Walking and running are both good for your health. And are both excellent forms of cardiovascular exercise.
People who regularly exercise have healthier hearts, stronger bones, and lower weight.
Running is considered to hurt you as it is more open to injuries. While walking is a safe route if you want to burn calories.
If you are walking for weight loss, your weight and the distance you walk matter. It is the biggest factor in how many calories burned walking.
There are several arguments as to which one is better. But it all depends on your goals. And which one is right for you depending on your current fitness level.
Different types of walking
It is said that people fifty years ago seemed slimmer and healthier. And that's because they walked.
Till the Second World War, walking was a common use of going from one place to another. For instance, if one needed to buy something, they walked to the store. If one needed to visit someone, who lived a few miles away, they walked.
In today's generation, we are walking less and less. And we have accustomed to sitting down more and more. Thus, unlike our ancestors, we are far heavier and unhealthier.
There are various types of walking you could try to include in your lifestyle. Below are 9 types of different walking;
1- Brisk Walking
This is the simplest type of walking. You walk your normal walk, but a little faster. The general record is about 5 km per hour. This type of walking is perfect for beginners. It does not tire you easily, and it allows you to set your own pace.
2- Power walking
This type of walking is for people with a higher level of fitness. The pace is about seven to nine km per hour.
Power walking may be similar to jogging, but more and more people are opting for power walking as jogging. It is believed that it burns as many calories. While doing less damage to your feet and knees.
To get the most out of your power walking routine, try a different path. Such as, try walking on a beach. It is far more difficult than walking on roads. But you will end up having an intense work-out.
3- Race Walking
This type is an Olympic Sport that many laugh at but sure does love to watch. Race Walking is a tough sport and needs extreme stamina and fitness level.
The rule of this walk type is that your foot must be touching the ground at all times. Meaning that before your one foot leaves the ground, the other must be in place. These races can be as long as fifty miles.
4- Marathon Walking
This form of walking is becoming popular. Marathon walking is just like running a marathon. Except, in this, you walk.
Several marathons are opening up for walkers. And some are made just for walkers. You could try this walking, as it is not too difficult. However, you may need a few months of training to be marathon-ready.
5- Chi Walking
This form of walking is mainly from China. Chi is the Chinese word meaning life force. Chi Walking uses the Chinese art of Tai Chi principles in walking exercise.
It consists of five stages, including using correct posture, right muscles, creating the perfect balance, making a choice, and how to move forward properly.
6- Pole Walking
This was first developed as training for skiers. Pole Walking allows you to use your upper body in your walking exercise. This type of walking involves designed poles. It includes using your arms to push down with the poles as you walk.
Pole Walking also helps you to exercise different parts of the body like the shoulder, abdomen, spine, and chest.
7- Stroller Walking
Stroller walking is the simplest form of walking. If you just had a baby and are looking to lose those extra few pounds, then this walk is perfect for you.
Stroller walk is simply walking ahead by pushing down the stroller with the baby in it. Though one downside is that your neck and upper back may cramp. Due to your hand not moving from the stroller.
8- Pedometer Walking
Pedometers are also known as activity trackers. It helps you in keeping track of the level of walking you are doing.
It is a perfect tool to allow you to set realistic goals and achieve them.
9- Cardio Walking
Is walking Cardio? Yes, a walking lifestyle is also a cardio exercise. Walking gives a complete workout to your lungs, heart and arteries, and veins.
To get the best result of Cardio, walk at a pace that challenges your fitness by a little. So brisk walking and power walking are what is needed.
Alas, these nine types of walking exercises not only are beneficial in their way. But it also gives you more room to choose from. Depending on your fitness level, either of these types may perfectly work for you.
The benefits of walking are many. You may wonder how much walking to lose weight and how many calories do you burn walking. To answer you, a brisk walk of 30 to 90 minutes most days a week is perfect for weight loss.
You should be breathing hard and can speak full sentences, but you could not sing. And the average walking heart rate of brisk walk elevates your heart rate to 110 to 120 beats per min, depending on your age.
You burn about 100 calories per mile if you weigh 180-pound. It all depends on your weight scale. And the pace you set. For instance, consider a pace of 13 minutes per mile, so 2 miles a day burns 127 cal if you are 100 lbs.
At that same pace, walking 3 miles a day burns 191 cal. And walking 5 miles a day burns 318 cal.
To have efficient results, use charts to learn how many calories you burn on your walk.
Different types of running
Running is a great way to get fit. But it also benefits every part of your body.
It helps improve your health, prevents any disease, loses weight, relieves stress, and elevates your mood.
There are various types of running you should know if you are to try this exercise.
1- Recovery Run
A recovery run is relatively done as a short run at an easy pace. This type of run is best done as the follow-up after a hard workout.
Do your recovery run as slowly as possible to feel comfortable despite the fatigue from your previous run.
2- Base Run
This is a short to moderate-length run. And is done at your natural pace. Base runs aren't challenging and are mean to be done frequently.
This form of a run is beneficial, and they offer big improvements in aerobic capacity. A base run will make up for your weekly training intake.
3- Long Run
A long run is a base run that lasts longer. It leaves you mild to severely fatigued. The long-run is mainly to increase raw endurance. The distance required to achieve this depends on your level of endurance.
Your longest run should boost your confidence that raw endurance will not limit you in races.
4- Progression Run
A progression run begins at your natural pace and ends with a faster run at anywhere from marathon to 10k pace.
These runs are challenging, harder than base runs. But easier than interval runs.
5- Fartlek
This workout is a base run that has a mixture of intervals of different durations and distances.
This is a good way to develop efficiency and fatigue resistance at a faster speed in an early phase.
6- Hill Repeats
Hill repeats are of repeated short parts of hard uphill running. They increase your aerobic power, high-intensity fatigue resistance, and pain tolerance.
For hill repeats, an ideal hill features a steady, moderate gradient of 4 to 6 percent.
7- Tempo Run
Tempo run, also known as threshold run, is run at a hard pace of 25-30 sec per mile slower than your current 5k pace.
This type of run improves your ability to maintain a harder pace for a longer time. Tempo runs are about 20-30 minutes, and it should not feel like a race.
8- Intervals
Intervals workout are repeated shorter parts of running parted by slow jogging or standing recoveries. This form of workout enables you to get more fast running into a single workout.
These eight forms of running are all beneficial in their way. But the main thing is to try something that suits you the best. Push yourself a little harder, and you might see the results.
Is walking better than running?
Walking and running are both necessities in your workout lifestyle. Walking has a lot of the same benefits as running. But running burns double the number of calories as walking.
Though in some ways, walking takes the upper hand. For instance, brisk walking is an excellent moderate-intensity exercise.
You may question,
is walking good exercise
or
Is walking good for you?
It helps reduce health risks, builds fitness, and assists in weight loss.
Even if you include slower-paced walking in your 30-minute of cardio each day has many benefits.
Walking could be better than running as it serves fewer injuries, as it has the least injuries of any aerobic exercise.
It has a lower-impact. Three times their body weight, runners impact the ground. While walking has an impact of only 1.5 times your body weight. And this can be crucial if you are overweight or have joint problems.
Due to its lower impact, walking causes you to feel less fatigued. And it is a weight-bearing exercise that may prevent bone loss.
Walking is also accessible and sustainable. For instance, if you are not comfortable running for more than 5 to 10 minutes. But you may be able to a brisk walk for 30 to 45 minutes and burn more calories.
It is also enjoyable, stress-reducing, and less sweaty exercise. You do not have to prep or have special clothes. And walkers never hit the wall.
Walking activities
There are several fun walking activities you can try. You can either enjoy it with your friends or even alone.
1- Walking basketball
2- Orienteering
3- Walking rugby
4- Geocaching
5- Walking a dog
6- Race walking
7- City walking
Racing Activities
Racing activities are for everyone. Especially kids who love to enjoy outdoor activities. Some indoor and outdoor activities you could try are;
1- egg-and-spoon races
2- Hula Hoop Pass
3- Water relay races
4- Three-legged races
5- Balloon relay race
6- Sack race
My Opinion about Walking VS Running
Walking and running are great activities that are enjoyed by both adults and children. Though, when considering weight loss and other factors, walking for me wins.
As someone who is not much of a running person, walking is what I do daily, or not most of the days of the week.
You get the same calories burned, if not more, in walking as in the running. Walking is what I prefer as my workout activity, as many others do as well.
In my opinion, running can be looked like a high-intensity exercise, and most can be uncomfortable by it. And it is more prone to injuries, fatigue, and exhaustion, especially when you are a beginner.
Conclusion
Overall, including aerobic exercise in your daily life is necessary for your general physical and mental health.
There are various types of running and walking to include in your workout lifestyle. It just all depends on your fitness scale. And what suits you the best at the moment.
There also several activities of walking and running to include in your daily life, as it helps in weight loss and your overall health. Either of the exercises provides the same benefits as the other, but walking is the more preferred, albeit underrated, exercise.