Too Hot Outside? 1-Mile Guided Walk (Treadmill Friendly) | 74

Too hot to walk outside? Let’s get that mile in anyway.

This 1 mile guided walking workout is for those days when the weather has other plans. Whether it’s blazing hot, pouring rain, freezing cold, or you simply missed your chance to get outside, you can still get your steps in.

Walk outside if the weather is bearable, or at home on a treadmill or walking pad. You can even march in place, walk the mall, power through Target or Costco, pace an airport terminal, or walk/run in the pool.

Need a backup plan for those too hot days? You’ll get…

• A beginner-friendly, low-impact 1-mile walking workout
• About 2,000 steps without melting in the summer heat
• An easier way to keep moving when your outdoor plans fall apart
• Fresh ideas for getting your walk in almost anywhere
• A walking buddy in your ear to help the time fly by

And because I tend to drift, I also…

• Tell you why walking all over Bangkok (“One Night in Bangkok…”) felt completely normal, but walking one day in Dubai finally defeated me
• Confess that I somehow keep missing my “perfect” early-morning walking window
• Share the story of my first client treadmill disaster as a brand-new personal trainer
• Admit I turned down a Costco tuxedo cake after tasting sample… then went back the next day to buy… yup… the whole cake
• Explain why my orange cats think every treadmill walk should include them

This walking podcast includes background walking music, walking cues, breathing reminders, and a bell at the halfway point if you’re walking outside.

If you’ve ever looked outside and thought, “not gonna do it” this walk is for you. 

Don’t forget to Follow the pocast, and @yourwalkingpodcast on socials.

Transcript

0:00

This is a guided walk. You can do it outside or at home on a walking pad or a treadmill, or you can march in place or even walk in the pool. Going to start out at an easy warm up pace. Because if you're like me, you don't like the heat and you want to find a way to keep moving."It's getting hot in here, but let's not take off all our clothes. Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum." We're going to do a one-mile walk today. There'll be a bell at the halfway point And speaking of heat, when I was staying in Thailand, I walked everywhere. I walked all over Bangkok, on the little island where I lived, and I went to the markets up and down some side streets. It was hot, sticky, and humid, and my Thai friends thought I was nuts, but I loved it. It felt like an adventure. Not always a smart move, of course, because, you know, it was really hot, but I'm close to the ground and I can see everything I want to see and all the little details that you miss when you're not walking. But then I went to Dubai. Thought it was all that and more. Well, the Dubai heat broke me. I was trying to walk to a local market and I couldn't make it. It was too hot even for me, and I felt like I was dying. So I met my match in Dubai. It wasn't "one night in Bangkok" that broke me. It was one day in Dubai that broke me."One night in Bangkok makes a hard woman humble." So if it's too hot today, doesn't mean you can't walk, doesn't mean you can't move. We're just going to do something different Keep those shoulders down away from your ears. Shake out your hands a little bit You want your body to be relaxed even though you're working Nice deep breath in through your nose. And exhale through your mouth. Okay, pick up a little bit of pace. going to follow the new beat. Comfortable, steady speed. Arms are moving naturally. Find a speed that feels good for you. And if you're like me, you plan to walk early to beat the heat because you want to get out, you want to get some daylight, and then something happens. And for me, something always happens, like I don't want to get out of bed early enough, and then it's too late and it's already blazing hot. Instead of not moving, we're going to find a way to keep you moving. So you didn't miss the walk. You missed one version of the walk or one version of the movement You can hop on your treadmill or walking pad if you have one. You can do laps in your hallway. You can march around the house. You can do a grocery store loop, or my favorite, walking around Target or Costco or the mall. The mall, I think, is underrated because if it's a multi-story mall, you can walk downstairs and one lap upstairs, taking the stairs in between. Or if you're traveling, you can walk in a hotel hallway and go up and down the stairs, too, or an airport or train terminal, especially if you have a lot of time until your flight leaves or if you're on a longer layover, then you can just walk from one gate to the next or give yourself a goal. Just make sure you get back to your gate on time. Or in train terminals, too. Those are usually pretty big. We're always thinking, "What can we do to keep moving?" Because the heat really wears me down sometimes. Stay with that pace Now, if you're walking on a treadmill or walking pad, you want to set yourself up. You want to put your shoes on, keep your water nearby, and a fan if you're too hot. Make sure you clear some space around you. And you want to start slower than you think because walking outside feels more natural. Your body adjusts automatically, and you can go faster or slower real smoothly. But on a treadmill or walking pad, the machine has to adjust. So give yourself a second when the pace changes or when you hear a pace change coming up. You don't want to boop the speed really fast up. Make slower changes. Or you can take quicker, smaller steps. I'm short. I have little legs, so I take quicker, smaller steps. Go faster now. You're moving with purpose And if you're on that treadmill or walking pad, you can just boop, boop, boop. Big strides feel good, but they're better for outside or store walking or mall walking. And if you're on a walking pad with no rail, just watch your arms so you don't fling yourself right off, because it's easy to lose your balance, and try to look straight ahead, not down at your phone. I'm going to tell you a secret. When you become certified as a personal trainer, nobody teaches you how to use the equipment, right? I guess you're supposed to already know that. So my first day as a personal trainer, I was going to warm my client up, and I put her on the treadmill, but I put her on the belt of the treadmill, and then I fired it up. She almost went flying off the back of the treadmill because she wasn't standing on the side. She was okay. She didn't fall off, didn't lose her balance. Luckily, she was super strong. But boy, yeah, I learned my lesson. So start out on the rails and then pick that pace up slowly so you don't go flying off. Keep your breathing going. Nice deep breath in and out. You want to get that oxygen flowing. Stay with that pace. Now, when I'm walking on a treadmill, I don't look down at my phone because it makes me nauseated. But when I'm on the walking pad or treadmill, I listen to music or an audiobook. I try to find an exciting audiobook, and sometimes I only let myself listen to that audiobook while I'm on the treadmill or walking pad. Or you can listen to a walking podcast, and wouldn't you know it, we're listening to one right now And also pay attention to your surroundings. I don't know if you have pets, but I have orange cats and they have one shared brain cell, so of course they want to get too close to the treadmill and they want to join me on the treadmill. And that's not the safest thing. Keep your shoulders down Shake out your hands a little bit. Okay, pick up a little bit of pace, a little faster. It's a strong, steady speed. We're moving to the faster beat. If you have a pool, that's a really fun way to get a workout, and it's much harder than you think, and you don't have to swim. You can just run around in a circle in the shallow end. I did that during lockdown. I stayed with my aunt, and I walked and ran around the shallow end of the pool. I did a circle, and then after a while, I did a circle in the other direction. Let me tell you, when you create that whirlpool and you try, try to run against the whirlpool, yeah, it's much harder than it looks. You can also get one of those deep water aqua vests. I tried that, too, and that's really hard. You can run in place in the deeper end, but you're not getting anywhere. It's like those dreams where you're running and running and running, and you're going really, really, really slow like molasses, and you reach out your hand and just nobody's there to pull you faster, and you're trying to get away from whatever's chasing you And when you're in the pool, you can use water-resistant earphones, use your arms more when we go faster or pool weights. I don't know if you ever use those, but those are really fun. They're actually, I think they're foam, and it really makes the time fly. Sometimes I just don't want to swim, don't want to get my hair wet, so running around in the shallow end of the pool is a really great way to get a workout, keep yourself cool, and not have to wash your hair again. If you are working out in the pool, make sure you drink water, because one time I was in Palm Springs, and I was playing with the kids. It was, of course, like May or June. We were out all day playing around the pool, had a great time, and then I got back into our room, and I felt so sick because I hadn't had any water to drink all day because I was in the water. Why would I need water? Exactly. We have to think about just changing things up. What can we do to keep moving when it's hot? We miss our walking window, what else can we do? Hold onto this pace. If you're doing this walk in a big box store or in the mall, pretend you're looking for that viral product, the one that everybody on TikTok says you need to get. That's the kind of pace you want to hold. Always keep your shoulders down away from your ears. And no matter where you're doing this, remember that heat can make a normal effort feel much harder. So if you're outside, try to walk maybe earlier or later in the day if it's not too hot, or walk in the shade. And also just slow down. You don't have to push yourself so hard. Our goal is just to keep moving. You can also do a shorter walk. As I say, something is better than nothing. And there's no shame at all in choosing the smarter version. Not trying to prove anything, just trying to keep ourselves moving Stay with that pace No matter what you're doing, it just feels so good to move Whatever you're doing today, you didn't miss your movement, didn't miss your walk. You did something differently And whatever you did, let me know on social media at yourwalkingpodcast or leave me a comment on Spotify. Did you work out in the pool? Did you walk at Costco or Walmart, Sam's Club? Did you walk inside on a treadmill or walking pad? Roll through your feet Keep your hands relaxed This way we can keep moving with weather changes or schedule changes, energy changes for sure. We're going to try to get movement and walks to fit our energy and our time, not just force ourself to do something we're just not going to do or won't work with how we're feeling You don't want to be a Helen and force a walk in Dubai heat. You don't want to do what would Helen do. You wanna do the opposite sometimes. And even if the weather is decent, we're going to mix our walks up, mix our movement up, makes it more fun Hold on to that pace. Oh, this is a little funky Oh, my back just cracked That's what happens if I try to add a little funk: crack. We're almost to the end. Almost at our mile. Rhythmic movement Add a little different kinds of movement to your day makes things easier to stick with too, which is why I tell stories. I try to distract you. That's why at the end of the walk it's like, "What?" It goes fast. Stay with it. If you're walking at Costco, try to stay on the outer edges of the store. First of all, you're going to walk farther, and then there's fewer people slowing you down. All the people are over, like, in the middle where the food samples are and down the main aisle, so walk on the outside of the store Keep a decent pace. It's a steady pace. When we focus on our breathing, we get more oxygen in and we get more energy Take a deep breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth When we focus on our breathing, we get more oxygen in and we get more energy. Take a deep breath in through your nose. And exhale through your mouth. So speaking of Costco and samples a couple of weeks ago, I was in the main lane of Costco, which I suggested we don't do because the food samples are there, and this lady gave me a sample of a tuxedo cake, and I was like, "Oh, it's delicious, amazing, but I'm not going to buy it." And then I thought about it, and I thought about it all night, thought about it the next day, and then I went and I bought the tuxedo cake. I did, and it was really good, but I shared it with my kids, so I didn't eat it all for myself. But then a week before that, somebody was giving me protein bar samples, so I did buy those. See? So one day protein bars, next day tuxedo cake Now you're going to dream about my tuxedo cake, I just know it. Stay with that pace. Keep your shoulders down away from your ears. When you inhale, let your stomach relax. You really want to let those lungs fill up. Does you want to feel better, happier, stronger. I don't think I've ever had a workout where I didn't feel better afterwards. Okay, we're approaching the end of our mile. You can hop off and go on with your day, or you can stay with me for a really short cool down. And if you are hopping off, stretch a little bit when you're done. Drink some water. Make sure you follow this podcast. Okay, now we're going to slow it down a little bit. Another deep breath in through your nose. And exhale through your mouth. Relax your jaw. Now roll those shoulders backwards, big rolls. And roll your shoulders forward, big rolls. Clench your hands tight, tight, tight, tight, tight, and then relax them. One more time, clench them tight, tight, tight, tight, tight, tight. And relax them. Slow your pace a little bit more. Now bring your shoulders up to your ears as tight as you can. Now release them down. One more time, bring your shoulders up as tight as you can to your ears. And release it down. Make sure you feel for any tense spots in your body. Try to release them. And I'll see you next time.