Have you ever thought that walking is too easy to be considered a ‘real’ exercise? That walking is what you do when you want an easy fitness routine? Something you do when you are recovering from an injury? Something you do when you can’t run or bicycle? Do you ever wonder if walking is really a workout? Is walking enough?
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that adults need 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity every week for the greatest health benefits. That’s less than 22 minutes each day. You don’t even have to complete the 22 minutes all at once. Exercising at a moderate intensity for at least 10 minutes leads to the same health benefits as longer sessions. And, yes, walking is considered a moderate intensity activity but to reach ‘moderate intensity’ the CDC states you need to walk at least as fast as a 15 minute mile.
I thought a 15 minutes mile sounded easy enough. I was sure that I was walking at least that fast when I walk during my lunch break. So I timed myself using my cell phone clock – not exactly precise timing but close enough. During the cold of winter I walk on a small track. I warm up with a .5 lap of slow walking and I end my walk with a .5 lap of slow walking. I walk a mile or 10.47 laps at my ‘thinking’ pace. This is the pace that lets my mind wander, brain storm, ponder and contemplate. Any faster and my mind can’t wander as I seem to concentrate more on breathing and moving faster. After walking for 1 mile I checked the phone and I was a little surprised to see that I do not walk a 15 minute mile…I walk a 17 minute mile. So I tried again the next day and I walked a 16 minute mile. Either way I am not meeting the CDC recommendation of walking a 15 minute mile.
Another way to measure your walking intensity is to count the number of steps you take per minute. According to this study you need to take at least 100 steps per minute to reach a level of moderate intensity. I enlisted the help of my son and his IPod Nano stop watch feature to time my steps per minute. I tried to walk the same pace I do during lunch but the conditions were different from the track: we were outside, it was windy and I had on a winter coat. Nevertheless, the first test result was 120 steps per minute. Second test, 118 steps per minute.
If you aren’t walking a 15 minute mile or walking 100 steps per minute, realize that you are still doing something great for your health. A study by Tim Church of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center concluded that walking at the pace of a 20 minute mile can improve your fitness. This study tracked women who were 50 years old or older who walked 72 minutes per week at the pace of a 20 minute mile. The study found a nearly 4% improvement in the cardiovascular fitness of the women tested despite the fact that they only walked 72 minutes per week and they walked at a 20-minute mile pace. These results were not expected, in fact, Church stated he was really surprised at the increase in fitness of the test subjects.
Other studies have also been conducted to determine if people benefit from an exercise routine based on walking. These studies examine how much walking is required to achieve health benefits and how walking slower or faster or for different lengths impact the health benefits.
One study published in the January 2010 Archives of Internal Medicine found that women who walked at a moderate intensity level during their middle age years had “fewer chronic diseases and had greater mental acuity” at age 70. The study also found that those women who walked even faster than a moderate pace “increased their odds of successful aging by 3-fold.”
Another study separated 128 sedentary men and women into two groups – one group walked at their own pace and the other group walked at a moderate intensity level. Both groups participated in their assigned exercise routine for six months. At the end of six months, both groups showed improvement in increased aerobic fitness and both groups showed a decrease in systolic blood pressure. The group that walked at a moderate intensity was shown to exhibit more than double the health benefits of the group that self-paced their walks.
What all these studies confirm is that walking is enough. Walking at almost any pace will lead to some health benefits. Walking at a moderate intensity level will lead to significant health benefits and walking even faster will lead to more substantial health benefits.
Moving your body is always healthier than sitting or lounging. Moving faster will provide you with even more health benefits than moving slower.
If you are just starting a walking routine finding a comfortable pace will keep you coming back for more. Trying to do too much – too soon can result in injury or giving up if the effort required is too hard.
For those of us who are already walking regularly, we should break free of our exercise comfort zone and challenge our bodies to walk at a faster pace. Through this increased effort we can maximize the health benefits we receive from daily walking.
For me, I may have become too accustomed to my ‘thinking pace.’ I am going to focus on increasing my pace during part of my daily walk – I think I will speed up during at least 3 or 4 laps so I will still have some walking time to brainstorm and ponder.
Have you ever felt like exercise isn’t a real workout? Do these studies make you want to walk longer or walk faster than you usually do? Let me know in the comments.
One of my favorite blogs, Fit and Forty Something, recently asked ‘Does Walking Count.’ Read this post.
Great article. I like the way you look at both timed mile walking and steps per minute. The math can be rather fun here as in a 15 minute mile equal X amount or steps per minute, etc.
I really need to buy a stop watch Mark so I can compare the two. I also think it would be interesting to see how the two methods match up.
Walking is definitely a good exercise, especially when you do it consistently. It is a great complement to the modern office-worker, the majority of whose day is sitting down in a chair. Walking can do wonders for the heart, stretching out, getting oxygen to the brain, and burning calories. Great points!
Your connection with walking and the modern workers is important. We are spending so much time sitting while we commute and while we are at work. We’ve got to get up and move more.
I like taking walks. It doesn’t matter if it’s fast or slow, for 15 minutes or an hour…if you have someone that you can converse with, the time flies by and you got some exercise as well. Walking is enough for people who are already pretty active and in shape. I think that for those who need to lose weight, walking should be part of a larger exercise routine.
You make a really good point about the distinction between weight maintenance and weight loss. Someone who wants to lose weight may need to walk longer and faster, add different exercise routines and also make some diet adjustments. I was successful losing about 10 lbs with daily walking. It wasn’t fast – maybe took a year or so- but I’ve managed to keep it off for 7 years. Thanks for stopping by.
Really good points as usual. Yes sometimes actually all the time I think walking is too easy to really count. I am wrong all the time. It has made it easy for me to keep my weight down and still have wine or chips when I want. Walking works. SOmetimes I do try to walk faster and other times I enjoy the slow walks as well.
Have a good night Lanette!
For me it’s the chocolate chip cookies…and the brownies and, well, all things chocolate. 🙂