Walking for fitness

Walking for fitness is an underrated (except for those who know) way of staying healthy. Not the pottering around the mall, staring at a screen, type of walking. Nor the frantic accumulation of ‘steps’ in a desperate effort to meet a nonsensical ’10,000’ number.

I am talking about brisk walking that takes you out of your normal routine. The type of walking that allows you to discover new paths and trails whilst simultaneously clearing crusty arteries and negative thoughts. The forgotten act of, ‘going for a walk,’ allows you to move in a biomechanically efficient, affordable and natural manner.

We are in an age where shuffling along with a face that looks like it has been washed in tomato soup in a desperate effort to “get fit” and then plastering it over social media to show our worthiness. ‘Park Runs’ and ‘Couch to 5k’ programmes get endorsed despite their perpetuating bad movement: slogging your way in public doing 10-minute-miles is undignified and increases the risk of injury.

Dog walkers have long known the benefits of getting out regularly. They have the added benefit of non-judgemental companionship on their excursions. The spaniel doesn’t look up at its owner and ask, ‘How many steps have you done?’ It wags its tail, sniffs, explores, defecates and urinates and moves on to the next exciting smell.

They don’t race home to post their latest walk on Strava and then compare themselves to faster breeds of dogs and skulk to their bed wishing they were a whippet.

Walking for aerobic fitness.

A century ago, the endurance runners of the day realised the benefits of walking. Instead of the obligatory, ‘Sunday long run’, they walked for 12-20 miles: a good stretch of the legs. In that era, walking 2-4 miles to work (or school) was commonplace so the long walk was just an extension, not a new building.

When those runners ran, they were doing so on a huge foundation of low-level walking fitness. They did not need to do slow and steady jogs: that was covered in their walking. Nowadays the sedentary office-worker emerges from their hermetically-sealed environment and runs on a foundation of coffee and stress.

They are bypassing the foundation of walking in an effort to be more time-efficient.

I am not big on measurable technology nowadays. I use a map and compass when I go for a walk (look them up, they still exist) and wear an analogue watch that can act as a backup navigation tool as long as the sun is out (point the hour hand at the sun and twelve is due south).

However, I did take my pulse after walking up a steep incline onto the Long Mynd this summer. For those of you that have not visited that area, it’s worth the effort. There are some steep slopes and broad heathland on top like a series of upturned teacups.

My heart rate was oscillating between 120bpm and 156bpm, carrying a light daysack. I average about 3.5-4 miles per hour. A 7-mile, hilly walk took me 2 hours, with a 10-minute drinks break by a Trig point. I was not trying anything epic, was not trying to beat a time, I was just navigating a circular route that I had not previously encountered.

It was fun. I had no injuries, no setbacks, it only cost me £9 (I bought ‘Nomadland’ in Burway Books in Church Stretton: worth visiting).

As we approach the gloom of winter, as surfaces become slippery and the guilt of comfort eating weighs down upon your shoulders, think of walking as part of your fitness routine.

But don’t measure it.

Further reading

A movement manifesto