Regular walking is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to get more movement into your day. It’s also one of the best things you can do for your body, helping with back pain, blood pressure, mental health, and more.
Walking is good exercise, but it works best when you feel your body relaxing and continue to try to go a little further or longer. that Start the TODAY app Customized exercise and strength training routines, as well as a healthy meal plan based on your food preferences, can help you build your walking endurance.
But in reality, adding longer, harder walks to your daily routine is often easier said than done. Luckily, even if you don’t have time to walk for 45 minutes during the day, you can still reap the benefits of breaking up your workout routine, as TODAY Fitness contributor Steph Mansour previously explained.
Trainer tip of the day: If you’re just starting out, long walks are better.
The truth is that you can reap health benefits from walking, whether you take one long walk a day or break it up into several smaller walks, Mansour said.
The goal should be to spend time walking each day and gradually increase the distance or push yourself to increase your walking time so you can cover more steps, she said.
in fact, Recent research More benefits were found with long walks of 15 minutes or longer compared to multiple short walks of less than 5 minutes. For people who lead a sedentary lifestyle, walking at least 15 minutes a day has been shown to reduce the risk of premature death and heart disease the most.
Why it matters
Walking is a habit that keeps your body and mind healthy. However, if you use walking as a form of exercise, it’s important to keep challenging yourself.
Gradually increasing the length of your walks, either in time or distance, will help you take more steps. But it’s also important to build endurance, burn more calories and boost your metabolism, Mansour said.
Long walks give your body the time it needs to transition into exercise mode, which is important, says Steven Riechman, associate professor of kinesiology and sport management at Texas A&M University. told NBC News.
“You have to have all the systems up and running perfectly, and that’s where the health benefits come from,” he explained.
But there are still reasons to vary the length of your walk, Mansour said. This keeps your body guessing, improving your stamina and cardiovascular health and making your workouts more interesting.
When you go for a 10-minute walk or log a few miles, just press play. Walking podcast on the Start TODAY app.
How to get started
If regular walking has become routine and easy for you, Mansour recommends “upping the ante” in a way that works for you.
If you’re used to walking 20 minutes each day, Mansour recommends increasing this to 30 to 45 minutes. However, adding 15 to 20 minutes to your walking time may not be so easy to fit into your daily schedule. So if you want to break up a long walk into several smaller walks (like 15 minutes before or after work instead of 30 minutes at a time), that’s totally fine.
You can also add spacing like this: 20-Minute Beginner HIIT Walk from the Start TODAY AppIt will help you increase your distance and get your heart rate up.
As Mansour said, the goal is to continue to challenge yourself a little more over time rather than sticking to what is familiar and easy. And adding other modalities (especially strength training) to your exercise plan can provide you with even more health benefits.
Expert Tip of the Day The series is about simple strategies to make your life a little easier. Every Monday through Friday, a range of highly qualified experts share their best advice on diet, fitness, heart health, mental health and more.
