Latest news with #CaseyLee
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
This One Change Will Make Your Walks More Effective, According to Personal Trainers
This One Change Will Make Your Walks More Effective, According to Personal Trainers originally appeared on Parade. Decades of scientific research show that walking is one of the best ways to support your health. Walking regularly lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease, plays a role in dementia prevention, lowers depression risk and can even add years to your thing that's great about walking? Pretty much anyone can do it. It's one of those low-impact workouts that people are able to do into old age (with the right shoes, of course), and it's a lot less intimidating to get started with than heart-pounding cardio workouts like running or HIIT exercises. Want to take your walks to the next level so they benefit your health even more? Here, three personal trainers reveal the best way to do it. 🩺SIGN UP for tips to stay healthy & fit with the top moves, clean eats, health trends & more delivered right to your inbox twice a week💊 If one of your health goals is weight loss, you may be wondering if walking can help you reach your goal weight. Casey Lee, CPT,a certified personal trainer at Purposeful Strength, says it absolutely can. 'Walking is an amazing way to lose weight. One reason is that it's a non-fatiguing movement. You can walk for miles and your body can recover quicker for the next day or walking effort,' he explains. Lee reveals that another reason why walking is beneficial for weight loss is that it doesn't increase appetite the way more intense workouts, like high-intensity interval training, do. 'Doing more intense efforts like HIIT can often cause your body to crave more food, or fuel in this case. Because walking is lower stress, your body doesn't often demand more food to help recover. This makes walking a great activity to support weight loss,' he says. Related: If you aren't used to regularly exercising, Andrea Lepcio, CPT, a certified personal trainer and the founder and owner of Mighty Fit, says that walking is a great way to start incorporating movement into your routine. 'For people who have been sedentary over time, are older and are just starting to exercise, walking is a gentle yet effective way to engage muscles, build stamina and improve energy,' she explains. Lepcio adds that other benefits of walking are that it's low-impact, can be done daily without straining your body, reduces stress and supports blood sugar levels. And she mentions that walking also encourages the production of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which is a term that describes activities that burn calories throughout the day. The higher your NEAT, the easier it is to lose weight. Even though walking can support weight loss goals, Lepcio explains that it works best when paired with regular strength training. This is because strength training helps build muscle mass, which increases metabolic rate. This means you're burning calories even when you aren't working out. Related: If you already walk regularly, you may be wondering how you can take your walks to the next level. Three personal trainers all agree on the best way to do this: increase your heart rate. A high heart rate is an indicator that the body is working harder, which means it will benefit more. There are several ways to get your heart rate up while you're walking. Vinn Reddy, CPT, a certified personal trainer and the founder of Vinn Reddy Personal Training Fitness, says that one way is to increase your pace. Walking faster requires the cardiovascular system to work harder—which ultimately means it will benefit more than when it is at rest. Related: 'When you're walking, engage your core, maintain good posture and focus on a consistent breathing pattern,' Reddy recommends. This may sound easy, but as your pace increases, it becomes more challenging, so it's something to be mindful of. He explains that another way to increase your heart rate on your walks is to take a more challenging course. Seek out hills and stairs that are naturally part of your environment. 'Going through a neighborhood that has highs and lows is a good way to make your heart rate fluctuate and challenge your body,' he says. All three experts say that wearing a weighted vest can also make walks more effective. 'By adding weight to your body, you are increasing the metabolic demand of the walk, really by doing the same level of exercise. Your legs are walking anyway, but this way they're carrying more weight and making the muscles and metabolism work harder,' Lee says. Reddy adds to this, saying that wearing a weighted vest activates the core more, which is another reason why it's beneficial. No matter how you're getting your heart rate up, Reddy stresses that it's important to stay hydrated, especially if you are trying to lose weight. 'Dehydration will stunt your weight loss and affect your body negatively. It may slow you down on your pace or fatigue your muscles, so you may not walk as frequently,' he says. With this in mind, be sure to hydrate both before and after your walk. Walking is a simple yet powerful way to support your health. For best results, do it consistently. It just may add years to your life. Up Next:Casey Lee, CPT,certified personal trainer at Purposeful Strength Andrea Lepcio, CPT, certified personal trainer and the founder and owner of Mighty Fit Vinn Reddy, CPT, certified personal trainer and the founder of Vinn Reddy Personal Training Fitness This One Change Will Make Your Walks More Effective, According to Personal Trainers first appeared on Parade on Jul 12, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 12, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
This Is the Best Workout Move for Core Strength, No Crunches Required
This Is the Best Workout Move for Core Strength, No Crunches Required originally appeared on Parade. Aesthetic reasons aside, having strong and stable abdominal muscles is important for several major reasons. 'Core strength is key for good posture, balance and preventing falls,' says Andrea Lepcio, CPT, a certified personal trainer and the founder and owner of Mighty Fit. Casey Lee, CPT,a certified personal trainer at Purposeful Strength, adds that core strength is important for overall health. 'Core strength is critical for total body strength. Your core is the area that connects your upper body to your lower body and is the key to managing your center of mass,' he says.'Core strength is important because it's the fundamental base of your entire body,' explains Vinn Reddy, CPT, a certified personal trainer and the founder of Vinn Reddy Personal Training Fitness. Think about where your core engagement is located; it helps your upper body and your lower body move and function safely. Without it, you can strain, pull or agitate other muscles because you didn't use your that developing a stronger core means tons of crunches? Not necessarily. There's a move that's even more effective than the standard sit-up you learned in grade school gym class.🩺SIGN UP for tips to stay healthy & fit with the top moves, clean eats, health trends & more delivered right to your inbox twice a week💊 One super effective core strengthening move, according to the three personal trainers we talked to, is dead bugs. Here's how to do it step by step: Lie on your back with your knees bent at 90 degrees and your arms extended toward the ceiling. Reach your left arm back behind your ear and extend your right leg out in front of you. Come back to the starting position. Now, reach your right arm back behind you and extend your left leg out in front of you. Come back to the starting position. Do 2 to 3 sets of 10 reps per side. Related: 'Simply put, dead bugs build core strength from being able to activate your core and keeping a neutral spine while moving your arms and legs,' Reddy says, explaining why it's so effective. He adds that this ab-strengthening move also puts your coordination to the test. That means it's good for your brain says that dead bugs require the core to stay stable while the limbs move. 'The strength-building comes through the stillness you demand of your core. By coordinating the movement of opposite limbs, you are asking your muscles to resist movement. This activates your deep mindful stabilizers front, side and back,' she doing dead bugs, Lepcio stresses that it's important to breathe correctly. To do this, she says to exhale when lowering the opposite leg and arm and to inhale when returning to the starting As with other healthy habits, if you want to notice a difference in your core strength by doing dead bugs, it's important to do it consistently. The benefit of this move is that it doesn't require any equipment whatsoever. You can spend a few minutes doing it at home whenever it best fits into your schedule. Reddy recommends doing dead bugs every other day to really notice a difference. 'Doing two or three sets of 10 dead bugs every other day gives you a chance to really focus on the quality repetitions and then giving your core a day of rest,' he says. But he emphasizes that the rest day doesn't mean doing nothing; it's still important to stay active and move your body. If you keep at it, Lepcio says you can expect to notice a difference in your ab strength in about eight weeks. How can you tell your core is getting stronger? She explains that you may notice that you have less lower back fatigue after standing or sitting for an extended period of time and just generally be able to move through life with more ease. Reddy agrees, saying, '[Everyday] movements start to feel easier, such as moving boxes, picking things up around the house, cleaning and gardening.'Related: According to Lee, another way you will notice your ab strength improving is that you'll be less shaky when doing dead bugs than when you first started doing them. 'Shakes aren't bad, but typically come when you're developing strength and your body is working on mastering the resistance limbs naturally provide,' he says. Certainly, dead bugs is not the only way you should be moving your body; cardio and strength training are important too. But as far as ab strengthening goes, this move is a winner. Do it regularly and you'll notice a difference. Up Next: Andrea Lepcio,CPT, certified personal trainer and the founder and owner of Mighty Fit Casey Lee, CPT,certified personal trainer at Purposeful Strength Vinn Reddy, CPT, certified personal trainer and the founder of Vinn Reddy Personal Training Fitness This Is the Best Workout Move for Core Strength, No Crunches Required first appeared on Parade on Jul 8, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
