Stepping out and walking tall will boost your figure, says TV’s Joanna (From Echo)

Stepping out and walking tall will boost your figure, says TV’s Joanna

9:00pm Monday 7th June 2010 in

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FOR weight loss that’s a walk in the park, forget punishing diet and exercise regimes, says fitness expert Joanna Hall.

She maintains walking correctly could see us all drop 10lbs and 10 inches in just four weeks.

Joanna, a regular on TV and radio, including as resident fitness and diet expert for ITV’s This Morning, set up the walking club Walkactive to get people moving and to teach her specifically-designed walking technique, which ensures people achieve the maximum benefits.

Walkactive offers monthly 7km timed trials, pampering walking spa breaks, regional roadshows and six week trainer-led courses.

With a team of 26 people Joanna and her Walkactive trainers travel up and down the country for events throughout the year and has recently started classes in Essex.

Joanna, who describes herself as a diet and movement specialist, said: “Most of us walk the wrong way in terms of benefiting our health and well-being, but with my technique you can walk fit, walk firm, walk off weight and start noticing positive changes very quickly.

“I set up Walkactive to help individuals get the most from their walking.

“Applying the latest scientific research, I have developed a technique that helps align your muscles effectively, minimising impact through your joints, improving posture and, most significantly, improving your body shape and fitness.”

Joanna, who has worked with celebrities including Dido, Rachel Stevens, Sir Richard Branson and Barbara Windsor, believes walking is perfect for people who can’t seem to fit in time for exercise.

“The problem is, people often look for the perfect time to get exercise and lose weight, but that perfect time never comes,” she says.

“Sometimes it takes biting the bullet and getting started. The technique is about simplifying the complicated messages about exercise and making it easy for people.”

The walking technique is fairly straightforward. It involves striking the ground with the heel, rolling through the foot and pushing off with your toes.

On top of that, you have to keep the pelvis straight by imagining a glass of water resting on each hip, bending and swinging your arms at a 90 degree angle, while keeping the spine tall.

Once the technique is mastered you move on to the pace. The optimum speed is about 5-10 per cent slower than the point you break into a jog. Joanna, who is the author of 14 health books, recommends wearing a pedometer and following a plan to increase the steps.

She said: “Some people think ‘why do I need to learn how to walk?’ But it is a technique that needs to be mastered to get the most out of walking. If you don’t get to grips with the correct technique then it doesn’t matter how many steps you take, you won’t feel or see the benefits of regular walking.”

The svelte Joanna is a good example. She said: “In some ways I do less now to stay trim than I ever have and I can honestly say all I do is walk.

“When I was pregnant I walked the whole time and I have reduced the size of my thighs and have a leaner waist.

“In no other exercise are there such results of back fat loss, reduction of the beer belly in men and women trimming down their waist. It helps serious runners, young and old.

“My team have all seen amazing changes to their shape through using the technique.

“It’s not about being stick thin, it is about exercising and being fit, healthy and sexy.”

Part of the regime also includes Joanna’s advocated carb curfew.

She says: “The carb curfew means not eating rice, potatoes or bread after 5pm.

“This means your appetite will naturally reduce so you do not have to count calories.

“It is not the Atkins diet, because I believe people need some carbs and it is not good to base a diet just on protein.

“Restrictive diets usually mean people having to turn down dinner invitations and stop being sociable, and I believe life is for living and to be enjoyed.”

Having achieved a first -degree at Loughborough University in physical education and sports science and a first class MSc in sports science, Joanna has long had a passion for fitness and nutrition.

However, the TV and radio success has come as a shock to her.

“I have been in the industry for the past 20 years and I wouldn’t have predicted that I would go into TV,” she said.

“I remember my teacher suggesting I should go into television, but I followed my passion in fitness and nutrition.

“It’s funny how I have eventually gone down that route.”

So has she ever had a weight problem herself?

“I won a scholarship to a boarding school when I was a teenager and they had free ice cream. I certainly learnt the rule of calories there,” laughs Joanna.

The next Walkactive Time Trial takes place in Leigh, south Essex, on Saturday, June 19. For more information, visit www.joannahall.com or call 0207 7296223