwy.

Parking your car on Lakeside Ave is easy-peasy, this time of year.

Walking two miles each and every day will keep the doctor away. Walking backwards for 300-yards is good for the hips, sense of balance, and lower back.

Power walking with 2 to 4-lb weights is not really needed because the two hilly streets, Tower and Endicott are long uphill or downhill and the hills provide resistance to walking. .......

[fatlazyless]

Walking backwards the entire steep 300-yards from Lakeside Ave up the steep asphalt Tower St to Endicott St was slow and steady with not even one passing car so I did it, in the middle of the road, there.

As the greatest 74-year old pickleball player ever, walking backwards is good for pickleball speed and pickleball agility because it strengthens your pickleball hips, sense of pickleball balance, and lower pickleball back ..... !

After walking backwards up the steep steep 300-yard Tower St, you get rewarded with a long graceful downhill sidewalk, walking easy down Endicott St, Rt 3-DW Hgwy which has heavy car & big truck traffic just a few feet away.

For $7995 there's a heck of nice 17' travel-camper trailer w/2-wheels & two inch trailer couple for sale that weighs 2700-lbs. Excellent condition, two bedrooms, kitchenette, bathroom, heat, a.c., water & sewer systems, very stylish design and looks almost new..... a heck of a nice, light weight camper trailer parked on someone's Rt 3, front yard that is definitely for sale!

The kiosk meters are still taking quarters on Lakeside Ave but I parked without paying and got away with that, no problem.

The walk along very flat and level Lakeside Ave is perched above, very close to Lake Winnipesaukee, you get to bond with the lake for a few hundred yards there along that famous Weirs Beach boardwalk.

[map]

I used to walk backwards up my steep 700 ft driveway after my daily walk. Stopped when I moved to the Weirs and was walking up and down Rte 3, Tower Hill and Doe Roads, as well as doing some group hikes in the area.

Unfortunately I think those walks up and down the steep hills plus the hiking were what caused me to end up with spine surgery. Turns out I had spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease. Incompatible with a bad back.

Now I drive down to the boardwalk and walk or walk around Meredith Bay, or Scenic Drive in Gilford or through the town or Gilford which has great sidewalks.

I’m always in search of flat places to walk and also with public bathrooms nearby just in case. It’s a challenge for sure.