I started doing a new kind of walk (out of necessity) a few weeks ago. I'm enjoying this new kind of walk; I'm looking forward to my walks now, which is strange because I haven't looked forward to most of the physical activities I've done in years. I've even started to (sometimes) take two walks every day.
I'm not new to walking. I've been walking every day (weather pending) for a while. I don't enjoy walking. I walk to get the benefits of walking.
I don't walk for fat loss purposes; I don't walk to burn calories. I did enough incline treadmill walking back in 2006, during my first official cut. The days of me huffing and puffing my adipose tissue away are long gone, as are my days on treadmills. Those memories make me shiver.
I walk because, when I'm walking, I'm not sitting down inside a room in front of a computer. I need less of those three things. (Most people need less of those three things.)
I also walk because a long list of writers, thinkers, and creatives have said that walking is better than cocaine. Nietzsche convinced me to walk more than any modern “health expert” has.
All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Before this new kind of walk, I didn't put much thought into walking. Sometimes I'd listened to a podcast. Sometimes I'd leave everything at home, fasting from technology. My only goal was to move my legs like they knew how to move.
Then I got injured.
During an ultimate Frisbee match, some nuckfugget jumped into the air and landed on my heel (he was wearing spikes). I couldn't put any weight on my left heel afterward. Couldn't do any lower body lifting. Couldn't walk heel-to-toe. Couldn't cut potatoes. (I could cut potatoes just fine. I was just seeing if you were still paying attention.)
I'm an aggressive rehabber. I get moving as quickly as I can after injuries. I walk the line between discomfort and pain.
I started walking as soon as I could. At first, I hobbled. I stayed on the toes of my left foot, making sure my heel didn't touch the ground. But then, after a few days, when I could walk with discomfort (and not pain), I started to put a tiny bit of weight on my heel.
I had to sloooowwww my pace. A lot. To an uncomfortable degree, just because it felt so…different. My steps were shallow. Slow. Gentle. I walked like a 97-year-old retired iron worker.
It took me twice as long to walk my normal route, but it wasn't boring. It was invigorating. I started to notice things I never had before. I felt like a guy sauntering around town with nowhere to be. Without an agenda —
A flâneur.
And it felt amazing.
Walk as if you have nowhere to be. Walk as if time doesn't exist. You'll feel the difference. And you'll realize most people are walking with the opposite mindset. They're walking fast. They're walking to get somewhere they want to go (or so they think).
My fiance was taking a walk with me…
“Walk slower,” I said.
“Ugh. This is painfully slow,” she said.
“Well, my heel hurts. And, besides, what's the point of walking?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“We aren't walking to burn calories. And aren't walking to get from one place to another. Otherwise, we wouldn't even leave the house because we'd already be where we need to go. We start and end at the same place.”
“What's your point?” she asked.
“We walk to walk. That's the point. Why rush?”
May the Gains be with you,
Ant