Walking a form of cardio?

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  • MuseofSong
    MuseofSong Posts: 322 Member
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    For anyone who thinks walking is not a form of exercise . . .

    oxb8cbz
  • covenantwife
    covenantwife Posts: 13
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    I love walking, it is a great form of exercise, yes it is exercise. After a patient has open heart surgery, and we are doing our discharge teaching, we encourage them to start a walking plan as their form of exercise. There are so many variations to walking that you can make it intense or relaxing. If you enjoy walking, do it. No matter what your fitness level happens to be.
  • Debbe2
    Debbe2 Posts: 2,071 Member
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    Walking is great exercise and if you enjoy it, it's even better!
  • __freckles__
    __freckles__ Posts: 1,238 Member
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    For anyone who thinks walking is not a form of exercise . . .

    oxb8cbz

    Teehee. I second this. :bigsmile:
  • handyrunner
    handyrunner Posts: 32,662 Member
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    walking won't beat running but it's a great starting point for any one sedentary
  • Matt24442
    Matt24442 Posts: 324
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    There's other things you can that will be faster and more efficient...like sleeping...




    but if you're burning cals, might as well log it

    annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd FR denied.

    Lol
  • MrJThomasEsq
    MrJThomasEsq Posts: 144 Member
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    I was just talking to someone about this. If you're 85, a walk might be a workout. It's all relative. For generally healthy people, walking is light activity, not working out.
    I disagree with this. Sure it's not an intense workout, but it's definitely something and if you keep a fast pace you can burn a decent amount of calories too.

    I didn't say it was nothing. I said it's light activity. But, walking is NOT a workout, if you are relatively healthy.

    I think you may have walking confused with strolling.

    I walk, on a treadmill at 3 to 4 mph and at a 6 to 9 degree incline. My feet are never both off of the ground at the same time so that is walking. But at my weight I can burn over 800 cals per hour. I'm pretty sure that counts as a workout.
  • Fithealthyforlife
    Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
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    Yes, and it should generally be logged if you want to be eating the correct amount and you are going by calories burned in your calculations (instead of using TDEE).
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
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    Throw on some ankle weights and pick up the pace. If it's in your fitness level, yeah it is and as you build muscle your body will want to do more. :)

    Walking with ankle weights is BAD! It throws your knees and lower back out of alignment. And walking is a great form of exercise, lots of people have lost weight just walking and counting calories. It is cardio and a very effective way to burn calories if you do it at a fast pace and without ankle weights!!!!
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    You won't be burning a lot of calories, but any extra activity is a good thing. :drinker:

    What? Please.... walking is ONE of the best exercises out there. The amount you burn will depend on how fast you walk and how much you weight.
    Speed of walking has minimal effect. Correct on the weight, though. Bottom line: walking burns 50% of the net calories that running the same distance does.
    When I was over 300 I burned a crap load of calories..
    Doing *anything* at 300 pounds burns a crap load of calories.

    Walking is a great start, but it doesn't do anybody any good to overstate its effects.
  • Mr_Starr
    Mr_Starr Posts: 139 Member
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    Walking is a great form of exercise, especially in the beginning.

    ^ This.

    I lost my first 20 lbs with walking. I started off at a slow pace and gradually increased distance and pace. You would be surprised how many calories walk an hour at even a 'leisurely' pace.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
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    For anyone who thinks walking is not a form of exercise . . .

    oxb8cbz

    ^ this.

    every soldier who has ever marched 20 miles is in agreement.

    every postal deliveryman who walks his route delivering mail is in agreement.

    every cop who walked a beat is in agreement.

    etc.

    walking is actually one of the best exercises. people can walk longer and further than they can run and they can avoid many of the common injuries that runners face.

    one can burn quite a lot of calories on long walks (and hikes).

    anybody who makes their living on their feet all day can well attest to how many extra calories they burn.

    there is also a 10,000 step movement of people (and doctors and researchers) who believe that walking 10K or more steps a day strongly correlates to longevity and quality of life late into life.

    in many ways, walking is the perfect exercise for humans because we have been designed for it.
  • whitebalance
    whitebalance Posts: 1,654 Member
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    For anyone who thinks walking is not a form of exercise . . .

    oxb8cbz
    I feel like everything has been said now and there's no need to post on this thread.
    But I'll add some content anyway. Walking is what I did to start and how I lost most of my extra weight. Walking more, and faster, prepared me for running. Walking up stairs and hills prepared me for body weight resistance training, which prepared me for heavy lifting. Walking is still my main form of "cardio," although I like a nice 5k or 5-6 mile slow run once in a while and will soon be doing something more intense that I always wanted to do. None of what I can do now was even thinkable to me before I started walking a lot. OP, lace up your shoes and hit the pavement, and enjoy yourself and your increasing fitness.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    every soldier who has ever marched 20 miles is in agreement.
    There is a world of difference between humping 80 pounds of gear 20 miles and "I walked for 40 minutes, feel the buuuuuuuurn...."

    What the solider is doing is most definitely exercise,
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
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    every soldier who has ever marched 20 miles is in agreement.
    There is a world of difference between humping 80 pounds of gear 20 miles and "I walked for 40 minutes, feel the buuuuuuuurn...."

    What the solider is doing is most definitely exercise,

    strawman much?

    because you've just "debunked" an equivalency that nobody has made.

    pat yourself on the back and go away now.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    every soldier who has ever marched 20 miles is in agreement.
    There is a world of difference between humping 80 pounds of gear 20 miles and "I walked for 40 minutes, feel the buuuuuuuurn...."

    What the solider is doing is most definitely exercise,
    strawman much?
    It's your strawman, mate, you introduced the completely irrelevant "20 mile soldier" to MFP's Land of The Thirty Minute Thousand Calorie Walk.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
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    every soldier who has ever marched 20 miles is in agreement.
    There is a world of difference between humping 80 pounds of gear 20 miles and "I walked for 40 minutes, feel the buuuuuuuurn...."

    What the solider is doing is most definitely exercise,

    strawman much?

    It's your strawman, mate, you introduced the "20 mile soldier" to MFP's Land of The Thirty Minute Walk.

    i don't suffer fools well and right now, i am particularly not interested in suffering your brand of foolishness.

    you're the one who imagined an equivalence in your head between a soldier on a 20-mile march and a somebody on MFP doing a 40 minute walk. i didn't say that, so don't try to put words in my mouth. my comment (above) SOLELY addressed whether or not walking was exercise.

    moreover, if you think people on MFP only go for 40 minute walks, you are also mistaken. some days i walk as many as 17 miles solely for the cardio calorie burn. i may not be "humping" an 80lb rucksack when i do that, but i can promise you that at the end of those 17 miles, i am every bit as tired as one would be from any other cardio exercise.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
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    Good for you! Walking can definitely be a cardio workout, if you walk fast enough to raise your heart rate. For most people, walking won't burn a lot of calories, but if you're also eating at a deficit, burning an extra few hundred calories every day helps.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    If you stay in bed all day, your muscles will atrophy. That doesn't happen when you are active and moving and walking. I think it is silly when people on mfp say that sleeping is better than walking, or other comparisons like that. I lift weights and dance. I do all kinds of stuff. I also walk, and hike and carry things when walking because I don't like to drive, I'd rather use my legs as transportation, and carry bags. I feel it contributes to the maintenance of my fitness. It is one element. If I only walked the fitness level that I have now would eventually decline, but it would decline a lot more and a lot more rapidly if I decided to go on bed rest.

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