Healthy Body: Walking

I've been very aware of my body the past few weeks. And not too long ago I was thinking about how, when I was a kid, my everyday activities were enough to stay in incredible little kid fitness. Realizing that when I was a kid I would run up that slope, climb that tree and roll down that hill. Things have changed; I am no longer made of rubber these days and my natural metabolism is slowly diminishing. I am not the sort of person that would ever join a gym or spend a lot of time on a treadmill, so I thought about how I could turn my day to day into a great workout. First off, i have a bad left knee so my day to day workout includes more than average knee awareness.
First, walk like a ninja. To explain this, when you are walking down the street and there are a few other people walking ahead of you, walk without letting those people hear your footsteps. Be very aware of your steps, don't drag your feet and don't stomp. Try to put every foot down heal to toe and keep the leg motion very fluid. Also, on flat surfaces your gravity is at equilibrium and you should WALK at the fastest (comfortable) pace possible. Make sure not to run (both feet being off the ground is running) unless you plan on running the whole time; running is high impact for my knees and I try to avoid it.
Second, be sure to walk up stairs or an incline with a straight back and don't forget to breath. It is o.k. to slow your stride as you have now moved away from equilibrium and should compensate. In fact, climbing up stairs should be slow, aware steps, taking full advantage of the muscles being used. Let's say in your daily trips to and from the office there is only one stair case you need to climb, so you think you should run up it and sprint down it for a good little work out. Wrong. Guaranteed you will feel the burn more just by slowly climbing and slowly descending those stairs everyday. If you run up the stairs I suggest you keep the running going for the next 15 minutes if you plan to have a workout.
Third, heading down hill your equilibrium now changes and it is normal to hurry down a slope or stairs. Hurrying down a slope can be visualized as throwing your torso out in front and catching it with your legs. This is horrible on the knees and very little muscle is being used while doing it. When heading down a hill, or stairs, take it very slow. When you first start doing this you will feel a shaking from the muscles in your legs. This will make you aware that you are walking down hill properly. The tremors in the muscles are atrophy, and atrophy is the sign of a weak muscle being used beyond it's limitations. These muscle tremors will go away after making slow down hill (and stair) walking a normal activity. Can you believe that most humans' legs probably shake under just the weight of their own body, this is a little sad and we should really be doing something about this. To be more clear about down stairs and down hill slopes, you will continue to walk heal to toe slowly down a slope. However descending down stairs you will be going toe to heal. Really be aware of lowering your heal on every step, you will feel this in your calves.
Forth, you actually need to make walking a part of your day. Every little bit helps but if the only times you walk during the day are from your front door to your car, then from your car to your office and again at the end of the day you need to get more walking in. Consider walking to the grocery store and carrying the bags back home. Or if grocery stores are too far away, don't mill around trying to get the parking spaces right out front. Pull into the lot and park in the first open space in the back. Do what you can to make walking a bigger part of your day.
Fifth, start becoming aware of all the muscles and motions your body makes, be aware of your arms and back. Try and get the most out of all your daily movements. Yuk.