Sluggish? 10-Minute Walk for Energy w/Music | 67

If your brain has been screaming for sugar, caffeine, a nap, or all three… this 10-minute guided walking workout helps you get over that slump. It is a podcast to walk to that is designed to wake your body back up, loosen up all that desk or sitting stiffness, and help you feel more focused.

You can do this walk outside, or at home on a treadmill or walking pad.

What you get on this 10-minute walk:

• Background music to help keep your pace, plus breathing reminders and posture resets
• A real energy and mood boost without needing a nap
• About 10 minutes of movement and roughly 1200 steps
• Tidbits about NEAT, the daily movement that helps keep up your energy, metabolism, and health

And because I can't stay on topic, I also...

• Read you a dramatic poem I wrote about sugar (it is definitely not Dr. Seuss material)
• Make fun of my past self as a fitness instructor who couldn't even stand up straight after sitting too long
• Gush about a five-week-old rescue kitten who is still trying to figure out how her own legs work
• Tell a silly story about my Aunt Inger and me running after a runaway luggage cart in Norway after a nine-hour flight (way too much sitting)

If you need a quick mood boost or some relief from sitting too long, lace up your shoes and come for a walk.

Tap Follow so the next walk is waiting for you in your feed.

PS. Want easy ways to get more steps in? Check out Ep. 37 — 15-Minute Walk: Fit More Steps In the Easy Way.

PPS. Connect with me on social media at @yourwalkingpodcast

Transcript

0:02

This is a guided walk for when your brain screams sugar and your body says, hmm, maybe move instead. I like to move it, move it. You can do this walk outside or inside on a walking pad or treadmill or even just march in place. Start out at an easy warm-up pace. Okay, so I wrote you a poem, and it's not great, and it's not Dr. Seuss material, but it's the best I can do right now. So as we're walking, let's hang in here with me. Sugar, sugar, I love you so. You make me feel all happy but slow. You're sweet, you're sneaky, you're always near. You whisper, come here, right into my ear. But when I'm tired and my focus is low, I should take a walk instead of that sugar show. A little movement, a little air, a quick walking break can get me there. Yay, or boo, depending on how you felt about it. So I'm tired, my brain is foggy, and then there's a choice, right? It's sugar, sweet, sweet, sweet sugar, lower walk. Two different types of snacks, really. One feels good for like five minutes, and then you want to nap. And the other requires shoes but has a longer payoff. So today we're going to choose those shoes, but no judgment of course from me as always, if you choose a little bit of both. Okay, before we pick up the pace, we're going to do a quick body scan. Check in with your feet. Let them roll naturally instead of clumping around. Keep your knees, keep your knees soft. Give your glutes a little squeeze. Wake them up from the sitting. Drop them down. Drop them down away from your ears. And clench your jaw. Relax your face. And if you're walking outside, there's a bell at the halfway point in case you want to turn around. And this is a Walking and Talking with Helen podcast. Since today's walk is to wake things up a little bit, to refresh ourselves, let's get the blood pumping. You're going to pick up the pace and follow the music. Find that beat. This is like those pneumatic tubes at the old bank drive-thrus. You know, the ones that zipped your deposit to the teller. And in fact, I saw that CVS still has some, so that's kind of cool. So when we sit all day, the tube system gets stagnant. And this walk is just a way to send some air and motion back through those tubes and get things zipping. Zippity-doo-dah. Sometimes when I start on a walk, I'm really stiff from all the sitting. And it feels like I don't even know how to walk sometimes. Like the five-week-old kitten that my aunt and uncle just found. They just rescued this baby. Oh my gosh, she's so tiny. And she's like, how do these limbs work? How does my leg work? Why is my paw over there when my back foot is over there? And she's very confused. And that's how I feel when I'm first starting to get out there moving. Like, how does this work? How do you walk? But then everything loosens up after a few minutes. And get those old tubes working again. Take a deep breath in through your nose. And exhale through your mouth. We breathe more shallow when we're stressed. So get some good air in. Nice and deep. And let's go a little faster. Why not? If you want a little extra wake-up today, here's some quick tips. If it's hot outside, put some cold water on your wrists or the back of your neck. I like to hold a chilled water bottle there. Feels so good. It's amazing how that works. Then after your walk, if your brain is still spinning, take five minutes. Put on your headphones and maybe some calming music. White noise, pink noise, brown noise. It's a soft transition back to the real world. Resets your mind. Go a little bit faster. As we're settling into that brisk pace, here's a tiny little nerd moment. There's a reason why 10-minute exercise breaks like this matter. And it's called NEAT. N-E-A-T. And NEAT is the energy your body uses. Doing everyday movement that's not a formal workout like walking, cleaning, dancing, or fidgeting. And those little pockets of movement during the day can do more for your overall health than the one long workout followed by hours and hours of sitting. Try to find those little pockets in your day to move. And also check out episode 37 because I have some super easy tips on how to do that. Stay with that brisk pace. Feel your body move to the beat. So I work at my desk, as you know already, for hours and hours sometimes. And I'm all hunched over. My shoulders creep up towards my ears. My back is curved like a question mark. And then one time years ago, I remember I stood up from my desk and I was shuffling out of my home office, bent over, stiff, creaking. I was barely moving right. And then my kids looked at me and I looked at them and I said, I'm a fitness instructor. And we still laugh about that. I was a fitness instructor who could barely stand up straight after sitting too long. And desk chair stiff is nothing compared to international flight stiff. My Aunt Inga and I flew from Los Angeles to Oslo, Norway once. It was nine hours sitting on a plane. We landed around 1 a. m. We were tired. Swollen feet. Very stiff. And then we spent two hours once we got there searching for my Aunt's missing luggage. Spoiler. Her suitcase stayed missing for a couple of days. So when we left the airport and we walked towards our hotel, my aunt was pushing the luggage cart with my suitcase and her carry-on on it, and I was walking ahead, kind of showing the way. And then she noticed that my backpack flap was hanging wide open, and my laptop was almost falling out. And that's my entire business, pretty much, like, in that laptop, right? It was ready to fall to its shattering death. And then I stopped so she could zip up my backpack, but then she accidentally let go of the luggage cart. So now the cart is rolling across the road, with me trying to chase it, and my aunt still hanging onto my backpack, trying to zip it closed. Because, you know, instinct. I forgot that my backpack flap was still hanging open. It was like a Lucy and Ethel episode. Nine hours of sitting, sore bodies, one runaway luggage cart, and no functioning brain cells left between us. And the worst part, that everything was, of course, closed, so we couldn't even get Norwegian chocolate. Stay with it now. Feel a little push. Strong, steady pace. Feel how good it feels to have your body move. Rolling through those feet. Squeeze glutes a little bit more. I I don't know about you, but I noticed that when I sit a lot, my glutes are inactive. They just don't want to do anything. And I'm like, squeeze, glutes, squeeze. That's what we're going to do now as we walk every step. Squeeze it a little bit. Wake it up. Going to keep our breathing going. Want to feel refreshed. Now we're going to slow it down just a little bit. Going to recover. Now put your shoulders up all the way to your ears. Really hold it tight for five seconds. And then drop your shoulders down. Okay, one more time. Squeeze up as tight as you can. It's going to be uncomfortable. Squeeze it, squeeze it, squeeze it. And then drop it down again. Now roll them backwards. Big, big, slow rolls. And And then roll them forward. Big rolls. Get all that tension out. Slow it down a little bit more. Take another deep breath in through your nose. And exhale through your mouth. Hopefully you'll feel less stiff, less foggy, a little more awake. And the next time you don't feel like walking, remember how good it felt after this walk. It's like the after walk glow. Even 10 minutes is enough to change your mood and wake up your brain a little. Make sure you follow the podcast. The next walk is waiting for you. And I'll see you next time.