I'm a huge advocate for walking, and I try to hit at least 7,500 steps a day for my health and general wellbeing. One of the many benefits of walking is that it will increase your heart rate, no matter your pace, so you’ll reap some cardiovascular benefits, according to NASM-certified personal trainer Ellen Thompson. I recently asked her if walking counts as a workout and she praised it as a low-impact way to burn some calories, and that "compared to other forms of cardio, it can put less stress on the joints."
But is there a way to increase the benefits of your walks without breaking into a run? Walking workouts are increasing in popularity, but many of them need to be done in front of YouTube or require a treadmill. What about outdoor walks?
Personal trainer Karl Henry shared five tips on Instagram that you can implement on your next walk to get even more out of it. If you're walking to work, to the store or just heading out to enjoy the sunset, you can try some of his tips and see if improve your experience. I did—here's what I discovered.
How to upgrade your walking workout in five easy steps
- Use your arms to lengthen your stride
- Walk in nature
- Walk uphill
- Walk downhill
- Add in resistance exercises along the way
I tried it—here's what I found
1. I wasn’t sure about the arm-swinging
I read up on arm-swinging before trying it and found mixed evidence, with some articles saying that swinging your arms when you walk increases your calorie burn and others saying it reduces the amount of energy you use by making your stride more efficient. I didn't find any research suggesting it was bad to swing your arms, only that its effect on your walking efficiency is debatable. Having tried it, I’m not sure I could comment on either outcome, but I felt a bit silly swinging my arms. Give it a go and see how you feel.
2. Walking in nature helped my anxiety
We often don't realize how our environment can trigger feelings of overwhelm and anxiety. Getting out of the city, away from the cars, houses, and people soothed my racing thoughts and calmed my anxiety. I found myself breathing more deeply with the sounds of the wind through the trees and running water. I tried mindful walking, noticing the birds and how my body was feeling while I walked.
3. I felt the uphill walks in my glutes and quads
I live in a very hilly city, where it's easy to go up. I'm no stranger to hiking up hills, doing plenty of this while testing the best walking shoes, however, when combined with my lengthened stride from swinging my arms I felt the climb a lot more in my glutes. At the top of the second hill, my quads had kicked in too and were burning. I was sweating buckets and my heart was pounding by the time I reached the summit. I definitely count that as a workout.
4. Downhill walks challenged my balance
I’m not the most coordinated person, so I found walking down a steep decline somewhat challenging. I had to concentrate on keeping my balance, using my torso and glutes to prevent myself from tipping over. I felt it in my inner thighs and core once I finally arrived back home. For a steep hill, you’ll need grippy shoes with good ankle support (I recommend the New Balance Fresh Foam X Hierro V8), or you might want to attempt going down at an angle to stay upright.
5. I felt a bit silly doing the resistance exercises, but persisted
Unfortunately, I couldn't help but feel self-conscious trying this and assumed that everyone was looking at me. I did two squats by a wall when I thought nobody was looking, then quickly moved on. While this is absolutely great advice to increase calorie burn and work on strength while already on a walk, I think I’ll keep my resistance workouts to the gym for now.
