Walking for Exercise: How to Get the Most Health Benefits?

Welcome to Get-Fit Guy. I’m your new host, Dr. Jonathan Su. Every week, I’ll share science-backed tips to help you get fit, stay fit, and optimize performance. 

What do you think is the most popular form of aerobic exercise among adults in the United States? If you guessed walking, you nailed it.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly half of the U.S. population use walking for exercise as part of a physically active lifestyle. And it makes sense. Walking is an easy and enjoyable form of exercise that doesn’t require any special equipment or training. If you’ve got kids like me, you’ll also love the fact that walking is completely free. It won’t cost you a dime to bring the family along.

But what excites me even more about walking as a form of exercise, are the numerous well researched health benefits, such as:

• increased heart and lung fitness
• reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer
• improved management of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes
• stronger bones and improved balance
• increased muscle strength and endurance
• reduced body fat
• protection against dementia, depression, and even erectile dysfunction

Does that sound too good to be true? Can a leisurely stroll really be enough to receive all the health benefits just mentioned?

Americans have been given a false sense that a stroll through the neighborhood is all that’s needed to stay healthy.

Research on Walking Intensity

According to Dr. Paul Williams, an exercise scientist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California, we, as Americans, have been given a false sense that a stroll through the neighborhood is all that’s needed to stay healthy. His research shows that to get the most health benefits from walking, we need to pick up the pace. Dr. Williams’ study compared the impact of moderate- and light-intensity walking in nearly 39,000 participants spanning a decade. And the results suggest that there are significant health benefits to pursuing a faster pace.

So you might be wondering what exactly is the definition of moderate-intensity walking? How fast do you have to go?

Walking Guidelines

The CDC defines moderate-intensity walking as a pace of 15 to 20 minutes per mile. To get the most health benefits from walking, you should strive to maintain this pace for a minimum of 30 minutes a day, five days a week. In case you didn’t know, The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend at least 150 minutes of...

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