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!