How do I start walking for fitness?
The most accessible exercise there is — how to make it count, and how to make it stick.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 20 min
- Read
- 2 min
- Safety
- caution
Short answer
Walk briskly enough that you are breathing harder but can still talk. Ten minutes daily is a real improvement on nothing, and building the habit matters far more than the distance.
Walking is the most underrated exercise available: free, needs no equipment, carries almost no injury risk, and counts fully towards the standard activity guidance. The only difficulty is that it feels too ordinary to count.
Safety
Step by step
- Aim for a brisk pace, not a stroll.Warmer, breathing harder, still able to hold a conversation. That is what moderate activity means, and it is what makes a walk count towards the guidance.
- Start with ten minutes daily.Consistency first, duration second. Ten minutes every day beats an hour once a week, both for the habit and for the benefit.
- Attach it to something you already do.After lunch, before the news, on the way to the shop. A walk that depends on remembering to want to go will not survive a busy week.
- Build up gradually.Add five minutes a week, or a slightly longer route. Walking is low risk, but going from nothing to an hour still produces sore feet and a lost habit.
- Get shoes that fit properly.The one bit of equipment that matters. Supportive, roomy in the toe, and not the trainers you have had for six years. Blisters end more walking habits than motivation does.
- Add hills or pace to progress.Once the habit is established, hills raise the effort without adding time. Or alternate a few minutes brisk with a few minutes easy.
- Make it something you look forward to.A podcast, a route with something to look at, company. Enjoyment is a legitimate design criterion and it is what makes it last.
- Count the walking you already do.To the shops, at work, with the dog. It counts, and noticing it usually reveals you are doing more than you thought — which is encouraging rather than an excuse.
Tips
- A step target is useful if it motivates you and harmful if missing it makes you give up. The 10,000 figure has no particular scientific basis — any increase is worthwhile.
- Walking outdoors gives daylight as well as movement, which helps sleep and mood. A treadmill is fine; outside is better where practical.
- Walking with someone else is the single best predictor of keeping it up. An arrangement with a friend beats willpower.
Questions people ask
Is walking enough exercise?
Brisk walking counts fully as moderate activity, which is what most guidance is built around. Adding some strength work twice a week covers the part walking does not.
How fast should I walk for it to count?
Brisk enough to feel warmer and breathe harder while still being able to talk. That is the standard description of moderate activity.