One of the many reasons we love walking for exercise in midlife and menopause is because it is an easy, accessible way for most women to stay active and get outdoors. But what do you do when hot and humid, cold and rainy, or snowy and icy weather keeps you inside? Don’t use it as an excuse to skip your workout!
Keep Moving With An Indoor Walking Workout
Most days, you can make some adjustments, dress appropriately, and weather the storm or the heat. For the days when it’s unsafe or impractical to walk outside, turn to our three indoor workouts that will boost your mood, fight belly fat, give you more energy, and help ease those menopause symptoms. The change of pace will also challenge your body in new ways and add variety to your usual routine. Plus, consistency is the key to seeing results from your exercise efforts.
These three workouts can be done in the comfort of your home (or at the gym) no matter what the weather may be.
Workout 1: The 30-Minute Treadmill Trio
One of the great things about walking on a treadmill is that you’re in command. You control the climate. You can easily walk a precise distance and track your progress. You can add hills when you want them and get rid of them when you don’t. You can multitask while you walk, watching TV, talking on the phone, scrolling social media, or checking your email. Or you can get focused and crank out a heart-pumping, calorie-blasting walk like this one. Adding speed and incline intervals will rev up the fat-burning power of your walk.
Warm-up (easy to moderate intensity)
- 3 minutes: 2.5-3.0 mph, 1% incline
- 3 minutes: 2.8-3.3 mph, 1% incline
- 3 minutes: 3.0-3.5 mph, 1% incline
Part 1: Steady pace (moderate intensity)
- 3 minutes: 3.2-3.8 mph, 1% incline
Part 2: Speed intervals (moderate to hard intensity)
- 1-minute fast interval: 3.5-4.5 mph, 1% incline
- 1-minute recovery interval: 3.0-4.0 mph, 1% incline
- Repeat 2 more times
Part 3: Hill climb burst (moderate to very hard intensity)
- 30 seconds: 3.0-4.0 mph, 2% incline
- Repeat 8 more times, increasing the incline by 1% each time
- 60 seconds: 3.0-4.0 mph, 1% incline
- 30 seconds: as fast as you can go, 1% incline
Cool-down (moderate to easy intensity)
- 2 minutes: 3.0-3.5 mph, 1% incline
- 2 minutes: 2.8-3.3 mph, 1% incline
- 2 minutes: 2.5-3.0 mph, 1% incline
Workout 2: 15-minute High-Energy Indoor Workout
You don’t need any equipment or a lot of space to get an indoor, energy-boosting walk. Unlike walking outdoors, you can safely change the direction and ways your moving—going side-to-side and forward and backward and adding moves like kicks and knee lifts—to work more muscles, which prevents muscle imbalances and boosts your calorie burn. So, turn up your favorite tunes and get moving.
Warm-up
1 minute: march in place
Part 1: Fancy Footwork
- 20 steps marching in place
- 20 heel taps in front of you
- 20 front kicks
- 20 knee lifts
- 20 steps marching in place
30 seconds: walk on your heels with your toes off the floor
30 seconds: walk on your toes with your heels off the floor
Repeat Part 1 one more time
Part 2: Fast Feet
- 20 basic marches in place
- 20 fast marches in place
- Repeat 3 more times
- 20 basic marches in place
1 minute: speed walk around your house, exploring as many rooms as possible
Repeat Part 2 one more time
Part 3: Multi-direction Moves
- 20 side-to-side steps
- 10 rock steps on left foot (step right foot in front of you and then behind you, so you’re rocking on your left foot; each front and back step counts as 1)
- 20 side-to-side steps
- 10 rock steps on right foot (step left foot in front of you and then behind you, so you’re rocking on your right foot; each front and back step counts as 1)
1 minute: climb stairs (no stairs? Step up and down on a single step, exercise step bench, or sturdy low bench, or speed walk around your house again)
Repeat Part 3 one more time
Cool-down
1 minute: march in place
Workout 3: Add 5 Moves for Total-Body Toning
Add these moves to either the 30-minute Treadmill Trio or 15-minute High Energy Indoor Workout. You can turn either of those previous walking workouts into a total body, toning workout by adding our strength moves for walkers. These multi-muscle exercises will build strength to protect your joints, preserve muscle to keep you active, and improve your balance.
Here’s how to do it: After each part of the workouts above, including the warm-ups and cool-downs, do one of the moves in our strength moves for walkers video, completing 10 to 12 reps of each.
For example:
- After you warm up, do 10 to 12 Squats with Heel Lifts before moving onto Part 1 of that workout.
- After you finish Part 1, do Pushups with Side Planks.
- Continue interspersing the moves into the workout you’re doing until you do the last exercise following the cool-down.
- After your workout, finish with a relaxing stretching session to ease tired muscles and improve your flexibility so you’ll be ready to go next time.
Want to get more from your walks? Join the Get Moving Walking Program for Women to receive two 30-day walking programs designed by women for women, support from certified fitness instructors and Gennev menopause specialists, as well as special offers and incentives.
Always check with your physician before beginning any new exercise program.
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