Is walking a legitimate exercise?

Walking is good exercise. 30 minutes a day enough to reduce heart attack risks etc. according to most doctors.

Exercise in general is not a good weight loss tool, because no matter how hard you exercise, a few pieces of cake will negate all your efforts.

Health = Good, clean food + exercise to strengthen your body and cardiovascular system.

So walking + eating junk food will get you nowhere. Walking (or any other type of exercise.. even inactivity though not optimal) + Healthy food = win.

80% of your weight loss is food and 20% is exercise.

For general health, it's about 50/50 I'd say.

Walking is great exercise.

Yes, walking is exercise.

1, yes it's exercise

2. who's to judge if it's legitimate or not?

walking won't help you win the 100m olympic finals or to break any powerlifting records, but it's a good way to burn extra calories and walking fast enough to get you feeling warm, a little out of breath and your heart beating faster will reduce your risk of heart disease and other problems caused by being sedentary. and if you enjoy walking and will find it easy to stick to regularly, then deciding to walk further and more often is a really good sustainable lifestyle choice for better health.

The first time I lost 70lbs, a huge part of it was from constantly walking. I was prepping for the Avon Breast Cancer Walk, which is a 2-Day, 40 Mile Walk (marathon one day, half marathon the 2nd day). And I spent months walking to build up the tolerance for that.

I started small and built from there. 3 miles a day to 6 miles a day to 9 miles a day to all sorts of higher variations to get in about 40 a week.

Granted, that's an extreme case of walking for exercise ... but, yes, walking burns calories and it increases your fitness levels.

But I can understand why people think walking isn't legit exercise--because it's one of those things we *do* constantly. Like chewing. So a lot of folks aren't going to count walking, in general, as legit exercise because it's such a base movement.

But don't let that stop you. Walking is great ... and building to the point where you can walk super long distances without getting winded, or blisters!, is kind of the best.

8 years ago I started walking to lose weight and gain health. Got a treadmill and a 3-seat stroller. Stroller with the kids when I could, treadmill when I had to. I walked as fast as my body allowed, which at the time wasn't anything the rest of the world would consider "fast". But it was, for me.

Fast forward 8 years, and I'm a few months from racing an ironman triathlon.

Had I started with all the exercise that the rest of the world considers exercise, I would have failed miserably, quit, and not gained a stitch of healthy improvement. But, thanks to walking, I weigh much less, am WAY more healthy, and can do things now I couldn't do 8 years ago.

Truth is, I still walk. Every time I'm injured, which sadly is often, I go back to my walking roots. I've walked half marathons. It's great.

I understand why people who walk get pretty angry and defensive. I haven't seen any of the anti-walking attacks on this thread, but I've seen anti-walking attacks in my everyday workout life.

that's sad that people feel so judgemental about what others consider exercise that they're like that about walking

I like walking, most of my life I've done lots of walking. I've lived in the Arabian Gulf (too hot to walk 9 months of the year) for the last 7 years and I miss walking. I also ballooned in size after moving to Saudi. I'm sure that's because I used to walk everywhere in the UK to save petrol money then moved to Saudi and could barely walk to the corner shop due to the intense heat.

And I don't understand the mentality of classifying exercise as "legit" and "not legit" - it makes no sense. All kinds of exercise and physical activity have a benefit but none of them are going to develop every aspect of human fitness simultaneously so you have to match the exercise to the goal, and to the current fitness level and ability of the person doing it. Of course walking isn't going to benefit every person for every fitness goal, but that doesn't mean it's "not legit" it means it's not the best exercise to achieve that particular goal. It's a great exercise for burning calories and keeping your heart healthy, and it's also great for saving money on petrol.

To me if you could raise your heart rate to cardio zone, then it is legitimate exercise.

So, many types of weight lifting would not be cansidered exercise? Well, that's news to me.

Not all exercise has to be cardiovascular exercise to be considered exercise.

Walked 11 miles yesterday at a pace of just under 4.5 miles per hour.

Burned over a 1000 calories.

Come talk to me again about walking not being "legitimate" exercise.

I mostly sat on my back side yesterday (brief leisurely commute on the push at a slow pace thanks to dog running beside me) - I ate 2531 calories and lost weight.

Tell me again about sitting on my backside not being "legitimate" exercise?

:P

Walked 11 miles yesterday at a pace of just under 4.5 miles per hour.

Burned over a 1000 calories.

Come talk to me again about walking not being "legitimate" exercise.

I mostly sat on my back side yesterday (brief leisurely commute on the push at a slow pace thanks to dog running beside me) - I ate 2531 calories and lost weight.

Tell me again about sitting on my backside not being "legitimate" exercise?

:P

That's lovely.

And this has what to do with the 1000+ calories I burned on top of my already near 3000 calorie daily, "normal" expenditure?

From his posts in this thread, it seem clear it's that effin dog holdin him back. Maybe if he put the pup away, he could manage some actual exercise

From his posts in this thread, it seem clear it's that effin dog holdin him back. Maybe if he put the pup away, he could manage some actual exercise

I'll have you know I cooked dinner earlier.
It took me about half an hour.
AND I ate half a litre of what entirely failed to be frozen yoghurt and was more just 'gently chilled yoghurt'.

ALL 'legitimate exercise', you see!

The point would be, as you aptly demonstrate, that burning a lot of calories doesn't mean you've "done exercise" .

The point is to burn more calories than you would sitting on your butt. And to use your body for movement and activity. You will get more out of a hike than watching tv and eating all day.

I typed up a whole response, realized that you were trolling, and deleted it.

Enjoy your exchange with the next sucker. He won't be me.

If you'd taken the time to read the initial response to your post, you'd have seen the smiley at the end and realised the post was not written in all seriousness!

However - it did have a serious point behind it.

If you want to draw an arbritrary line, I don't see any reason it should be on one side of 'walk' - if I wasn't a lowly contractor that got the old chair that marks the floor, I could scoot across it like other staff members do and burn even more calories! But alas, no such luxuries for me!
And thus, the whole discussing, I would suggest, is a bit pointless and mostly self-justification .

The point is to burn more calories than you would sitting on your butt. And to use your body for movement and activity. You will get more out of a hike than watching tv and eating all day.

But eating is exercise?
And I'll get more out of a run than a hike.
And more out of weights set and maybe some interval training than a steady state run.

Yes, it is Especially for people who are out of shape or have injuries that prevent them from doing other, higher-impact, forms of exercise.

For the rest of us, unless it's walking for pleasure (you are just taking a walk to spend time with someone) I would recommend jogging. Burn more calories in the same amount of time; it's more efficient.

The point is to burn more calories than you would sitting on your butt. And to use your body for movement and activity. You will get more out of a hike than watching tv and eating all day.

But eating is exercise?
And I'll get more out of a run than a hike.
And more out of weights set and maybe some interval training than a steady state run.

So, if there is a form of exercise that is "better" than another form that disqualifies it as being exercise at all?

Different people can have different limitations, goals, preferences.

I lift weights, dance, do HIIT, etc. I also walk for transportation and hike to spend time with my husband. It is exercise. It's not my only exercise. I don't run long distances because I'm already active enough and my body needs some rests and breaks and I have structural knee issues (it's a very long story). Because I am a dancer I give my all to that. My other exercise (such as lifting weights) is in support of that, and I don't do things that interfere with it (running long distances does interfere for me).

It has worked for me! up to 3 miles/day now.