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Most new homes now come with walk in closets and the bigger the closet the bigger the “Wow” factor. Women seem to love a big walk in closet while men don’t seem to care that much. If your home doesn’t have a walk in closet, it might be time to start thinking of getting one.

All the expensive houses now come with master bedroom walk-in closet designs that are creative and big. Some of these closets are as big as a room used to be. If you choose to put a walk in closet in your old home, it may be a bit expensive because you will probably have to tear down a wall or too. There will be a monitary benefit when you sell your house, however, as your new walk-in closet should increase the value of your home.

When you have a master walk-in closet that two people use, it is important to try to have the best his and her closet organization as possible. As long as you can come up with his and her closet ideas that will satisfy both parties, there will be no hard feelings or animosity.

If you have a big walk-in closet then you definitely need good lighting. And if you have one of those really big walk in closets with maybe an island or a chest of drawers or something similar, you need to find some neat closet lighting ideas.

Track lighting is always cool looking and you might be able to put it in your large wak in closet. You can find some good deals on track lighting at Ikea and other places and if you set it up properly, your closet will be stunning.

Florescent lights are most often used in closets because they are cool (not hot). Electrical codes have distance requirements for all light sources (except LEDs that also run very cool). Closets usually have a lot of things in them with low ventilation that could easily catch on fire from an incandescent or halogen bulb. Luckily, we are talking about a large walk in closet so you will be able to use something other than florescent lights or the usual ugly light that all closets seem to come with. Just make sure you don’t have any of your clothes near the lighting.

Walk-in closets are also great because they give you so many more closet storage options. If you have a problem with your junk piling up in your room, you can have it pile up in your closet instead which is better for appearances sake.

Depending on the size of your walk in closet, you can have many things in there in addition to all your clothes and shoes. Some walk in closet ideas have full length mirrors in them and even a small bench or island to make them feel like dressing rooms.

When it comes to exercise we each determine what we can or cannot do, and how hard we push ourselves. Some follow the all-or-nothing principle, believing that if exercise is good for you it has to be hard, even painful. Experts have recommended high-impact aerobic exercise as a means for increasing bone mass, but a review of numerous studies on aerobic exercise and bone mineral density suggests that walking just 30 minutes per day a few days a week is enough to moderately increase overall bone density. Specifically, an eight-year study of 13,000 people found that those who walked 30 minutes a day had a significantly lower risk of premature death than those who rarely exercised.

As a fitness activity, walking has become more popular over the years as it offers many health benefits:

- Consistent walking can help reduce body fat, cholesterol levels, increase cardiovascular endurance, resting heart rate and lower blood pressure.

- Regular walking, using a moderate intensity, strengthens the immune system, burns calories and keeps weight stable.

- Walking is a natural form of movement and, unlike high impact exercise, does not place excess stress on the joints and boosts bone strength.

- Studies suggest regular walking can help prevent colon cancer.

- Walking is an excellent way to prevent diabetes and heart disease, when combined with a proper diet.

A walking program is simple to start. All one needs are comfortable clothes and shoes; layer loose clothing and shoes specifically designed for walking are the best. One should also keep in mind that every workout should begin with a brief warm-up and a few simple stretches. Walking around the house or in place for a few minutes to get the blood flowing to the muscles before attempting to stretch them is a good strategy. Although walking primarily works the major muscles of the legs, people should not forget to stretch their back, shoulders and arms. This will help them loosen up any tension they may be carrying and make their walk more enjoyable as well as more effective. In addition, beginning walkers can make their workouts less strenuous by limiting how fast and far they walk and focus on good posture, keeping the head lifted and the shoulders relaxed, and move arms naturally.

The popularity of walking as a fitness activity is growing by leaps and bounds. Low risk and easy to start, walking has proved its health benefits in numerous studies. In fact, walking exercise helps strengthen bones because it forces them to bear weight, which is why high-impact exercise elicits even greater gains in bone density. Concluding, walking, the oldest form of exercise, just may be the key to achieving new levels of fitness, particularly for those who need to start with small, achievable goals to get, and stay, on track.

The word marathon is meant to inspire terror. It’s a 26.2 mile run that takes even super athletes hours to complete. You can’t just sign up and do a marathon. You have to train rigorously to even have a hope of finishing. So why do some people think this is fun?

Yet a growing movement is occurring around the world that allows more and more people the opportunity to participate in marathons and other races by walking and not running. Walking is a much lower stress activity than running or even jogging.

Walking marathons allows for people of all ages, particularly older people, to enjoy the health benefits of marathon training.

And mile for mile, walking burns the same calories as running. So why don’t more people walk marathons?

First, not all marathons are open to walkers and some permit walkers but do not officially encourage them. Marathons that invite walkers are sometimes advertised as “walker friendly.” (Not all of them are!)

The biggest concern for marathon walkers who participate in official races is how long the track is open. A top runner completes a marathon in slightly over two hours. Most reasonably good athletes can do a marathon in four hours. Even slower runners can complete a marathon in five or six hours. (A six-hour marathon time means the runner ran 13 minute miles … not exactly a super-fast time!) However, walkers need six to eight hours to complete a marathon. Walking consistent 15-minute miles, it would take a little over six-and-a-half hours to walk a marathon. Factor in some bathroom breaks, inconsistent performance, or slower walking times and you end up with marathon walkers who turn in times of seven or eight hours.

Most marathons keep the track open six hours. After that, they begin to “sweep” or start at the beginning of the track and pick up stragglers, the injured, and the clean up the mess at water stations.

While walkers can dodge the sweepers for a while, eventually the walkers will be compelled to leave the track and the marathon unfinished.

The Los Angeles Marathon is known for being super-friendly to walkers because the track is open long enough for even slow walkers to complete the race before getting “swept up.”

In some ways, walkers face the same training challenges as runners. It takes consistent training over a period of many months to build up the stamina and technique required to go 26.2 miles at once.

Training programs for walkers tend to be sporadic and are not always offered in groups training to enter a marathon. When walking programs are available, there may be only a few participants and no real experts at walking technique.

Marathon walkers also face their own unique challenges. Although a very fast elite walker can actually out-pace a slow runner, most walkers are on the track and exercising longer than the runners. That means they need to allow extra time, extra hydration and even some food. It is not unusual for marathon walkers to bring along packets of bars, gels, or liquids to take in along the way. Bathroom breaks are also more necessary during a six or seven hour period of exercise than for those who can do the course in much shorter times.

The best training program for walkers involves consistent training over a period of about six months or more before the race.

Every week, the walker should go out four times in “maintenance walks” that start out at 30 minutes and gradually extend to full hours. Once a week, there should be a “long walk.” This can start out at 15 or 30 minutes; the walker should add 15 minutes more each week until the walk is about 1 hour and 45 minutes long.

During these initial weeks, walkers should learn good form and technique and only concentrate on time, not speed or distance. Obviously, it’s a good idea to gradually try to improve speed, but the main focus is doing the time.

After 1 hour and 45 minutes, it’s time to switch over to distance. At this point, long walks are measured in miles, starting with 6 miles and adding a mile a week until the walks get up to 10 or 11 miles.

At this point, marathon walkers should defer to training manuals for marathon runners. A very crucial skill that marathoners must learn is how to add six more miles to the distance. This means one week the long walk is 10 miles, the next week it’s 16. The following week it’s back to 10, then the next week to 11, and then it’s 17 miles.

This pattern is important, because it drills into the marathoner a very important confidence and ability: the ability to go six more miles, no matter what.

Once the long walk hits 20 miles, that’s an important marker in training. No long walk during training should ever exceed 20 miles. However, before taking on a race, a marathon walker should have done at least three long walks of 20 miles.

A few weeks before the actual race, training ramps down. Walks get shorter. While the walker maintains a consistent schedule of four hour-long, fairly fast maintenance walks a week, the “long walks” dwindle down to a mere 10 or 12 miles.

On race day, the newbie marathon walker faces his or her first 26.2 mile walk. But he or she has learned two vital skills: the ability to go 20 miles with confidence and the ability to be able to go six more miles no matter what. The last 0.2 miles that makes up the marathon is run on adrenalin and crowd noise. To be able to participate in a marathon, a training schedule should be set up to map onto race day. Once a marathon walker is fully in training, he or she can easily modify the schedule to accommodate other races during the year. In fact, many people get so addicted to marathon walking that they do four, five or more races a year.