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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Tim Dowling

‘I’m not just faster, but taller’: how I learned to walk properly – and changed my pace, posture and perspective

Walking expert Joanna Hall strides ahead of Tim Dowling in a park.
Best foot forward … walking expert Joanna Hall puts Tim Dowling through his paces. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

In all the time I spent with Joanna Hall, she barely stopped walking. I would see her coming towards me in Kensington Gardens, London, gliding past the other strollers as if she alone were on a moving walkway. When she reached me, I would fall into step and off we would walk, for an hour. At the end, Hall would stride into the distance and keep walking, for all I knew, until we met the following week.

Hall’s WalkActive system, a comprehensive fitness programme based around walking, aims to improve posture, increase speed, reduce stress on joints and deliver fitness, turning a stroll into a workout and changing the way you walk for ever. She says she can teach it to me, and we have set aside four weeks for my education.

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