You've probably seen them -- those walkers who have a death-grip with each hand on a weight as they march along, or perhaps someone who has ankle weights strapped on snugly. Maybe you've tried that routine yourself in an attempt to burn more calories.

Long story short: Don't do it. In most cases, carrying weights burns only a fraction more calories, while setting you up for potential injury because your natural walking movement gets thrown askew, ligaments and tendons are weakened and stretched, or blood pressure increases from gripping the handweights.

Here’s the why’s and where-fors and some better ways to pump up your calorie use without hanging weights off your body.

Handweights
To increase calorie use when holding weights, you must swing your arms. A lot. But that can also throw off your stride, and strain muscles and ligaments, as well as raise your blood pressure, or tire your arm and shoulder muscles before your legs. Tire arms will mean an early end to your walk since you’ll be dying to put down the weights. The way to burn calories and to pump up aerobic fitness and health is to have an extended workout, not stressful 10-minute session with aching, tired muscles.

The increase in calorie use varies, depending on the size of the weight and the arm swing. Most people don't swing the weights wildly to shoulder height for 20 or 30 minutes (that might earn you a calorie increase of 10-20 percent ... if you aren't disabled first).

Rather, most people simply carry them with arms dangling nearly motionless at their sides, or with elbows bent but with no arm swing. That usually earns you up to 5 percent more calories. Maybe. Figure you burn 270 calories on a 45-minute walk at a 4-mph pace, and you've now earned yourself a whopping extra 13 calories. That'll earn you about a half a chocolate drop. Big whoopee.

Ankle weights
Same dangers as above, but your leg movement is inhibited, usually prompting a slow shuffle, rather than the desirable power stride and pushoff that uses more muscle and therefore more calories. (Take a look at my stories in the Walking chapter on technique.)

Calorie-burning Alternative
Yup, speed. Step up the pace of your walk. For example, going from a 3-mph pace to a 4-mph pace will increase calories used per minute by some 50 percent. Go from 4 mph to 6 mph and you've nearly doubled your calories per minute.

This is a heck of a lot more substantial than 5 percent.