How Do You Walk?

Started by Szykneij, September 23, 2021, 07:45:18 AM

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Szykneij

I thought I might post these thoughts in the "Favorite Walks" thread, and then maybe the "COVID" thread, but ultimately decided on a new topic to encompass them all.

I try to take a long walk every day and having two awesome dogs for incentive helps.

I find walking to be as beneficial for my mind as it is for my body. Daydreaming is important because that's when your brain is able to make connections between unrelated things. Walking serves that purpose for me.

When I would go out walking while masks needed to be worn at all times, many people coming from the opposite direction acted as if I was Medusa approaching. "Don't make eye contact, or you'll be struck dead on the spot!".  Now that masks aren't required around here outdoors when social distancing is possible, walking has become more friendly again. You can get a nod, a smile, or a "good morning" from another human being ... except from people wearing earphones or earbuds!

I pretty much listen to music constantly, except when I'm out walking. For me, hearing the sounds around me as I hike in nature or trek through an urban environment is half the experience. It makes me feel part of the world, not isolated in a personal soundscape. A number of well-known musical works have been inspired by the sounds of the environment, written by composers aware of the aural wealth around them.

When I was teaching, I would take my middle school orchestra classes on an annual year-end Found Sound journey along the river paths behind the school. The rules were, the students had to walk in silence and identify the number of different sounds they heard not made by class members. They were able to come up with extensive lists as they developed their listening skills.

So, do you like to walk and how do you do it? Music or no music? Alone or with companions, human or otherwise? In the woods or on the streets? For pleasure or necessity?
Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines. ~ Satchel Paige

Gurn Blanston

Getting a Fitbit back in 2016 helped me to formalize my walking habits, as I am the goal-setting type. My current goal is to walk 100,000 steps per week, which is ~14,300 steps per day avg. In 2020, fortune broke in my favor as far as goal-achieving goes: I exceeded my goal every single week last year!  Not so much this year though, since we went through a series of weather fiascos which made walking impossible.

I am a retired farmer, and I have a large open field just below my house, surrounded by forest. I mow pathways the length of that field (nice to still have my tractor!) and walk 5 miles every morning after breakfast. Being in the country and in the setting it is, I frequently see wild animals and always hear birds and such, at least in summer. So, no music. I tried it and didn't really like it so much.

Walking is great for both body and mind. :)

8)
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Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on September 23, 2021, 08:45:43 AM
Getting a Fitbit back in 2016 helped me to formalize my walking habits, as I am the goal-setting type. My current goal is to walk 100,000 steps per week, which is ~14,300 steps per day avg. In 2020, fortune broke in my favor as far as goal-achieving goes: I exceeded my goal every single week last year!  Not so much this year though, since we went through a series of weather fiascos which made walking impossible.

I am a retired farmer, and I have a large open field just below my house, surrounded by forest. I mow pathways the length of that field (nice to still have my tractor!) and walk 5 miles every morning after breakfast. Being in the country and in the setting it is, I frequently see wild animals and always hear birds and such, at least in summer. So, no music. I tried it and didn't really like it so much.

Walking is great for both body and mind. :)

8)
Oh, nice!  And good for you for getting lots of walking in!  What did you used to grow by the way?

As for me, walking without music...sometimes with friends and sometimes without (though typically find that I walk further when I have company).  Like to check out nature (sometimes pausing to enjoy things like sun on the water or to watch birds for a bit).  :)

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Szykneij

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on September 23, 2021, 08:45:43 AM
Getting a Fitbit back in 2016 helped me to formalize my walking habits, as I am the goal-setting type. My current goal is to walk 100,000 steps per week, which is ~14,300 steps per day avg. In 2020, fortune broke in my favor as far as goal-achieving goes: I exceeded my goal every single week last year!  Not so much this year though, since we went through a series of weather fiascos which made walking impossible.

I am a retired farmer, and I have a large open field just below my house, surrounded by forest. I mow pathways the length of that field (nice to still have my tractor!) and walk 5 miles every morning after breakfast. Being in the country and in the setting it is, I frequently see wild animals and always hear birds and such, at least in summer. So, no music. I tried it and didn't really like it so much.

Walking is great for both body and mind. :)

8)

Impressive! I try for the popular 10,000 steps per day, but am not consistently successful. It must be great to have those kind of surroundings outside of your home. What types of things did you grow before you retired?
Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines. ~ Satchel Paige

André

Quote
For me, hearing the sounds around me as I hike in nature or trek through an urban environment is half the experience. It makes me feel part of the world, not isolated in a personal soundscape
.

Same here. I walk my dog for 15 minutes twice a day but can't do much more unfortunately (very few sidewalks in our town except on busy streets. When in the country I can walk the woods for hours, always attentive to the sounds and looking for mushrooms.

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: Szykneij on September 23, 2021, 09:31:38 AM
Impressive! I try for the popular 10,000 steps per day, but am not consistently successful. It must be great to have those kind of surroundings outside of your home. What types of things did you grow before you retired?

Country living requires some sacrifices in terms of amenities, but is so nice in every other way. :)  We didn't grow crops, we had livestock: mainly selling very young pigs to finish-out growers. We also had some cattle, horses, and a variety of fowl for amusement. It was generally very interesting, given that we were urbanites previous to that. :)

Now we have pretty much committed the open fields to pine plantation, and we have a quite large pond where we raise catfish and bass (good eatin'!!). Maintaining 42 acres is a big job, even if you aren't farming it any more. It is important that it looks nice, you know?    0:)  Here is my little brother when he came to visit a couple years ago.

Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on September 23, 2021, 09:29:18 AM
Oh, nice!  And good for you for getting lots of walking in!  What did you used to grow by the way?

As for me, walking without music...sometimes with friends and sometimes without (though typically find that I walk further when I have company).  Like to check out nature (sometimes pausing to enjoy things like sun on the water or to watch birds for a bit).  :)

PD

Yes, we have talked about the bird-watching before, I just didn't mention that it usually takes place while I am walking as fast as I can. :D  Birds and deer don't seem unduly bothered, I guess since they see me every day.

I didn't mention in my previous post, but in the 5+ years I have been doing this regimen, I have lost 50 lb., and my resting heart rate has gone from 78 to 50, which has to be good, somehow. I don't usually make a point of that because I fear it sound 'holier than thou', but it's not meant that way, I am pleased to have improved my life doing it, that's all. :)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

steve ridgway

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on September 23, 2021, 02:05:45 PM
I didn't mention in my previous post, but in the 5+ years I have been doing this regimen, I have lost 50 lb., and my resting heart rate has gone from 78 to 50, which has to be good, somehow. I don't usually make a point of that because I fear it sound 'holier than thou', but it's not meant that way, I am pleased to have improved my life doing it, that's all. :)

8)

Not at all, it is helpful to hear what has worked for other people. We walk with our three dogs daily, mainly in quiet wooded areas, without any music or phones.

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on September 23, 2021, 02:05:45 PM
Yes, we have talked about the bird-watching before, I just didn't mention that it usually takes place while I am walking as fast as I can. :D  Birds and deer don't seem unduly bothered, I guess since they see me every day.

I didn't mention in my previous post, but in the 5+ years I have been doing this regimen, I have lost 50 lb., and my resting heart rate has gone from 78 to 50, which has to be good, somehow. I don't usually make a point of that because I fear it sound 'holier than thou', but it's not meant that way, I am pleased to have improved my life doing it, that's all. :)

8)
Way to go Gurn!  :)

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: steve ridgway on September 24, 2021, 03:40:10 AM
Not at all, it is helpful to hear what has worked for other people. We walk with our three dogs daily, mainly in quiet wooded areas, without any music or phones.

I would love to walk my dogs, but Scotties are not too keen on taking direction and going in a straight line. Also, after the first mile, they would be like 'right, mate, enough of this, carry me home now'. 😊

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on September 24, 2021, 05:26:02 AM
Way to go Gurn!  :)

PD

Thanks, PD, I was at the age then where I felt like it was my last chance to get myself in shape before I just couldn't do it anymore. Scary to grow up...  😳

🤠😎


Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

DavidW

I usually get in about 13,000-17,000 steps a day.  The trick is that I walk to work.  I walk my dog.  And the school where I teach is enormous.  Finally, excepting grocery shopping I can walk to most stores, restaurants etc.

Now I'm about to move out of town, but the neighborhood is big enough that I should still be able to walk around.

My long walks with my dog are when I get my heavy thinking in.  Making decisions, thinking through and prioritizing tasks, devising exam questions etc. all happen then.  Especially on my morning walk with my dog.

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: DavidW on September 24, 2021, 07:13:00 AM
I usually get in about 13,000-17,000 steps a day.  The trick is that I walk to work.  I walk my dog.  And the school where I teach is enormous.  Finally, excepting grocery shopping I can walk to most stores, restaurants etc.

Now I'm about to move out of town, but the neighborhood is big enough that I should still be able to walk around.

My long walks with my dog are when I get my heavy thinking in.  Making decisions, thinking through and prioritizing tasks, devising exam questions etc. all happen then.  Especially on my morning walk with my dog.

That's a great amount of walking, it does help a lot when your workplace is really big. I used to do 2 inspections a day of my manufacturing area, which was an automatic 6k steps. I, for one, know exactly what you mean about thinking time. I've solved more personal puzzles that way, even as recently as this morning! 😊

🤠😎
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Szykneij

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on September 24, 2021, 08:36:44 AM
That's a great amount of walking, it does help a lot when your workplace is really big. I used to do 2 inspections a day of my manufacturing area, which was an automatic 6k steps. I, for one, know exactly what you mean about thinking time. I've solved more personal puzzles that way, even as recently as this morning! 😊

🤠😎

Tne idea to start this thread came while i was walking.  :)
Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines. ~ Satchel Paige

vandermolen

Quote from: André on September 23, 2021, 12:41:43 PM
.

Same here. I walk my dog for 15 minutes twice a day but can't do much more unfortunately (very few sidewalks in our town except on busy streets. When in the country I can walk the woods for hours, always attentive to the sounds and looking for mushrooms.
I misread this as 'I walk my 15 dogs...'  ;D
I love walking in the countryside. Usually I'm with my wife, although not really as she is always miles ahead of me. I walk quite slowly but can go on for a long time (my brother is similar). I never listen to music while walking but invariably have music running through my head. I'm suffering from vertigo at the moment but, oddly, it doesn't seem to affect me when I'm out walking. I find walking to be emotionally and physically therapeutic.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: vandermolen on September 25, 2021, 03:53:05 AM
I misread this as 'I walk my 15 dogs...'  ;D
I love walking in the countryside. Usually I'm with my wife, although not really as she is always miles ahead of me. I walk quite slowly but can go on for a long time (my brother is similar). I never listen to music while walking but invariably have music running through my head. I'm suffering from vertigo at the moment but, oddly, it doesn't seem to affect me when I'm out walking. I find walking to be emotionally and physically therapeutic.
??? ;D

My biggest problem is getting to places where I can walk on dirt/grass...anything but cement or even paved roads.  If I try too much of walking on man-made surfaces, I end up getting shin splints.  Love walking on trails or grass though.  There's a river that I love walking along not too far away...very peaceful.   :)

PD
Pohjolas Daughter