Troy Delaney independently researches, reviews, and recommends the best products. He may receive commissions on some (not all) purchases made from his chosen links. Learn more.
I love my morning walk. It’s a habit I’m consistent with, rain or shine.
I’ve written about eight reasons to take a walk every day and ten ways to optimize your walk, but what excites me the most is how much I get out of my walk because of the hacks I’ve implemented.
First, you need to understand the purpose of my morning walk. It’s designed to:
- Anchor my day with a healthy habit
- Get a low-impact workout that burns fat and builds strength
- Push myself slightly out of my comfort zone (eat that morning frog) and inoculate myself to discomfort
- Enhance the benefits of my morning fast like autophagy and fat burning
- Reset my circadian rhythm
- Walk my dog (@lunacovedelaney)
- Warm up enough to make my morning cold plunge more desirable
- Optimize my mindset for the day. Research has shown that 20 minutes outside (3X/week) leaves us feeling calmer and with sharper and more productive, creative minds.
So how do I accomplish all of this in a 40 minute walk?
I’ve hacked and stacked it. I’ve hacked everything from my sauna time, cold exposure, fasting, and exercise to optimize the time during these uncomfortable things so that I get the most out of them. But I’ve definitely hacked my morning walk the most.
My walking routine has evolved over time but hopefully you can pull some ideas to create a routine for yourself. After all, once you create the habit of walking daily, it’s much easier to stack onto it.
The reason habit stacking works so well is that your current habits are already built into your brain. You have patterns and behaviors that have been strengthened over years. By linking your new habits to a cycle that is already built into your brain, you make it more likely that you’ll stick to the new behavior.
Once you have mastered this basic structure, you can begin to create larger stacks by chaining small habits together. This allows you to take advantage of the natural momentum that comes from one behavior leading into the next.
– James Clear, author of Atomic Habits
Table of Contents
Pre-Walk
First, it starts with things that I do prior to my walk.
- Water – I drink some filter water to ensure I’m properly hydrated. I’ve spent the last 8-9 hours sleeping so my body is in need of some hydration. First, I place 1.5L of filtered and chilled water on my Mayu Swirl which swirls the water to aerate and structure the water, putting it in its natural state. It’s like water from a running stream. I add Quinton, a nutrient-rich, raw marine fluid harvested from the depths of plankton-rich ocean blooms and cold-sterilized to retain its healing properties.
- Supplements – I don’t eat before my walk so I take certain supplements that enhance the benefits of the fasted state I’m currently in. The supplements also enhances the cold exposure that I end my walk with. These supplements include a combination of curcumin, green tea, quercetin and resveratrol. This allows my body to tap into the fat stores for fuel. It also enhances the conversion of visceral fat to mitochondrially-dense brown fat and enhances autophagy, the clean-up of cellular waste. Here’s my full supplement stack. I also add a scoop of Kion Essential Amino Acids (EAAs) to feed my muscles during the walk.
- Purity Coffee Elixir – I then make my coffee elixir which I sip on throughout my walk. This coffee elixir includes Purity organic coffee and Organifi Gold which contains both ginger and turmeric, both of which enhance the fasted state and cold exposure. The coffee contains caffeine which helps the body mobilize fatty acids (again, to burn stored body fat). I also add a tablespoon of 100% drinking cacao. Cacao has healthy fat that helps my body utilize the fat-soluble nutrients in my supplement stack and Organifi cocktail.
The Walk
Fasted Cardio
As I mentioned above, I always walk fasted, other than my coffee elixir and the supplements. This keeps my body burning body fat throughout the entire walk, enhances the clean-up of old and damaged cellular waste (promotes “cellular youth”), slows the aging process, promotes greater energy, and decreases the risk of developing disease.
Morning Sunshine
According to Dr. Andrew Huberman, it’s ideal to get 10-30 minutes of sun exposure (with no sunglasses) within an hour of waking up, ideally within the first 15-30 minutes. This helps reset your body’s circadian clock (sleep-wake cycle) which can lead to a whole bunch of important biological triggers and leads to things like better sleep.
In Nature
If I’m not listening to a podcasts or audio book, I try to become present by focusing on the environment around me. I focus on my legs, feet, posture, breath and nature. Being in nature has been shown to reduce stress and improve mood. That’s why I always walk outdoors, rain or shine. I have three different walks that I take, depending on the day:
- Five days a week I walk through my neighborhood trails
- Once a week I take a 60 minute trail hike which is a little more strenuous because of the hills
- Once a week I take a beach walk
Discomfort
Regularly exposing yourself to physical and mental discomfort will make you stronger, better, and smarter. I want to experience some discomfort now to be better prepared for future discomfort. The physical discomfort is obvious – lugging around a 50-60 lb bag with blood flow restriction cuffs on isn’t comfortable. But wearing this gear also prepares me mentally. I know I look ridiculous with my weighted backpack and blood flow restriction cuffs and that many of the people I walk by think I’m crazy but I’m okay with that. It’s a great way to desensitize yourself from being judged.
As Seneca once said, “It is precisely in times of immunity from care that the soul should toughen itself beforehand for occasions of greater stress, and it is while fortune is kind that it should fortify itself against her violence.”
Stacks
I’ve added a few hacks to my walk to get more out of it.
- Add Weight. I wear a weight GORUCK bag. I started at 20 lbs about six months ago and have worked up to 70 lbs. Adding weight is a great way to build cardiovascular endurance and strengthen the muscles and bones without significant impact on the joints.
“As I approach 50 years old, rucking is one of the keystone behaviors in my success for being 110 and kicking your ass when I’m 110.”
Dr. Kelly Starrett aka The Supple Leopard
- Occlusion training—or, blood-flow restriction (BFR) training. I wear BFR bands for 15-20 minutes of my walk to accelerated aerobic capacity gains. I originally purchased cheap BFR wraps off Amazon but heard SmartTools was a better option from Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. Kelley Starrett so I purchased their SmartCuff BFR device. This makes the beginning of the walk more difficult but I have seen improvements in my cardiovascular fitness as well as an increase in my quad size.
- Turbine to encourage nasal breathing. If I focus on my breath, I do box breathing which consists of a 4 second inhale, 4 second hold, 4 second exhale, 4 second hold (4-4-4-4), all through the nose, to activate my parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). The Turbine allows me to easily breathe through my nose.
- Xero Minimalist Shoes. I heard about these shoes from Dr. Peter Attia and have worn them every day since. Not only are they super comfortable, they also have a wide toe box to let your feet spread out naturally and have a non-elevated “zero-drop” sole for proper posture. There are more nerve endings on the bottom of your feet than anywhere but your finger tips and lips. Your feet are supposed to FEEL the ground. Xero lets you do that, with a Goldilocks “just-right” layer of protection.
- Walk backwards to strengthen the knees. Made popular by the kneesovertoesguy and based on the Chinese wisdom “A hundred steps backward are worth a thousand steps forward.” I try to do about 3-4 sets of 100 steps backwards throughout my walk. Here’s some science-backed data to support walking backwards:
- Effect of Retrowalking on Pain, Functional Disability and Functional Mobility in Patients with Chronic Knee Osteoarthritis
- The Efficacy of Backward Walking on Static Stability, Proprioception, Pain, and Physical Function of Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- Retro-Walking Improves Symptoms, Pain, And Function In Primary Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomised Control Trial
Post-Walk
- Ice bath with breathwork – Here’s my routine.
- 10-15 weighted pull-ups to build grip strength
- Red light and more breathwork
Products Mentioned w/ Discount Codes
- Mayu Swirl – use code TROY15 for $15 off
- SmartCuff BFR device – use code TROY for 10% off
- Quinton – use code FIRST10 for 10% off from my online store
- Cold Exposure Stack – use code FIRST10 for 10% off from my online store
- Kion Essential Amino Acids (EAAs) – use code ANTIFRAGILE for 10% off
- Purity organic coffee – use code EVOLVEDNS for 10% off
- Organifi Gold – use code Troy for 20% off
- GORUCK bag
- Turbine
- Xero Minimalist Shoes
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase. Oftentimes, I’ve worked out a discount for you. Please understand that I have experience with all of these products, and I only recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals.
Leave a Reply