If you don't have proper form when you walk for fitness, you may be missing out on some of the benefits -- you may even be setting yourself up for injury. Los Angeles-based fitness professional Lalo Fuentes has identified some common problems people have with walking form:

• Easy gliders. Some people walk with a very relaxed/cool stride; They tend to bring their legs forward and their heels touch the ground first. This type of walk can put the body off-balance and doesn't work the hamstrings and glutes as much as it should. If this sounds like you, then straighten up -- imagine a string being pulled upward from your head -- your stride will improve and so will the effects of your walking workout.
• Tippy toes. Many people who are into sports are used to being light on their feet. This can lead to a walking stride where the middle of the feet hit the ground first and heels immediately rise, leaving the person practically on tip-toe. The calf muscles are getting a great workout, but the hamstrings are virtually ignored. When walking, you should strike the ground first with your heel and then roll through from heel to toe.
  

When you have proper walking form, your calves, hamstrings, glutes, and obliques will get a better workout. In addition, you'll have better posture -- and, remember, posture has a big impact on your appearance. See AOL Health for more tips on walking workouts.

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Weight training is a great way to strengthen, tone, and shape your body. In addition, building up your muscles helps you burn fat and improves your bone density. But it's important to keep safety and proper technique in mind when lifting weights. When starting a new weight lifting routine, consider consulting with a personal trainer -- a trainer can give you ideas on a routine that works well for you and can instruct you on proper form. Here are some tips from Revolution Health to get you started:

• Do lift an appropriate amount of weight. For most purposes, a weight that you can lift 12 to 15 times is right.
  
• Do learn to do each exercise correctly. When you use proper form, you get the most benefit and you minimize your risk of injury.
• Do remember to breathe. Don't hold your breath while lifting.
  
• Do balance your routine. For the best results, remember to work all of your muscle groups.
  
• Do give your muscles a break. Alternate days that you work on muscle groups so your muscles have time to recover.

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Weight lifting is great for your body. But if you don't follow proper technique you're not only wasting some of your effort, you're putting yourself at risk of injury. Incorrect technique can cause you to sprain or strain your muscles. You may even encounter more serious injuries like fractures or muscle tears. Revolution Health gives you some things to keep in mind:

• Don't skip your warm up. 5-10 minutes of aerobic activity will warm up your muscles and reduce your risk of injury.
• Don't hurry. Control your movements. A slow rhythm helps isolate the muscles so you know you're getting the most impact for your efforts.
• Don't overdo it. Pushing yourself way past the point of fatigue may cause injury.
• Don't work through the pain. While some soreness and mild discomfort is expected when you're working muscles, pain is your body's way of telling you something is wrong. Listen to your body's signals.
• Don't forget your shoes. Shoes will give you proper traction while lifting weights.

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The push-up is one of those exercises that's enjoying a boom in popularity these days for one simple reason: it works. And it's for this reason that I do push-ups regularly. Or at least I try to--sometimes it's harder than it looks. But I recently discovered something about my push-ups that's helped me get a handle on them.

For months, out of fear of hurting my wrists, I insisted on spreading my hands only as wide as the short end of my fitness mat was in order to cushion them properly. But my fitness teacher recently alerted me to the fact that my hands were too close together -- they should be as wide as your elbows, and I had mine at shoulder width. Since I figured this out, push-ups have been much easier on me.

Yeah, I know. You probably already know that your hands should be wide. My point is this: We all get used to doing certain exercises a certain way, and sometimes we forget to check what the proper way to do them is. So if you're struggling with the push-up, I would recommend checking out eHow's instructions on the proper push-up technique.

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Warning: Be careful the next time you go you to eat. The "Sullivan Nod" may cost you a few extra bucks and a few extra pounds.

The Sullivan nod, developed by restaurant consultant Jim Sullivan, is a sales technique used to create a subconscious suggestion to a customer to purchase one of a list of items. Picture this: Your server approaches your table, welcomes you to the restaurant, and then recites a list of specials. At some point during the rundown, your server nods by about 10 to 15 degrees. This happens just when he or she wants you to choose a particular item. Perhaps the nod arrives at the very mention of an expensive cocktail or a slab of cake dripping in chocolate fudge. It won't be an overly obvious nod -- the server doesn't want to distract you -- but it will be subtle and of course, suggestive.

Beware: The nod, best implemented with lists of five or more items, is effective 60 to 70 percent of the time.

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Thanks to a special protein produced by sea cucumbers, scientists may be on the right path to finding an effective way to combat malaria. Lectin kills off the parasites that are responsible for making the mosquito carrying them so dangerous.

The way it works is that scientists genetically fuse parts of the protein-making gene to the mosquito's. So lectin ends up killing the parasites before they can migrate to the salivary glands of the mosquito which is where the point of contact happens with humans. At this stage, it's mostly impractical because for it to be used as a truly effective method against malaria, researchers would need to introduce the modified species.

But that's never been done before, and the genetically engineered mosquitos are not able to use the sea cucumber's protein to kill 100% of all the parasites. They are on the right track, however, and hopefully it is just a matter of time before they find a way to use this method to fight the disease which is responsible for a million deaths per year.

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Walking, once the less exciting counterpart to the calorie-burning machine that is running, has really been getting its due lately. Just like jogging or running, it's cheap (once you've bought your shoes, the rest is free) and can be done anywhere including in the gym on a treadmill, in the mall during terrible weather or in the great outdoors. But it boasts the added benefit of not being too hard on your joints. And while it may not burn as many calories as running, it's still a good tool for weight loss. In fact, Bethany Sanders recently posted on the new show Fat March, where a group of obese adults drop pounds by walking across America.

If you're new to the walking scene and need a few tips, Martha Edwards wrote recently on some important Dos and Donts, and you can also look here for even more tips. They include standing up straight because good posture helps prevent back, shoulder and neck strain, taking shorter, faster steps rather than long strides to keep tired muscles and shin pain at bay and making sure to keep the pace, as a slow stroll chatting with buddies isn't going to do much good.

For more information on the tips mentioned as well as additional pointers, take a look here.

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