EASY STEPS TO FITNESS
Nine ways to boost the feel-good factor
Want to transform your ambles into calorie-burning fitness boosters? Sports science writer James Witts has simple ways to turbocharge your weekly walks.
“A better gauge of ‘brisk’ is to increase your pace to the point where you can still talk, but can’t sing the words to a song”
Gentle ambles are good for the soul, but with a few simple changes your walks will burn more calories and help you build a stronger body, too. Sports science writer James Witts describes easy ways to get fit while you walk
Walking is arguably the most underrated form of exercise around – neuroscientist Shane O’Mara tells us all about the many benefits it brings ours minds and bodies on page 20. The beauty of walking is you can do it anytime, anywhere (mostly). Whether you enjoy an hour’s stroll in the city or an all-day moorland hike, regular walking will result in a happier, fitter you.
But not all walks are equal when it comes to your physical health, so this brief guide will help you adapt your outings to improve the fitness boost you gain from stretching your legs.
WIN 1: PERFECT PACE
At what pace should you walk to maximise the potentially life-changing benefits of walking? My wife and I spent much of lockdown walking and talking. As lockdown dragged on, the walking blossomed while the talking wilted somewhat. But one topic we revisited was whether walking four miles in an hour burned more calories than strolling four miles in two hours. Would twice the time at half the effort result in the same amount of work?
The answer is no. It transpires that the harder the effort you make, the greater a phenomenon known as ‘afterburn’. Essentially, this means that when your body spends time working hard, it continues to burn calories post-exercise, even when you’re sitting down with a cuppa and your copy of BBC Countryfile Magazine.
Now, we’re not saying you have to join
Joe Wicks for his high-intensity morning romps. But according to NHS guidance, walking can count as part of your recommended 150 minutes of weekly exercise – as long as your pace is brisk.
The NHS says a ‘brisk walk’ is around three miles per hour, which it deems faster than a stroll. But that pace might not suit you. Factors such as age, gender, weight, fitness level and injury history can all affect your optimal pace. So we’d widen that definition of ‘brisk’ to between 2.5mph and 3.5mph or even 4mph. A better gauge of brisk is to increase the pace to the point where you can still talk, but can’t sing the words to a song.
WIN 2: POWER WALKING
This is a good way to boost exertion in cities where intensity-raising hills and energysapping mud are lacking.
Technique is key: keep your eyes forward, shoulders back and head upright; pull your belly button in to engage and strengthen your core muscles; swing your arms at around 90°, with your arms syncing with the opposite leg, and use short steps for a brisker pace. This latter point is important as generating more steps per minute has a positive impact on insulin levels, body mass index and your waist circumference.
WIN 3: CONTOURS BURN CALORIES
So pacing’s important. But it’s not everything. A seemingly genteel pace over a long period also elicits physical wins, provided you find ways to increase your workload along the way.
Back to my wife and I. Our bible has become a book of walks near Bristol, the most recent taking us 11 miles around the village of Castle Combe in Wiltshire. According to my wristwatch-heart rate monitor, we were out for around five-anda-half hours, including stops for packed lunch and coffee. My heart rate averaged a modest 99 beats per minute (bpm), and we averaged a pretty pedestrian 20 minutes per kilometre (did I mention the coffee stops?). But I still burned a whopping 2,500 calories – nearly enough to lose around 500g in weight.
The reason? Covering the hilly terrain involved around 400 metres of climbing, and I was carrying a heavy load on my back (see Win 4).
Research by the American College of Sports Medicine highlighted just how much hills add to your workload, stating that for every 1% increase in gradient, a 68kg individual (around 10st 9lbs) burns about 10 more calories per mile. That equates to a 68kg walker burning twice as many calories per mile (160 calories) ascending a 10% gradient compared to walking on the flat (80 calories). (See ‘Reach higher levels’ below.)
WIN 4: WEIGHT TRAINING
Increasing resistance by adding weight is a sure-fire way to grow muscle, be it cardiac or skeletal. One study showed that walking at 4mph on a treadmill with hand and ankle weights was comparable to jogging at 5mph without weights.
When you only have time for a short walk, try to increase your workload by including some stiff slopes on your route, and/or pull on a comfortable backpack with a bit of weight in it. Soon your muscles will have grown stronger, and you’ll have burned more fat per minute walking. But don’t stop there, because there are plenty more ways to adapt your walking for fitness wins.