Think of your feet massaging the earth with every step!

The aim here, and it becomes even more important when we begin to look at pace and performance, is to avoid square movements, but the angles at your knee and foot joints are now more like triangles than squares, and this fluid movement increases your stride length, improves your posture and reduces bounce. Now you have mastered these leg actions, you are ready to look at the rest of the body, moving upwards to explore each area.

MOVE ON TO THE CORE

Practise striding forward with a straighter leg, heel strike and foot roll action, paying attention to your core.

As you push off from your toes, actively engage the core muscles.

BRING IN THE ARMS

Perfecting a good walking arm swing is also about the joint angles. The main movement needs to be at the shoulder joint, and the arm needs to be relaxed and straight, not bent so much at the elbow that it forms a right angle.

Take a minute to swing a straight arm from your shoulder while standing still, checking in with your core and feeling the freedom of the movement.

Next, bend your arm and try to swing it, noting how this shortens the movement and disengages the core.

Note: The latter movement forms a triangle, while the former movement is square and boxy.

NOW START WALKING

People often think the answer to building their fitness while walking is to pump their arms, when in fact it is the opposite. Try the following and feel the difference:

First, try walking with long flowing strides and foot roll, then introduce the swing from the shoulders. It should feel purposeful but natural. This is walking with good posture.

Now try walking with a shorter arm swing and bent arm, noting how this affects your legs and freedom of movement. Bending your arms means you revert to a pumping action with shorter strides and increased effort for less forward movement.

Pulling it all together

Run through your postural reset before starting to walk slowly and carefully, concentrating on a longer stride and foot roll while engaging your core.

Once you feel as if you’re walking with a nice foot plant, swing your arms from the shoulders.

Take a moment to assess how it feels. If you have managed to master the basics, you should feel relaxed but with good posture, your core engaged and long, confident strides. Your whole body should be involved in the action. If you don’t feel this yet, don’t worry, just keep running through each step until you do. It may take a while to feel totally natural, but keep practising.

Bringing awareness to your natural movements

Another factor in maintaining good posture when you walk is understanding how our brains and body are interlinked when it comes to moving. Let’s look at how we were designed to move. As hunter gatherers, we probably walked between three and 10 miles a day. Much of this walking would have been up hills and down dales, and we would have needed to stay alert, on the lookout for food and predators. Nowadays, we have minimised our movements. Thanks to tarmacked footpaths we are more likely to walk on flat, even surfaces, and we frequently crane our necks, staring down at our smartphones, oblivious to the world around us. For longer distances we drive or use public transport and it is rare for most people to cover 10 miles on foot in a day.

Although it’s fine to walk on an even path, a treadmill or a running track, I think walking ‘wildly’ outdoors is the best way to boost total running track, ” anet total well being as it’s more natural for us. I have seen great improvements in the movement patterns and balance of regular walkers who have shifted from paved paths to something less predictable.

Because you need to focus more on your steps, walking outdoors on challenging terrain requires more physical effort, engages the core, improves joint flexibility and takes your mind away from the mundane. On uneven ground, before you place your feet and as you move, your mind and body must work very closely together to process a range of sensory information. This is called proprioception and it helps you respond to your environment. For example, if the surface you’re walking on is more slippery than you thought, you might need to make a quick readjustment. You sense your position in relation to your surroundings and shift your centre of gravity, but you do it without conscious thought.

I’ve mentioned your centre of gravity a couple of times already, because it’s essential to good posture and gait. The following exercises are designed to make you aware of how you were designed to move by utilising your centre of gravity. They can help you understand your posture and gait, and practise how to adjust them.

Centre of gravity exercises

Imagine walking over some stepping stones. You will immediately notice that you plant your feet with more care and adjust your body position each time you take a step. Your hands are likely to be out at the sides, too. The links between your brain and body automatically kick in to ensure you are balanced and less likely to fall. Exploring how arm position changes your centre of gravity is a great way to begin.

TRAY CARRY – ARMS TUCKED IN

Stand with your feet together and arms bent at 90 degrees, elbows tucked in to your sides. Turn your palms to the floor – this stops you gripping – and imagine you are carrying a tray, with your arms in quite close to your body.

Start walking and keep looking ahead, concentrating on your posture with your arms in this position.

Take it further by trying to climb some steps or going up and down a hill.