Running is optional. Why walking is better for health and weight loss

Running is one of the most popular sports right now. It is a relatively easy and affordable way to keep fit. However, according to some experts, walking at a fast pace is much healthier: it helps prevent cardiovascular diseases and has fewer contraindications. Let’s find out how walking at a fast pace affects the body.

Prevent heart and vascular disease

In 2016, scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California found: walking is a more effective prevention of heart disease than running. Researchers compared the indicators of runners from 18 to 80 years and those who prefer regular walks at a fast pace. It turned out that walking reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by 9%, and running – by 4.5%. At the same time, the load on the joints when walking is lower, which is important for the elderly.

Active walks in the fresh air activate blood flow, strengthen the heart and bones, tone muscles, improve sleep and lung function. They also help relieve tension and fight stress.

To get the best results, you should walk for 30-60 minutes every day. Exactly. A leisurely stroll is not suitable as a workout if you want to increase endurance or burn calories. The step should be active, warming, so that the skin is covered with light vapor. The speed can be increased gradually. If there is shortness of breath, it is better to reduce the pace. The optimal distance for a walk is 6-10 kilometers.

Virtually have no contraindications

Running perfectly strengthens muscles and increases endurance, but also has a number of contraindications:

• overweight (due to the high load on the spine and knee joints);
• cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, ischemic heart disease, heart failure and others);
• joint problems (osteochondrosis, intervertebral hernia, arthritis);
• varicose veins.

Walking has almost no limitations. You can start with it to tone your muscles before running workouts. It is a must for those who lead a sedentary lifestyle. It is an optimal load even for people suffering from diabetes and asthma.

Help burn fat and strengthen muscles

Running and brisk walking involve the same muscles: gluteal, calf and tibial muscles, as well as quadriceps and posterior thigh muscles. However, running is more energy-intensive. For an hour of walking at a brisk pace, a person weighing 70 kg burns, on average, 300-400 kcal. A 60-minute jog allows you to get rid of 400-800 calories, depending on the intensity of exercise. Jogging, for example, is not as effective as interval running.

However, when losing weight, it is not only important how many calories you burn, but also what reserves your body utilizes during exercise. There is a term “fat-burning zone” – it is a certain heart rate of contractions at which subcutaneous fat is actively burned. It is calculated using the formula: (220 – your age) * 70%. If you are 40 years old, your fat-burning heart rate will be 126: (220-40)*0.7.

But is such a cardio workout so effective for weight loss? Irina Brecht, nutriciologist and FPA trainer, tells us about it in her Instagram.

Irina: During cardio, the body gets energy from two sources: fat and glycogen (carbohydrates that are stored in the body). At almost any heart rate, the body burns both, but the proportion of each source will vary depending on the intensity of the workout. At the lightest intensity (e.g., slow walking), energy comes almost 100% from fat. At high intensity (e.g., running up stairs quickly), the energy is almost 100% from carbohydrates. By speeding up, we burn proportionally less fat and more carbohydrates. Slowing down is the opposite: more fat and less carbohydrates.

There is a heart rate at which the highest percentage of calories burned is from fat. But here’s the thing: just because more fat is used as a percentage does not mean that a lot of fat is expended overall. For example, you walk slowly for an hour at a speed of 3 km/h and burn 300 calories, almost all of them from fat. If you run for an hour at 9 km/h, you burn 900 calories. But the fat portion is only half, the rest is carbohydrates. In percentage terms you burned less fat (only 50%), but in absolute terms you burned more, 450 calories.

Training in the fat-burning zone doesn’t burn more fat in absolute terms. But few people can run for an hour without stopping, and those who can, usually don’t need to lose weight. That’s why we recommend calmer cardio, which can be done long enough without getting tired.

The intensity of training also depends on fitness: beginners should start with a slower, low-intensity pace, and the “fat-burning zone” is perfect for this.

In general, walking is not as effective for weight loss as running. The same can be said for endurance development. However, it is definitely safer, especially for beginners.

Irina: Not only muscles, but also heart and lungs are not prepared for running. For many people, even 5 minutes of jogging can lead to a fainting spell, and the heart jumps out. Gradual increase in load works here, as in strength training, and there are many options to do it safely: bicycle, ellipse, walking uphill. We lose weight from a lack of energy. You can eat less and move more. Both are better, but any activity is suitable, not necessarily running, where for beginners there are more risks than benefits. Instead, you can quickly work out on other exercise machines: bicycle, elliptical, walking uphill, and just walk more.