20 Min Walking Workout | Starting Over (w music) 36A

Hey Walkers!

Ever feel like you’re hitting reset… again? Same. 

But guess what? Starting over doesn’t mean you’re behind—it means you’re brave enough to begin again. 

This 20-minute walking workout is here to help you do just that, with a boost of energy, good vibes, and steady background music to keep you moving. 

Whether you’re out on a trail, walking in place at home, on your walking pad, or sneaking in steps between errands, I’ll be right there with you—coaching, chatting, and cheering you on. 

In this episode: 

• A 20-minute workout to shake off that “ugh” feeling 

• Little pep talks to remind you—you’re good 

• A few mindset shifts to make starting over feel empowering, not defeating 

• And yes, background music to keep your pace and your mood up 

If you’re starting over and ready to make real changes in your life—one step at a time—this episode is perfect for you. This version includes background walking music! Want a version without music? Head over to episode 36B.

Instagram: @yourwalkingpodcast

Transcript

0:00

We are going to start out at a warmup pace, so no matter what you're doing, if you're walking outside, you're walking inside on a treadmill or an awesome walking pad. If you're on elliptical, a bike, or even if you're gardening or walking in place, whatever you're doing, we're just going to warm it up. Always got a warm it up, and the older I get, I feel like the more warmup I need. Deep breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. And if you've never walked with me before, I'm going to kind of coach you along. We're going to roll our shoulders, we're going to remove any tension from our bodies. We're going to focus on our walking. We're going to chat. We're going to try to lose ourselves in the walk and just keep moving.'cause that's the most important thing. We're just going to keep moving throughout the day. So speaking of rolling shoulders, roll your shoulders back, nice big rolls, and roll your shoulders forward. You're going to shake out your hands. And then periodically I'm going to kind of remind you to check in with your body and see where you're tight. A lot of times I'll find out that my shoulders are inching up towards my ears, so I have to drop them back down. So I'm going to remind you, remind me, just keep those shoulders down, keep everything smooth and relaxed. Another deep breath in. Going to warm it up just for a couple of minutes, which my couple of minutes, who knows how much that ends up being. Have you ever done something then you realize that people don't know what you're talking about. So for all of these episodes, I have a bell at the halfway point, but actually I never told you there was a bell at the halfway point. I just put them in the show notes. So if you actually never read my show notes, you're probably wondering, why is there a bell? So in case you're walking outside the bell is to just cue you to turn around and head back. It's only been what, how many years that I've forgotten to tell you what that bell is for. Another deep breath in through your nose. And exhale through your mouth. We're going to roll those shoulders again. Don't be shy. Even if you're outside, nobody cares. Big, big, big rolls. And if you're like me, you start to hear crack, crack, crack, crack, crack. Then we're going to roll it forward. You are going to feel for any tension in your body. You're going to feel for tension in your glutes. You're going to feel for tension in your back and your shoulders, in your hands, and then your toes. I'm going to remind you about your toes.'cause a lot of times, especially if your shoes may not fit quite right, we tend to grab with our toes. Another deep breath in. Fill up those lungs, and when you fill up those lungs, you just want to relax your stomach when you inhale. And then exhale, you're going to pull your stomach tight, get all that air out of your lungs. You really want to try to recirculate that air like your very own air purifier. With these walks we're just going to aim to get moving and try to fit them in. They're different lengths. Some are 10 minutes, some are 15 minutes, some are 30 minutes. Some I got carried away. They are like 40 minutes. And I talk about different topics and we just chat and we hang out and we breathe and we move and we feel how good our bodies feel when they're exercising and that we're alive. Another deep breath in now. One more time, you're going to roll your shoulders back, roll our shoulders forward. Sometimes in these workouts we do intervals, so we go a little bit faster for set periods of time, . When I just say go faster, if you have the opportunity, not if you're standing in a light, then you can go faster. Just really good to get your body going and kind of shock it or shock it into submission, is what I like to say. Shake out your hands again, clear your mind. I usually like to put my phone on do not disturb because really hopefully there's no emergencies that happen in the short amount of time that I'm out walking. So if you do that, people can't interrupt you and you can have just a moment for yourself, no matter how much or how little time that you can carve out for yourself. It's that moment that's just for you. And don't let anybody disturb you. It's like when I go in an airplane, I love it because nobody can reach me up there because I don't get the wifi. And that way I can just read books or watch movies, and I'm in my own little cocoon, 35,000 feet up in the sky. We're just going to go a little faster now. Feel how strong your legs are. Pay attention to your feet. Make sure your toes aren't like grabbing the bottom of your shoes. Keep them relaxed and keep your breathing going deep and regular.'cause we need that oxygen. And for the shorter walks, you can just do whenever you can. Morning, lunch, break, evening, whatever fits for you. It's really good to get that blood flowing. It's going to wake us up again. The one thing I wanted to talk to you about, which is where I am right now is like starting over , whether it's weight loss or fitness or doing something different in your life. Maybe it's a new job. Maybe you're purging things around the house. Trying to to clear your mind and create space for something new. In my case, if you listened to any earlier episodes, you know that in 2023 I was taking care of my aunt who had stage four cancer, and I really focused on her. We were like two peas in a pod and then I kind of lost my way. I didn't exercise, I didn't do much of anything except, um, eat candy. So the weight loss that I kept off for 17 years, started to creep back up again. I know it's been two years, but now I kind of feel ready to start over. I've been doing a little bit of exercise here and there, walks and some weight training and a little bit of mobility.'cause guess who's stiff? Yes, that's me. And I want to share what I'm doing and how I'm getting back on track with you in case you're in the same boat as I am, and maybe you're not, or maybe you know someone who is. But in any case, we can walk and chat and just keep on moving together today. Go a little bit faster, keep that breathing going. And when you walk, you want to squeeze your glutes a little bit so you can really feel the power in the legs. So the legs are really what keep us balanced, having strength in our legs is the most important thing that we can do. If you have time to do some squats or sit and stand up into a chair, but not a rolling chair,'cause I've done that before. And I'll tell you a story about that later, but just do some squats throughout the day. Even some lunges, if you can. Try to get some leg strength. If you can find some hills or an incline on a treadmill, or if you're on an elliptical, you can make it a little bit tougher. If you're on a bike, you can add more resistance. You want to add that strength to your legs because having strong legs is what's going to help you as you get older. First of all, we've got a lot of muscle in our lower body. And second of all, it really helps with our balance when we're strong. Another deep breath in. You want to hold onto a pace that's just a little past a warmup. Shake out your hands. I just want to sing. Shake that groove thing. Shake your groove hands. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know who's sang that. Do you know? Because I don't. Squeeze your glutes when you walk. Feel how your feet hit the pavement. Feel strong and centered. We're not rushing anything today because we're getting started again. Right? When we're restarting something, anything, even if it's going back to school or whatever we're trying to do, we kind of lose our momentum. I know that I work better when I do things better, when I have some momentum, like if I'm really, really busy with my business, I get a lot more done. And then when I'm not as busy, I just mosey around. I don't even get the one thing done that I have to do because it's the momentum of keeping going. I don't know if that's proper grammar, but it's the momentum of keeping going that moves me forward. And also that's what happened with my habits. All of those habits that I created over the years. They kind of went out the window and now I'm like, well, I don't want to do those habits anymore. Because those habits take a little bit of effort and I'm just not feeling it. Most of my life, I haven't watched much TV, but now apparently I'm an Apple TV addict. Another deep breath into your nose and exhale through your mouth. You are going to roll those shoulders backwards. Big, big, big rolls. Feel the creak, creak, creak maybe, and then roll it forward. You can even tilt your head side to side, lifting your ears. Yes, someone injured their neck sleeping probably like six months ago. Whenever I talk in a third person, I'm talking about myself, so yes. I injured my neck somehow about six months ago. I went to physical therapy a couple of times, but that was not helping. So I'm still working on that, doing my neck mobility exercises.'cause I waited a really long time to go to the doctor. Now we're going to go a little faster. A little bit of challenge. We're not sprinting just going to wake everything up in our bodies. We're going to keep the breathing going, keep that oxygen flowing throughout your body. Deep breath in when you're restarting habits and restarting over. It's hard to, to throw all those habits on yourself, all those changes at all at once. So you want to start with one or two small things. And this is how, when I started my weight loss journey many, many years ago, which ended up me losing over 85 pounds. I kept that off for 17 years. I added habits a little by little and I started with walking the kids to school and adding more vegetables to my diet. That was it. And then the weight loss started just based on those two small habits. So when we're starting over, first of all, when we're starting over, we don't want to beat ourselves up. So don't beat yourself up. If you're starting over something, it's okay if you fall off that wagon or you fall off that horse. Just try to get on again. But try to get on slowly and don't think about like, oh, I lost, you know, this last year. I lost these last two years.'cause you didn't, you were where you needed to be and you were doing what you needed to do at the time, it's okay. Beating ourselves up gets us nowhere and just makes us angry, and then we're not motivated. Another deep breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Maybe write down a few things that you can start with. First of all, you want to write down your general goal, whatever it is, whether it's fitness, weight loss, going back to school, moving out of the area, restarting your life somewhere. Write down what your end goal is, and then you're going to make a list as to the steps you need to get there, and then figure out which habits you need in order to get to that goal and start adding them a little at a time. I know we all want quick results with whatever we're doing, but we have much better chance of success when we take them one at a time and small. Go a little bit faster. Might as well, right? Let's pick up a little pace for, let's do three minutes. Another deep breath in and I want you to push it here a little bit uncomfortable. And if you're driving, don't speed. If you're cleaning, you can clean extra hard. Really feel that body and connect with that body and just feel the power that's inside you. And then pick that habit. If you have a habit floating around in your mind, one that worked for you before, pick one of those habits and then imagine yourself doing it. Visualize yourself doing it. That's what I used to do. Before I taught my very first spin class, or before I do something scary, like a speaking engagement or something, I visualize myself doing it over and over again. And then when I do it, it's a lot easier and it actually feels like more of a habit. Keep going nice and strong with those legs. Let's say you want to start getting into shape again. So maybe you used to be kick ass in shape and now you're not. And that's perfectly okay. That's where I am right now. I still think I am and then I do some exercises and like the next day I am like, well, I can't move and I can't sit, I can't go to the bathroom. So, you know, kind of overreaching a little bit 'cause I can be overachiever. Hold on to that pace. What I'm going to do now is I'm going to go back to regularly walking, not just a few days a week, but I'm going to try to walk every single day because there's no reason I can't find 10 or 15 minutes in a day of 24 hours just to go for a walk. Hold on that pace. We're about halfway through this little interval. that's my first goal. So I can do that for, let's just say my goal to do that is maybe three weeks to start with that, maybe two weeks. So depending how ambitious I feel. And then secondarily, I'm going to start doing squats every hour. There has been some research out that if you do 10 squats every 45 minutes or so throughout your workday, and you do those maybe eight, or let's just say 10 times. That's a hundred squats in a day, and that really helps A) get your heart rate up. But the study also showed that it helped with your blood sugar levels. It helped keep those in line, and that also gives you that strength and that balance, and it makes you feel pretty rocking. Hold onto your speed. So I'm going to start with that. I'm going to start with like maybe four or five sets. So every two hours, and I'm going to do the squats. You can sit up and down in a chair, for example, like pat your booty up and then stand. And then have a little sit and then stand. Nice deep breath in again. Roll those shoulders. So I'm going to start doing those with the walking for the next few weeks, and I'm going to add pushups. I used to really love to work out like little increments throughout the day and you'll see me talk about that and you, oops, we got 10 seconds. Hang on a little bit faster. Give me a little push. We might as well. Good. And then slow it down a little bit. Not like really slow, just so you're not working out quite as hard. Deep breath in through your nose. Really fill up those lungs and exhale. Now, I used to be like super, super fit where I would actually do full pushups with my feet on the ball. I can do maybe two full pushups now with my feet on the floor, but I like to do them against a counter or even a low, really solid coffee table. And then I do the regular pushups, and then I find either the counter again or a solid chair. And then I do more tricep pushups where my elbows are into my side, and then I focus more on my triceps. So I'm going to be adding those two after a few weeks to get started again. And then one thing that I find really helpful is to, instead of thinking about the stuff I have to cut out, like when it comes to my diet, I think about what I can add to my diet, like what can I add that would be healthy and what can I add that I like? If you add more fruits and vegetables, you will not be as hungry for the other stuff. Think about what you can add and then making that small change. And then you can start making little changes day by day or week by week. Another deep breath in through your nose. Roll out those shoulders. Now we're going to do a longer interval, but not as fast. We're going to go about four minutes . Think about what habit you would like to add. And then what habits then that you could take away. For example, if you have a walking pad, instead of watching three hours of tv, if you can do 30 minutes on the walking pad and then you can watch another hour, for example, and then you can do something else. So you're going to add a little bit of away some of the time that you're sitting. And then try to move. Set your timer for maybe 55 minutes throughout the day and then just get up and walk around. What I also like to do, hold onto your speed there. Deep breath in.'cause you know I have a ADHD I'm just going to jump back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. What I also like to do is....., I forgot what I also like to do. See, can you relate to that? Because there I am. I like have many things that I like to do. I would like to date Billy Idol, but that's not going to happen. I would like to eat chocolate cake every day. That's not going to happen. Oh yes. Now I remember what I also like to do, for example, is because I work from home, I run my own business. What I like to do is in the middle of the day, get up and go unload the dishwasher. And then I try to see how fast I can do it... time myself, or I do this and I time myself and do this, and I time myself. And so I do little pockets of housework throughout the day because that keeps me moving and that's something I have been doing. But I want to go back into those exercise pockets that I used to do. You don't have to work super hard.. We're almost there holding onto your speed. We've got two minutes left. You can hold on to like a door jam and then you can sit back. So you want to always sit back with your squats and you lower yourself down so you go lower. So you also get a good stretch in those hips. If your hips are tight, that's going to feel amazing. And then you can walk your way back up the door jam again, and then sit down again. And you can start with four squats or five squats, and you can start every two hours instead of every hour. But you're going to feel so amazing from doing that, and you're not going to build big thighs. It's really hard to build big thighs. I tend to get bulkier because that's how I'm built. I'm one of those short, stocky people, but my thighs don't get big from body weight squats. They get stronger. All of us really would have to use a lot of weight and lift really heavy in order to bulk up our thighs. But the benefits to doing that every day are amazing. Plus, if it does help us balance our blood sugar, why not? Another deep breath into your nose and exhale through your mouth. Give those shoulders a nice big roll backwards and then roll 'em forward. Now you are going to go, just a little bit faster for about the next, uh, 45, 50 seconds, not a sprint. We're not going to do a lot of quick changes today. Just going to get back into it, right? Find some little workouts that work for you. Find some of my walks that are shorter, and just try to schedule those in even 10 minutes or 15 minutes. That's why I do the shorter walks too, so we can just get out there. Take your dog. Take your child, take your boss. Take myself. Sometimes, you know, when I'm working on a deadline, I'm just like, whoa, I can't get the 10 minutes away. Okay, but I'm entitled to a break. Even though I'm a mean boss to myself, I'm entitled to a break. So I should take my 10 minutes. Okay, we got 10 more seconds. Speaking of 10, I want you to feel how strong your legs are right now and then slow it down. Just a little bit. We're not going in a full on slowdown just enough to where you feel like I'm moving, but I'm not sprinting away from a dinosaur. Shake out those hands. Then think about how your body felt today during this walk. Where were you tight? If you can do like a little check-in, remind yourself and check through that body, like in a sci-fi movie from head to toe. Was I tight in my shoulders? Was I tight in my hips? Was I tight in my feet? How do my knees feel? And then always in these workouts, when you're done, especially if you're trying to squeeze some walking in, just do a few stretches. Your calves, maybe your hamstrings in the back of your thighs, the quads in the front. And I never told you that story about the ball. You know what? I'm going to save it for another episode. That way you have to listen again right? Now, we're going to slow it down a little bit. Keep breathing. Deep breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. And I'm going to continue on with topics like this and more tips, and we're going to build on these so that way we'll start small and start slow. Because that's what works for everything. And then we're just going to add on and add on and take away and add on until suddenly boom, rocking In the free world. That's not a song. I just made it up. Slow it down a little bit more. And whenever you can squeeze in these walks or keep moving, give yourself a little pat on the back. It's really all about feeling good. And when you eat better, when you exercise a little bit, when you take whatever vitamins you need, you feel so much better you're going to feel better a little bit every day, stronger, healthier a little bit every day. Slow it down a little more now. And there are two versions of every workout. One of 'em is just voice. And the second one, I add music for you, which is kind of timed and paced to our speed. So whichever one you prefer. Take a deep breath through your nose, exhale through your mouth, and if you enjoyed this workout, I would love for you to rate it on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on, and I'll see you next time.