Walking: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Better Health
Discover the easy ways to boost your mood, fitness, and overall well-being with a simple walking routine.
Incorporating more walking into your daily life offers numerous health advantages. Beyond simply increasing physical activity, it’s a path to enhanced cardiovascular health, weight management, and improved joint function, making it a worthwhile pursuit for overall well-being.
Why Walk More? The Benefits
It’s worth repeating the many reasons why walking should be a priority. Walking is an accessible exercise that can significantly improve your quality of life. So, get moving!
Boost Your Mood
“As soon as you get out there and you start moving your body, it reduces stress, [and] reduces tension,”
says Michele Stanten.
Reduce Disease Risk
Walking provides cardiovascular exercise, reducing your chances of heart disease and diabetes. It also helps lower blood pressure, among other health benefits, according to Stanten.
Walking is Accessible
“Walking is so flexible and readily available,”
says Stanten. “You can do it anywhere — from home, from work. You can do it by yourself. You can do it with people. You can do it in short bouts, long bouts—there’s so many different ways to walk.”
Joint-Friendly Exercise
Movement enhances blood flow and lubricates joints, relieving pain and stiffness, says Stanten. “Walking is low impact,”
she notes, “So, if you have any kind of joint problems, it’s still an activity that most people can do.”
Good for Cross-Training
Walking is a simple way to stay active, even if you enjoy other exercises. “It’s a great cross-training modality for runners or anybody doing higher impact exercise,”
Stanten explains.
Finding Your Stride: Setting Daily Goals
Before setting goals, assess your current walking habits, says Stanten. Track your daily steps over a few days, including weekdays and weekends, to establish a baseline for improvement.
Instead of fixating on a specific step count, consider the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, recommending 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity weekly. This translates to about 30 minutes, five days a week, or three 10-minute walks daily, according to Stanten.
According to the CDC, more than 145 million adults include walking as part of their physical activity routine. (CDC)
If step counting motivates you, try adding 500 to 1,000 steps daily, if feasible.
Pace Yourself: How Long to Walk a Mile
Tracking your walking fitness includes monitoring your mile time. “In general most people will cover a mile somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes,”
says Stanten. “Fifteen is on the faster side, but [for] people who are working out, that 15-minute-per-mile pace is very reasonable.”
If you’re closer to 20 minutes and aim to walk a mile daily, break it into two 10-minute walks, she advises.
It ultimately doesn’t matter how long it takes to walk a mile, or whether you walk that mile consecutively or throughout the day. Simply increasing activity and reducing sedentary time will benefit your mind and body.
Tips to Increase Walking Speed
If you want to boost your walking pace, Stanten shares some immediately effective tips and tricks.
Bend Your Arms
“You don’t run with our arms down at your side,”
she says. “You’re going to walk faster with your arms bent.”
Take Shorter, Quicker Steps
The best way to walk faster is to take short, quick steps, says Stanten. “When people try to walk faster, they automatically start to take these big long steps, and that actually slows you down, and it puts a lot more stress on your joints,”
she explains. Step directly in front of you to roll through your foot and push off your toes for a smoother stride.
Swing Your Arms Straight
Avoid swinging your arms side to side or across your body, says Stanten. “Your hand should go back to about your hip and swing forward, but not above chest height.”
Keep Good Posture
“Stand up nice and tall,”
she advises. “Open up your chest. It’s easier to breathe. Keep your abs tight; that’s going to help.”
Pick a Target
“People walk faster if they pick a spot ahead of them, and focus on that instead of looking around,”
says Stanten. Focus on someone ahead and try to catch up to them.
Mix Up Your Pace
Alternate between your most intense, moderate, and recovery paces. Track your time on a set route before and after intervals to see your progress.
Calories Burned: The Walking Math
When considering your walking speed, you might wonder how many calories you’ll burn per mile, which is useful if weight loss is a goal. Calorie burn depends on weight, speed, incline, terrain, and exercise frequency.
Generally, a 200-pound man burns about 7.9 calories per minute of walking, Chris Gagliardi, ACE-CPT, C.S.C.S., told Men’s Health.
Thus, a 15-minute mile burns about 120 calories. Increasing intensity by walking uphill, faster, or with a weighted vest burns more calories in less time.
