Is walking a waste of time?

cloveraz

I'm sicker than a dog, and me and my Pongo were out there walking this morning. Wasn't moving very fast and walking up hill was killing my chest, but it is always better to keep moving. I would love to go to the gym today, but I don't want others to feed off my germs!...

czechsmate

Walking is NOT as waste of time, I walk 3mi in 45 mins. It's great exercise! I am losing weight and my legs and butt are looking pretty good too I might add. :bigsmile:

keesh1123

Can someone be that ignorant??? His word against every doctor, health expert, etc. in the world. Just ask Leslie Samsone's Walk at Home participants. I started off walking around my neighborhood and was losing weight within one week. Tell that unintelligent idiot to go kick rocks.

terrellc1

I love walking. It makes my booty firm and my stomach flat...and is a fantastic stress reliever. We live in a big city and our building has a basketball court, and while my son is playing, I walk in circles. It's not very fancy like going to a gym, but my son has a great time, and I get some great time to be worry free and concentrate on myself.

bigwill5

Wow ---Thanks everyone for their wonderful advice. My strength is renewed. I might do a little jig as I walk by his house tomorrow. Thanks again. Love my MFP family

miami_mimi

your neighbor is an *kitten*... 'nough said!

JamesBurkes

Walking is not a waste of time AT ALL!

Gentle walking is better than nothing and if you start power walking (I always think of that as being anything over 3.5mph) you can burn a lot of calories and fat. Throw in some hills and you actually have a great workout.

I lost 30lbs in 10 weeks a few years back doing nothing but heavy weights twice a week and 2 hours of walking on the other days. It just fell off! In fact, I lost more fat doing that (and quicker!) than I do now doing Insanity once a week, spinning twice a week etc (see my sig). If I had a choice, long, fast walks in a slightly hilly area would be my number one fat burner. The only reason I don't do it now is that I have two full-time jobs (so no time) and I live in the UK (so the weather is dismal most of the time, especially at this time of year).

Walking has a lot of advantages over other types of cardio, one of the main ones being it's low intensity (so you can do it for hours and just rack up those numbers!) and it's low impact, so you can do it almost every day and REALLY get those weekly numbers up. Don't underestimate it - the last time I wore my HRM when doing my two hour, 4mph walk, I was at 72% of my max heart rate for the workout and I got up to 85% of my max HR getting up the hills. And the good thing was, while these figures are pretty good for any kind of cardio, I didn't actually feel as if I was working hard while I was doing it.

Ignore that guy - he's an idiot. Walk on! Throw in some weight workouts, watch your diet and everything will fall into place, in my opinion!

lacroyx

I have been a total couch potato for years and recently decided to join this site and start execising by walking. This is my second week and I have been under the calorie goals and walking at least 5 days each week. Well my next door neighborhood, the mixed martial arts fighter comes over and says that walking is a waste of time. He says that my heart rate has got to get up into a burn zone for cardio to be effective. I have heard a little about this but I am not at a point where I can jog. So am I wasting my time walking? I average anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes at a 3.5 pace.

lol no. it's all I did for 6 months.

walkinmydoxies

Absolutely not a waste of time. You will find the more you walk the easier it gets. I've always heard once you're into it for a few weeks, try to go same distance in shorter time.

There is a lady in my neighborhood who walks. She was really heavy when she started. She has walked diligently for over a year. Every morning, hot, cold, rain and yes even sleet and snow, she is out there. She's lost more than 100 lbs!

Stay with Will. Continue walking and as you feel like it add more cardio, your choice. Don't focus on the negative people, You choose your destiny. Walking and watching your food, you will see changes.

Hugs my friend

julianne50

Hi, my name is julianne sullivan.. walking isn´t a waste of time, but you may not burn the fat that you want and see the results that your hoping for.. in my experience weight training is better than cardio because muscle continues to burn fat after your done working out for a longer period of time and it´s muscle it naturally takes longer. using an eliptical machine, or swimming are also excellent ways to keep your heart and lungs strong, and burn some fat ... be careful not to overdo the cardio, you could risk burning off your muscle instead of your fat.. also if you want to start running,, start running 30 seconds, at say 4.2mph, then walk for 3 minutes, on the treadmill,, if you continute to repeat this 4 to 5 days a week, slowly increasing your time running, before you know it you´ll have lost the weight you desire, and also have built up endurance, something that is very important in the long term... i know all this because i have been working out for the past 12 years and have completed two body building shows.. nothing big, just local,, but it taught me alot.... hang in there, ,your headed in the right direction... julianne50

woou

I actually agree with the MMA fighter. I walked miles for almost 2 years, and I didn't really see or feel as much results as I did when I ramped up my cardio & strength training for just 45 mins./day for 2 weeks as compared to that 2 years of walking. That snail-paced results can really be disheartening. Everyone is different though. Try it out. Just don't go as long as 2 years without seeing some major results like I did. I was also eating healthy. So it definitely wasn't my diet.

amandal00

Not a waste of time at all! Walking has you up off the couch and moving, burning those calories. Keep up the good work.

bigwill5

Thank you so much!!

gashinshotan

I'm going to say it Isa waste of time in that it takes damn too long compared to running!