Everything You Need To know About Walking

It came as a surprise to me when I first learned that spirited walking can be almost as good for you as jogging. When walking over 3.0 mph, your stride unavoidably lengthens to a point where it requires your body to use extra energy to move your legs that extra distance. Your arms, hips, and torso also need to rotate more to accommodate these longer strides.

“Walking is a man’s best medicine” – Hippocrates

Walking Calories

The average person will burn between 75 and 125 calories per mile when walking spiritedly. The more you weigh, the more calories you’ll burn. To get a better idea of exactly how many calories you’ll burn walking, take a look at the table below. It’s interesting to note that you’ll burn about 75% of the  amount of calories while walking as you would running.

No, this doesn't count as walking!

Laboratory studies have confirmed that at maximum levels of exertion, oxygen consumption is only slightly less for race walkers than it is for runners. Even more interesting, at moderate exertion oxygen consumption is almost equal for both runners and race walkers.

Fact: Race walkers can reach speeds of 9 mph.

The Benefits Of Walking

• Walking will improve cardiovascular fitness. According to the surgeon general of the United States, 30 minutes of accumulated (meaning you don’t have to do it all at once) moderately-intense physical activity done at least 5 days per week is all you need to improve your health and fitness. If you can take three 10-minute walks per day during the week, you’ll see good improvement.
• Walking has been proven to reduce the chance of physical disability in the elderly.
• Walking is good for your bones. Studies have shown that that people who walk regularly have higher bone density’s than people who don’t.
• Walking, along with all exercise, has been proven to alleviate the symptoms of depression by a very significant percent.
• Research has shown that many the chance of getting many types of cancer are greatly reduced in those that walk versus those that don’t. The mortality rate of walkers is also lower in walkers when compared to non-walkers.
• Walking strengthens the heart in both men and women. One study discovered that men who walked under one mile per day had a mortality rate that’s nearly twice as high as men who walk over two miles per day. The same study saw the rate of head disease in women reduced by nearly 35% in walkers.

To help you get an idea of the number of calories you can burn walking, take a look at this table:

Calories burned per hour walking at different body weights: