Mall Walking for Fitness and Health

Malls, the large structures full of stores, teenagers, and memories of stress-filled crowded holiday shopping days. But let’s step away from the crowds, do something that will save you money, and possibly your life. Mall walking for fitness and health is a great way to get fit, stay fit, and do it within a climate-controlled environment.

A mall is defined as a public sheltered walk or promenade. Also, we know malls as a place to go shopping, have a drink or meal, and escape for a while. Mall walking combines the advantages of both.

Listen to the audio reading of Mall Walking for Fitness and Health

Benefits of Walking

Walking is an aerobic exercise, which stimulates and strengthens the heart and lungs, thereby improving the body’s utilization of oxygen. It also lowers the risk of blood clots as the calf acts as a venous pump, contracting and pumping blood from the feet and legs back to the heart, reducing the load on the heart. 

Read: Benefits of Fitness Walking | 3 Ways to Build a Strong Body and Heart.

Midlife and older adults who engage in regular physical activity such as a brisk walk are at a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast and colon cancer, and depressed mood

Longevity is Associated with Walking Speed

My previous post, Increase Average Walking Speed with More STEPS revealed that average walking speed can be a very useful indicator of life expectancy and as you’ll learn, there are five specific steps you can take to increase your average walking speed.

When you step back and take a long-term view of the benefits of walking for health and fitness, you’ll see it makes so much sense to slow yourself down from pounding your body with strenuous weight training or running so you can continue walking well into old age.

Read: Walking for Health and Fitness

Physical Activity Recommendation

For adults, including older adults, the recommended exercise time is 150 minutes (2.5 hours) per week or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity workouts which include doing bodyweight fitness exercises such as pushups, squats, lunges, and planks.

Learn more: Fitness Walking and Bodyweight Exercises

Why Begin Walking a walking program

Starting a walking program is the easiest way to begin to get into shape. The low cost and ease of the exercise make it a breeze to put one foot in front of the other.

• Low-cost sneakers/shoes and comfortable clothing. Start walking in whatever comfortable shoes or sneakers you already own. Then upgrade to a “walking shoe” as you progressively walk longer. Walking shoes are specifically designed for walking and their comfort and lightweight are definitely worth the nominal investment.

• Reduced risk of injury- Walking is a low impact form of exercise. You’ve been doing it since you were a toddler. The lessened risk of injury will keep you walking for years to come.

• Set your own pace and adjust it as you become more fit. Developing a walking routine allows you total control of the pace of your walking exercise workout and you can increase the intensity of your walk at any time by adding bodyweight fitness exercises or stair climbing into the mix.

• You control how often you walk and for how long you will walk. Feeling energetic today, add another lap or two around the mall to increase your distance walked. Feeling tired? Then reduce the number of laps. 

Why You Should Walk in a Mall

There are many barriers to walking outdoors especially in wintertime. They include:

• Safety- Many older adults fear walking alone because of existing health conditions. In a mall, the medical response is quick due to the number of walkers in the mall and the presence of security personnel.

• Security- Older adults feel less secure walking on the streets alone. Malls have visible security staff constantly on patrol.

• Road Hazards- Walking along a busy road is dangerous as is winter walking on snow, slush, or ice. Read: Safety on the Road

• Destinations – The local park may be too far to walk to or have too many barriers to overcome such as no sidewalks, busy roadways, and dangerous intersections to cross.

• Neighborhood walkability – lack of sidewalks, too much traffic, too much congestion, too much noise! Malls make walking so much easier.

What are the Benefits of Mall Walking

The benefits of mall walking are numerous! They include:

Safety

• Security staff usually present and visible 

• Medical response

• Even walking surfaces

• Benches to rest (or do bodyweight fitness exercises)

• Absence of traffic and noise make listening to music or audiobooks easy    

Comfort

• Shelter from rain, cold, snow, sun, heat, and wind.

• Temperature controlled regardless of the season

• Flat, even walking surface

• Benches to rest

• Bathrooms

• Places eat and drink

• Walking buddies

• Security

• Less noise

• Bodyweight fitness opportunities! It’s like an adult playground if you seek out the opportunities and equipment.

Pedestrian Friendly: malls are designed to be easy to navigate from one store to another

• Benches

• Water fountains

• Accessible Restrooms (many parks close and winterize the bathrooms)

• Wide corridors

• No auto traffic or noise!

Social Network and Support

• Mall walking programs encourage walking

• Meeting fellow walkers/participants/walking buddies

• The safe, indoor environment makes it easier to walk side by side and engage in conversation. (Walking on the road side should be done single file for safety reasons making conversation difficult) 

Oh Yeah, Shopping and Services Offered at Most Malls

• Many malls that open early have cafes that also open early for mall employees. Sit down, have a cup of coffee and socialize with a walking friend

• There are a variety of services available at most malls include hair salons, dry cleaners, stationery stores, ATM’s, movie theaters, free phone charging, and more recently, medical service offices have begun setting up shop in malls

• Many various stores to service your most every need

• Be the first to spot the sale signs posting in store windows

Bodyweight Fitness Activities

Malls provide the perfect environment for you to do bodyweight fitness activities. Think of the mall as your giant adult playground. Use the physical structures in the mall to complete various bodyweight exercises.

A good way to begin adding bodyweight exercises to your mall walk is to do pushups, squats, lunges, and planks and all the variations of each.

My book, Fitness Walking and Bodyweight Exercises explains in detail how you can incorporate bodyweight exercise with walking. 

Here is a list of exercise you can do using the physical structures within the mall:

• Benches - modified pushups, push-offs, dips, split squats

• Steps – steps increase the intensity of walking, step-ups, calf raises, modified pushups, 

• Railings – modified squats, inverted rows

• Low walls/walls – split squats, wall squats

• Ramps – mimic hill walking.

Read: How to Walk Up Hills

Contact Your Local Mall About its Mall Walking Program

Here are some questions you may ask about a mall’s walking for fitness and health policy:

• Does the mall have a mall walking program?

• What time can the general public enter the mall? Many malls open up 1-hour before the store opening times.

• Entrances: Are there specific mall entrances that should be used?

• Security staff: Is mall security on duty in the pre-open hours?

• Open restrooms: Are restrooms available in the pre-open hour?

• Coffee or food vendors. Are food and drink vendors open in the pre-open hour.

So get online and contact your local mall about it’s walking program. Then start mall walking, doing bodyweight exercises, and meeting a new social network!

Mall Walking FAQ’s

• Is there a mall walking etiquette?

  • While no official etiquette exists, use common sense and courtesy if you are going to use the mall to walk.  

  • Remember, while malls are public areas, they are private property. Be respectful of the property, store owners, and mall employees.

  • Walk with the general flow of foot traffic.  

  • Stay in control when you speed up the pace of your walk; be aware of those around you, especially children as they move quickly and change directions on a dime. You don’t want to trample the little ones.

  • Supporting the mall businesses is helpful, and some malls offer walkers discounts on shopping so check your mall walking destination.

• Can anyone walk the mall for exercise?

  • Yes! Mall walking is an awesome way to get in your steps and fitness routine in a controlled and safe environment in any season.

• Where can I do mall walking near me?

  • Go online and find your local mall's website. If the information is not available, click the mall's Contact Us link and ask about their mall walking policy. Most have some kind of formal mall walking program or at the very least open early and allow access to the general public.

• What are 3 mall walking basics I should know?

  1. Dress comfortably

  2. Be mindful of the mall rules in regard to mall walking

  3. Find less crowded areas to do your bodyweight fitness exercise workout

With a little creativity, you can turn your local mall into your own gym with no membership fee or workout schedule to follow!

Walk on,
Frank Ring
Author: Walking for Health and Fitness, and Fitness Walking and Bodyweight Exercises
Contact Frank at Frank@walkingforhealthandfitness.com

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