Get the gait right

It's only the second time we have met but Joanna Hall — fitness expert, walking coach and diet specialist — is not one to muck about. We are speeding along Regent's canal in east London where Joanna is teaching me to walk properly for the first time in my life. She is hollering instructions: "Lift those hips", "Pick up the pace".

Walking can give you health benefits — if you do it properly. It turns out I have been walking badly as long as I have lived. And I'm not the only one.

"Ninety-nine per cent of the population doesn't walk correctly," says Joanna, who has developed a walking technique that increases fitness, stamina and helps lose weight.

God knows I need it, having developed a paunch and an amazing capacity to do absolutely no exercise since the birth of my second child. With a full-time job, a toddler and a baby, it is impossible to find the time. I'm a typical case, says Joanna.

Stride to perfection

Her aim is to build walking goals into people's everyday lives: instead of aiming to get to the gym every week, we should walk to work, to the shops and on all those errands when we usually drive or take the bus.

Joanna breaks me in gently with one of her Walk Off Weight Champneys spa weekends where I combine a bit of pampering with an introduction to her technique.

Walking right involves a lot of concentration. The basic technique involves striking the ground with the heel, rolling through the foot and pushing off with your toes (not as easy as it sounds). Besides, you have to keep the pelvis straight by imagining a glass of water resting on each hip, bending and swinging your arms at a 90-degree angle, while keeping the spine tall.

When you have mastered this, it's time to address the pace, the optimum speed being about 5-10 per cent slower than the point you break into a jog.

Standing tall

By the end of the weekend I am walking tall and determined, and return home armed with a pedometer and a lot of good intentions — Joanna has instructed us to increase our average number of steps by 1,000 a day to get the full effect.

I find that the new regime helps me not only fall in love with walking but also fall in love with London all over again.