Walking backward puts a new twist on a familiar fitness routine

Here’s a simple way to change your walking routineaccording to experts: try going back.

Going for a brisk walk is an exercise rich in simplicity, and it can have impressive mental and psychological effects. physical benefits: stronger bones and muscles, good cardiovascular fitness and reduced stress, to name a few. But like any workout, sabotaging it for your health can feel repetitive and even boring after a while.

Reverse walking, also known as retro walking or reverse walking, could add variety and value to an exercise routinewhen done safely. Turning around not only allows you to change your point of view, but also places different demands on your body.

Janet Dufek, a biomechanist and faculty member at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has studied the mechanics of walking and landing from jumps to identify ways to prevent injuries and improve physical performance. And as a former college basketball player and regular exerciser, she’s also done her share of backtracking.

In humans, reverse locomotion can increase hamstring flexibility, strengthen underused muscles, and challenge the mind as the body adapts to a new movement and posture.

“I see a lot of people in my neighborhood and they’re walking, and it’s good,” she said. “But they emphasize the same elements of their structure over and over again. Walking backwards introduces an element of cross-training, a subtly different activity.”

On the treadmill

Kevin Patterson, a personal trainer in Nashville, Tennessee, recommends the treadmill as the safest place to retro walk. You can adjust it to a slow speed. However, Patterson likes to turn off the treadmill – called the “dead mill” – and have clients power the belt themselves.

“It may take a while to get the treadmill running, but from there we have the power for the treadmill,” he said.

Patterson said he uses the reverse walk with all of his clients as an “accessory exercise” — a bodybuilding term for additional movements designed to work a specific muscle group — or during warm-ups. Activity is usually only a small part of workouts, he said.

“The treadmill is great for older customers because you have the handles on the side and you reduce the risk of falling,” he said.

Off the treadmill

Dufek suggests turning a 1-minute segment of walking backwards into a 10-minute walk and adding time and distance as you feel comfortable.

You can also do this with a partner; face each other, maybe shake hands. One person walks backwards and the other moves forward and watches for problems. Then change position.

“In the beginning, you start very, very slowly because there’s balance and adjustment and brain retraining. You’re learning a new skill,” Dufek said. “You use your muscles in different ways.”

If you work your way up to running and get really good at it, you might want to try run a marathon backwards — 26.2 miles or 42.2 kilometers. Yes, people did.

Walking backwards as a cross workout

Dufek classifies walking backwards as a form of cross training, or incorporating a mixture of movements into a fitness program. Doing a range of exercises can help prevent overuse injuries, which can occur after repeated use of the same muscle groups.

For many people, cross training involves different activities and types of exercise: for example running one day, swimming the next, and strength training on the third day. But the changes needed to walk backwards work the same way, but on a micro level.

Do small adjustments make a big difference? Once an avid runner, Dufek said she owned several pairs of running shoes and didn’t wear the same pair two days in a row.

“The shoes had a different level of wear, a different design,” she said. “Just changing that one item, in this case the shoes, would put a slightly different strain on the system.”

Retro walking as rehabilitation

Physical therapists ask some of their clients to walk backwards, which can be helpful after a knee injury or for people undergoing rehabilitation or recovering from surgery.

“Reverse walking is very different from forward walking from a strength standpoint, from a movement pattern standpoint,” Dufek explained. Instead of landing the heel first, “you strike the forefoot first, often quite gently, and often the heel doesn’t touch the ground.”

“This reduces the range of motion of the knee joint, allowing activity to be performed without stressing the (knee) joint,” Dufek said.

Walking backwards also stretches the hamstrings, the group of muscles at the back of the thigh. Dufek wants to know if it improves balance and reduces risk of falling in older people by activating more senses of the body.

Athletes do it naturally

There’s nothing wrong with walking backwards. In fact, running backwards is a key skill for elite athletes.

Basketball players do it. Footballers too. American football players – especially defensive backs – do it all the time.

“I played basketball and probably spent 40 percent of my time playing defense and running back,” Dufek said.

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