By now, everyone knows that physical inactivity is bad for you and exercise is the best medicine. Motion is the best lotion.
Anyone on a fitness drive is drip-fed stories about the mental and physical health benefits of walking, jogging, running, and not being so sedentary. Active households around the world are echoing the same questions :
“Has anyone seen my jeffing shoes?”
“Where’s my Ouana ring?”
“Where did I put my water holder?”
“Whose got my earbuds? I can’t go for a jog without my superior sound Shokz Open Run Pro 2s.”
“Anyone know where my Intermittent Walking trainers have got to?”
And,
“I can’t find my favorite Japanese Interval walking socks anywhere.”
Getting fit and keeping fit is a great investment as well as an expense. Nothing is as stressful and less exhilarating as shopping for the right sort of activewear, and nothing is as exhausting as trying to keep up with and digest all the medical surveys, hacks, and latest athleisure gear reviews.
Fitness editors and leisurewear influencers bombard us with recommendations for pre-run squats and post-jog warm-down stretches, headphones, breathable crop shorts, foldovers, tanks, crop bras, knit tights, and prerequisite technology, casual walking sandals, orthotic arch support insoles, and shoes with unparalleled enhanced plush cushioning for the ultimate underfoot experience.
Experiencing the ultimate underfoot experience can be costly as well as strenuous and fatiguing, and send you into a panic attack. We are constantly being told that jogging increases circulation, strengthens the heart, improves blood sugar utilization, and reduces lower back pain. That casual uphill walking is as beneficial.
That one minute of walking at a high intensity equals about two minutes of walking at a lower intensity.
That walking faster definitely helps stimulate more of a cardiovascular response
That 220 minus our age is the maximum heart rate.
The NHS recommendation is 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week and 150 minutes of moderate activity a week.
The researchers have recently found that short bursts of exercise at the weekend are just as effective at reducing the risk of diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease as workouts spread through the week.
A 30-minute walk equates to around 3,000 steps, and a 10,000-step count is a nice gold-standard round number to placate our Fitbits and tracking wearables. Who lets us know that we have reached our daily, weekly, and monthly movement goals?
Or haven’t.
Walking 9,000 steps daily could reduce cancer risk by up to 26 percent. And light-to-moderate exercise helps prevent more than ten different types of cancer. That one day, there might even be a Nobel Prize for Fitness Journal Literature.
Now, to build cardio-respiratory fitness, we are told to run AND walk and take up Jeffing, invented by marathon runner Jeff Galloway, or go on brisk “micro” walks.
Scientists at the University of Milan found when people walk in stints of 10 to 30 seconds, with breaks in between, they use more energy and burn more calories than continuously walking the same distance.
Apparently, when we walk for shorter bouts, we use more energy and consume more oxygen to cover the same distance.
And low and moderate-paced joggers had the lowest rate of death from any cause. It uses stored fat as fuel, rather than carbohydrates, as with higher-intensity exercise.
And, reportedly, moderate-intensity exercise like “slow running” develops a better immune response and reduces our susceptibility to illness and anxiety.
And blisters.
Now based in Gogeta, California, HOKA (the Maori for “to fly”) was founded in 2008 by Jean-Luc Diard and Nicolas Maroud, formerly of Salomon, and meets every conceivable “underfoot experience” need from pants, running vests, jogging Tees, running vests, recovery hoodies, woodland walking pants, outdoor ponchos, running belts, pullovers, quarter-zips, Coldsnap fleece, all-gender visors, beanies, and a range of high-quality footwear.
From ultra-marathons, triathlons, hiking, and trail running to jeffing and low-impact plodding, HOKA offers the trail up Mount Etna, the 012 Stinson all-terrain shoe, the Scapegoat trail shoe (2019), Torrent (2017), and the all-gender Elevon Spencer Badu Gore-Tex Transport Chukkhas available in Farro/Sesame, Varsity Navy/ Oat Milk. Bondi 9s in Vanilla/Birch, Clifton 10s in Cosmic Grey/Stardust, and Frost/ Orange Zest. Gaviota 5s in Black\Electric Cobalt; CliftonOne9 Vibrant Blooms in Alabaster/ Cielo Blue; Arahi 7s Thunder Cloud/ Stormy Skies or Blue Spark/ Snow Melt.
Going shopping at Hoka is good for you. It reduces all those athleisure paraphernalia panic attacks.
Whatever your walking cadence, whether you are looking for what to wear for Pilates, on the treadmill, in woodlands, up a mountain, on an exercise bike, in the middle of a hula-hoop, or spree shopping – with or without weighted vests, wrist, and ankle weights- HOKA has it all and is compatible with all fitness fads, aerobically good-for-your trens and the conclusions from the latest scientific research.
It has just been discovered that singing while walking backwards is very good for you and, doubtless, pronation specialists, white-coated boffins, and Professors of Exercise Physiology are currently studying what songs will keep you alive the longest.
Dressed by HOKA.
And whether black, white, mint fluorite, dune/eggnog, opal/vaporous, anchor/grapefruit, feldspar/mountain fog, or putty/stucco is the best color scheme for optimal foot health and life expectancy.
