Some hardcore gym-goers may believe that CrossFit and weightlifting are the only ways to workout, but they’re wrong. Walking is an excellent way to stay active and healthy and according to the Mayo Clinic, it can prevent or manage conditions including heart disease, high blood pressure and type-2 diabetes. And a new study finds walking can also enhance creativity and overall happiness.
So getting your walking on comes with all kinds of benefits, but what about if your goal is to slim down? How much walking does it take to burn more fat? Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend 150 to 300 minutes of moderate exercise a week, which would be at least 30 minutes of walking a day. But Ash Wilking, a Nike Trainer, says the key to burning more fat while walking is to go longer. “For walking, where your heart rate stays at a much lower rate and therefore has the time to access energy from fat, a longer walking workout will be considered more fat burning,” she explains.
And Dr. Cecil Bryant, president and chief science officer at the American Council on Exercise, agrees. He advises walking for 45 minutes to an hour a day, but he notes that you don’t have to do it all at once. You can split your walks up across different times of day and he suggests mixing them up. As you increase your fitness levels, increase the intensity of your walks by going up hills and changing up the terrain.
