Other/Mixed Benefits of Walking for Health

[Pete L]

It's reasonable, but it has an opportunity cost vs other training at that point.

90 min of walking is 90 min of a low level stimulus.

For that same time, I can get in 60 min of resistance training and 30 min of cardio.

But you are already programming the maximum resistance and cardio training you are able to recover from.
It's not either/ or, to me. Rather whether or not the walk will add something.
IMO it does. If not just keeping my dog happy

 

[watchnerd]

But you are already programming the maximum resistance and cardio training you are able to recover from.
It's not either/ or, to me. Rather whether or not the walk will add something.
IMO it does. If not just keeping my dog happy

I don't understand the distinction.

What I wrote isn't particular to me.

I might tweak the resistance training / walking split, but if someone asked me if they should do:

a) 45 min of resistance training + 45 min of walking

or

b) 90 min of walking

I'd pick a) every time as it gives a better balance of strong vs mild stimulus.

 

[Pete L]

I don't understand the distinction.

What I wrote isn't particular to me.

I might tweak the resistance training / walking split, but if someone asked me if they should do:

a) 45 min of resistance training + 45 min of walking

or

b) 90 min of walking

I'd pick a) every time as it gives a better balance.

I agree. I'd pick (a) as well.
I wouldn't pick (c).

 

[Antti]

I don't understand the distinction.

What I wrote isn't particular to me.

I might tweak the resistance training / walking split, but if someone asked me if they should do:

a) 45 min of resistance training + 45 min of walking

or

b) 90 min of walking

I'd pick a) every time as it gives a better balance of strong vs mild stimulus.

I think the point is that you can basically always add walking/liss on top of your sport and exercise, and it can improve your conditioning and wellbeing. It doesn't really have a recovery cost, if anything, it can increase recovery.

Few have so much time to spend on exercise, though.

 

[watchnerd]

Few have so much time to spend on exercise, though.

Right.

I don't usually have time to fit 90 min of walking a day on top of the 90-120 min of weightlifting practice I do 4x a week.

I can get in 30 min of walking per day every day, but not 90 min on top of another 1.5-2 hrs of resistance training.

 

[Steve Freides]

Few have so much time to spend on exercise, though

I am fortunate to live just past the edge of the central business district of our small town in NJ. Most of my walking is errands - grocery store, bank, pharmacy, post office, and the like. I'm sure it takes me more time to walk than it would if I drove, but all these things are within a 20 minute walk from my house and they're all in the same direction, so it's a win/win for me. I'll sometimes take a more circuitous route if I want to spend a few extra minutes walking, or make it two trips into town instead of one, or walk to the next town over's post office, etc., and I've also been known to go to the grocery store with a 25 lb weight in my day pack.

When we moved here from NYC with a 10-month-old child, my wife insisted on having sidewalks and being able to walk to get a cup of coffee - it turns out I benefitted very much from what we initially thought was something only she cared about.

-S-

 

[GovernorSilver]

Walking is a great way to digest those 3-hour podcasts

Also cooking a meal, or other kitchen duty

 

[Halfakneecap]

Where are those pics from? Location? That’s a great setting for walking.

Thanks mate it’s a national park/surfing reserve

Shellharbour, Australia.

 

[Bill Moore]

Couldn’t agree more re benefits of walking. Zone 2 exercise is getting a lot of press lately, but well conditioned folks might struggle to to reach that HR lwhile walking, on a level surface. If arm swing is an issue (the lack of) and walking alone isn’t enough of a cardiovascular challenge, consider nordic walking. Studies suggest a 30% greater energy demand and with each pole strike, you can feel a reflexive core contraction. Great way to tie the “X” together. Throw on a ruck sack and you’re set!

 

[Jeff Roark]

I don’t know what the job requirements are for you, of course, but I do know that the “healthy“ shoe movement, with zero drop, and a wider toebox, has over the last few years had more and more offerings in things like all black work shoes.

-S-

I have to have a wide toe box due to my flintstone feet.

 

[DocMike]

Heat exposure, infrared I believe, has been shown to reduce ACM but up to 50% if used for 30min (I believe) 4 days a week. Cold exposure of 1 hour cumulative a week has similar ACM reduction

 

[Steve Freides]

I have to have a wide toe box due to my flintstone feet.

I feel your pain. I have size 7.5, wide feet, which my wife describes as "shovels, as wide as they are long."

This is the shoe I was talking about:

Prio All-Day SR - Men - Xero Shoes

All-black full-grain leather and a slip-resistant rubber sole, slip resistance has finally met natural comfort in the Prio All-Day SR.

xeroshoes.com

-S-

 

[John K]

I feel your pain. I have size 7.5, wide feet, which my wife describes as "shovels, as wide as they are long."

This is the shoe I was talking about:

Prio All-Day SR - Men - Xero Shoes

All-black full-grain leather and a slip-resistant rubber sole, slip resistance has finally met natural comfort in the Prio All-Day SR.

xeroshoes.com

-S-

Mine are wide in front and narrow in the heel ... makes shoes a pain. I really like the Prios, they've been my go-tos for probably about 6 years now. Good feel, nice and durable - takes about 2 years to wear through, and I'm rough on shoes.

 

[watchnerd]

So according to Fitbit, my total 7 day time in zones is 309 minutes / 44 minutes avg per day.

This is the combination of what it thinks is 'fat burn', 'cardio', and 'peak'.

Still well short of the 450 minutes per week mark.

 

[TedM]

he mentioned that 3 miles a day is not nearly enough

With all due respect... you need to be retired and/or walking on paved ground to have enough time in the day to do a couple of these.... that's a lot of time!

 

[Sam Goldner]

With all due respect... you need to be retired and/or walking on paved ground to have enough time in the day to do a couple of these.... that's a lot of time!

Yes and no; there are still ways to sneak it in, like lunch breaks, parking farther away, taking the stairs, various household chores, etc. It is definitely easier to do when you have more time, though.

 

[John K]

Yes and no; there are still ways to sneak it in, like lunch breaks, parking farther away, taking the stairs, various household chores, etc. It is definitely easier to do when you have more time, though.

The easy solution is to develop a time cap and slowly start getting faster to get enough miles in ... Next thing you know you're knocking out 6-10 miles in an hour all before your first cuppa joe!

 

[offwidth]

I’ve posted this before…

Whenever there is talk about finding time to train, I am reminded of this article by Bobby Maximus...

In this exercise, the person in question and I stand in front of a big white board. I write “168” in big numbers. I tell the person, “168 happens to be the number of hours there are in a week.”

Then I ask the person how many hours he works and sleeps each week. For the purpose of this exercise, let’s say he works 70 hours a week—that’s 14 hours each day, Monday to Friday. Then I assign the person 8 hours of sleep each night, or 56 weekly hours. I don’t ask about sleep, I tell—people rarely get 8 hours of sleep every night but that’s how much they should be sleeping.

Add 70 and 56, and right now the person has used only 126 hours out of a possible 168. Do the math and you’re left with 42 extra waking hours each week that this guy tells me he “doesn’t” have. That’s nearly two days he claims just aren’t there. I ask the person what the hell he does with the rest of his time. It’s a fair question.

The person inevitably start to shout things like “I have to commute to work,” “I have to grocery shop,” and “I have to spend time with my family!”

So I give the guy 10 hours of commuting (2 hours, five days a week), 3 hours of weekly grocery shopping, and 20 hours of quality time with his family.

That brings his total hours to 159 hours, meaning he still has 9 spare hours each week. By now the guy gets the message.

 

[watchnerd]

Yes and no; there are still ways to sneak it in, like lunch breaks, parking farther away, taking the stairs, various household chores, etc. It is definitely easier to do when you have more time, though.

I do all that and and still not hitting 450 minutes per week.

Are you?

 

[Steve Freides]

A "heart rate while walking" data point.

Yesterday I walked to the local grocery store: flat, 0.8 miles according to the computer. I checked my pulse when I got there - said 115. My walk was relaxed but not particularly slow, just focused on relaxing and enjoying it.

For my 179 max HR, my Polar app says Zone 2 for me is between 107 and 127, so I hit about the middle of that.

If we were to use my age-predicted max HR, it's conceivable I'd be at the top. MAF numbers for me would be: 180 - 67 = 113. 113 + 5 for my exercise history is 118 - that's his prediction for the top of Zone 2, so I was close to the top of Zone 2 figured that way.

-S-