Hope this is an acceptable post. I've seen posts before encouraging fitness as part of the prep work for the coming storm. Partially because of this, and partially because we're going on a beach vacation in September, I've been working on my fitness more intensely. Sorry this is a little long.
So I started with increased dog walking. Dogs were very happy with this, but the downside is doggos tend to get distracted with interesting scents along the way, and because the walk is supposed to be for them, I indulge them. But it breaks the stride and makes the time spent less effective for me.
I then started walking on my own in addition holding light weights (2-3lbs). We live on a gravel/dirt road that has moderate hills. About .7 miles in either direction to the first neighbors' driveway. Dog walks and my personal walks tended to be one round trip in either direction, so about a mile and a half. On a good day, I'd do both so would get roughly 2.8 miles of walking in, and I felt it.
I decided it might be more enjoyable for my solo walks to have some music and that's where part of the hack comes from. It occurred to me that marches are made for marching, so maybe that would help me walk. I was in marching band in HS and college, so I knew how music can help the distance be a little more tolerable and it's also likely why militaries have incorporated it for centuries, but I was never in control of the music. So I went to youtube and downloaded some marches - mostly military, Sousa, a few German ones (nobody does marching like the Germans). Turns out that marches have come so far from marching that the recorded tempos are typically way to fast to be useful. I did find one German march that was about right and conveniently repeated with 6 stanzas. For the first experiment, I just looped that constantly.
Downside is I now have fealty to Der Fatherland, but the upside is I was able to do a full loop in both directions - 2.8 miles total, double my normal walking distance in a single stretch. I was tired, but less so than when I did the 1.5 mile loop. So I was onto something.
Found a program called Audacity (I use linux, there are probably other similar apps) that lets me tweak the tempo without changing the pitch. Most of the mp3s I downloaded had to be slowed by 6-10%. Unfortunately, I haven't found software capable of giving a BPM calculation so I have an objective measure, so I'm still tweaking, but a couple of the MP3s are dead on now, at least for my body and my terrain.
So here's the hack. I'm sure I'm not the only one to figure this out, but there seems to be some sort of kinematic zone, around 60bpm based on some research this morning (or multiples thereof). Probably varies slightly by person and by terrain, and whether you hands are free (I walk holding 3lb weights). But, when you hit that zone, something amazing happens. You end up walking a full stride with complete arm swings and there's something magical and mechanical when you get it right, and the music sort of holds you in that zone without you having to think about it. I won't say it's effortless, but it feels like you could do it almost indefinitely. I just came back from a 2.8mi walk with enough tweaked tunes to get me into that zone for the entirety. I feel like I could go do another loop. It's really amazing to me.
I'm sure you don't have to use military marches - probably any music will do if you can get it adjusted to the right tempo for you. I hate to say it, but Rap/HipHop, if you're into that, might be a good candidate due to it's rythmic base.
This has made a huge (Yuge!) difference for me, enough that I felt it worth sharing. Getting into that zone is actually a slight high I look forward to every morning - would have never said that before about the idea of walking almost 3 miles. If you're looking for a way to improve your fitness, this may help you get over the hump. Hope it helps a Fren somewhere.
I used to run half marathons (knee issues). There is something incredibly relaxing about finding yourself in a great rhythm as you run and just going. I would do it after work to clear my mind or just allow my mind to think about whatever the heck it wanted to.
When I ran in high school, we always ran with no music. The cross country coach wanted us to learn to synchronize our movements and breathing and to focus on our form. After 5-7 mins of joking while we got warmed up, we'd all settle into the run and just go. So, I learned how to listen to my body without music and it didn't take long to synch up arms, legs, and breathing so you ran efficiently. None of our meets had music either. They were all out at a state park or some rural place. It's a great way to run.
I discovered music in "fun runs" when I would go to bigger cities and run with 15,000+ other people. They'd always have music along the whole run. Nashville absolutely lived up to it's name as Music City, for example. It very much depended on the song and how it hit. Sometimes it would mess with my stride and I'd have to ignore it, but man, when the music synched up nicely, and the bass matched me stride for stride, I'd easily find myself running 10-20s per mile faster and feeling strong as hell while I did. **
In fact, there's a pretty big demand for this kind of thing. You can find tons of Spotify playlists and the like that have music specifically curated for running and synched to certain bpm to match your stride's cadence. So, if you ever get bored of old school marches and want to move on to something more modern, there are mountains of playlists for you to check out on whatever music service you use.
I'm glad you found something to help you enjoy exercising. It's a game-changer in terms of how it makes you feel just to be able to move and move well. Scientifically proven to improve mood, promote a healthy (not overeating) appetite, improve immunity, and help stave off viral infections too!
**As an aside, if you ever lift weights, they'll tell you you can always lift more than you think you can. You have to train your mind to push past the mental barrier that says "I can't anymore" and just do more. There is more the in the tank. This was the same, but for running. The music acts like endorphins and takes the mind off of pain and puts it on performance.
Like OP I like marching music specifically the bagpipe marches.
What you said in your first few paragraphs about running with no music was right for me. I only did 5 miles every other morning. I loved it, woke up at 5:30am get a quick coffee and warm up and run.
Just watching and controlling my breath was so peaceful, like meditation and I always had a better day at work, less stress, on my running days.
Find the harmonic “pace” and you are effectively “surfing” on an energy wave. Running at a harmonic allows a sustained pace while using less energy because you are resonating with matter itself. This is the secret that the Kenyan runners are using.