Walking isn’t “exercise”?

Working in the fitness industry, I meet so many people who face health issues. Hell, one of the main reasons people come to me is because they want to exercise as part of their recovery/treatment plan. “My doctor told me I need to start exercising,” is something I hear a lot. And you know what? Hats off to anyone who takes the steps (get it?) to regain control of their health. Most of them all start at the same place… walking.

Look, walking is beneficial. Full stop. BUT does it qualify as exercise?

The experts say yes. Like anything in health and fitness, its effectiveness depends on a variety of factors. Frequency, distance, time, pace, all play a role in how beneficial that walk will be for your overall health. Any movement is good movement in the grand scheme of things, but if you want to reap the most benefits, you need to pick up the pace. I’m not telling you to start racewalking like you’re going to end up in the Olympics. I’m just saying that a pace lower than 20 minutes per mile is superior to the hundred meter mosey.

“So why are you telling people that walking isn’t exercise?”

Many people who view walking as their main exercise often neglect other aspects of fitness. Most notably strength and balance. These areas are just as important for longevity and quality of life as cardiovascular fitness. “I do exercise, I go walking all the time.” To combat this thought process, I prefer to have my clients look at walking as movement rather than exercise. Faster paced cardio like cycling and running along with resistance and balance work get labelled as “training.” By separating these two activities, it often helps the client look at walking as part of their overall fitness program.

That being said, I know that for some people, walking is all they can do. Be it due to an injury, disability, illness, etc. I’m not referring to them. For them, walking IS exercise because it’s what they can do. To those people I say keep going. But for the people capable of more… do it. Please don’t limit yourself to a handful of walks during the week. You are capable of so much more. I promise.

“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” - Bruce Lee