But as I walked my poor feet off, I began to notice how other people walked. The guide on the walking tour I took had a beautiful walk - and never got tired. But he grew up in SF and is in his 20's. Still, there was something about his walk that got my attention, so I started watching the others on the tour, then others after the tour. I observed that most people don't walk very well but some do. There really is a difference.
We all learn to walk when we're one or two years old. But we learn to get it done. We are never taught to do it right. It makes sense that there are bad walking habits just like there are bad eating habits or bad social habits. Hmmm...I might need to learn to walk better.
I did some research on it, and discovered that I'm not the first person to notice this. But every article I read on the subject said something different. Now, that's strange. Doesn't anybody know how to walk correctly?
If there is a general consensus, it starts with posture. The general idea is to walk with shoulders back, chest out (but not too far), tail untucked (whatever that means) feet pointing forward instead of out, etc. Basically, just the opposite of everything I do.
In general, it was easy to see who lives in SF and who the tourists are. And the Europeans tend to do a much better job than Americans. And fat people really screw it up, probably necessarily.
I (along with most Americans) rely primarily on my quads for walking. This evidently leads to dominant quads, weak muscles in the back of the legs and butt, hip issues, lower back issues and knee problems. Shoot! All this time I just thought I was too fat. Now I need to learn to walk? Cool. I'm in.
So I've been experimenting with walking better. Amazing results already. Sightseeing in San Francisco, I learned that something I've done wrong every single day of my life without thinking about it can be easily improved.
But I still wonder how to it right!