5. Walking Is Not the Best Form of Exercise

In 1989, a landmark study completed by the Cooper Institute linked daily walking to improved health. 17 The study followed 13,000 people for over eight years, and the results convinced scientists that walking could provide most of the health benefits of more conventional exercise.

This study initially gave walking a good reputation as a form of exercise; the US surgeon general even issued guidelines that encouraged Americans to walk more. Before long, walking became the exercise of choice for many Americans and has been touted as the “best exercise” by healthcare and fitness authorities. That reputation is perpetuated to this day. However, as time has progressed, more details have emerged about the effectiveness of walking as a form of exercise.

According to Dr. Paul Williams, an exercise scientist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California, Americans have been given a false sense that a stroll through the neighborhood is all they need to stay healthy.

Yet, walking as you normally would isn’t intense enough. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week to maintain health. 18 This means working hard enough that your breathing quickens, your heart rate raises, and you break a sweat, yet you’re still able to carry on a conversation. 19 In one study in Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Review , only 60 percent of adults who reported walking as their main form of exercise met these guidelines. 20 Clearly, simply walking throughout the day as you normally would is not enough.

Doesn’t Reverse Age-related Muscle Loss

But even if you do meet or exceed these minimum requirements to experience the full health benefits of walking, I have some bad news: walking as a form of exercise is not enough by itself to reverse age-related muscle loss. In order to effectively reverse age-related muscle loss, you would need to do strengthening exercises. To build muscle and strength, you need to take your joints through a full range of motion with enough resistance until muscle fatigue sets in. Walking doesn’t accomplish this, and there’s more bad news: a lot of what you get instead is negative impact on the joints within a very limited range of movement.

Can Actually Be More Harmful

Too much walking may actually be more harmful than helpful for some older adults due to the impact and stress on the body, which can lead to wear and tear, injury, and pain.

Walking can also be dangerous for adults who are very old or weak because they could easily fall. Falls are the leading cause of death from injury in older adults, and they result from a combination of age-related changes: the natural loss of 1–2 percent of muscle mass every year from age 50—which, as we have seen, walking will not reverse—and a weaker sense of balance, declining eyesight, and side effects of medication. All of these issues together can make walking a hazard for older adults who have not developed a foundation of lower-body strength.

In summary, walking is a good exercise but is not enough by itself. It should be combined with a strengthening program like the one in this book to keep you healthy and strong.

Key Takeaways

• Walking has been touted as the “best exercise” by healthcare and fitness authorities, and that reputation is perpetuated to this day. However, Americans have been given a false sense that a stroll through the neighborhood is all you need to stay healthy.
• Walking as a form of exercise by itself is not enough to reverse age-related muscle loss. The only way to do this is with strengthening exercises that take your joints through a full range of motion with enough resistance until muscle fatigue sets in.
• Too much walking can even be harmful by creating unnecessary stress on the body, which leads to wear and tear, injury, and pain. Walking can also be a fall hazard for adults who are very old or weak.

Action Steps

• Consider the following questions:

• What was your opinion about walking as exercise before reading this chapter?
• Where do you think your ideas about walking as exercise came from?
• How has your opinion about walking as exercise changed after reading this chapter?

• If you’re a family member or a caregiver for an older adult you’d like to help with exercise, share the information you’ve learned in this chapter with them.

In part 1, you’ve seen how a few minutes of simple strengthening exercises every day can enhance health and function in older adults, and provide protection against natural aging-related muscle loss. Specifically, you’ve learned how higher-intensity functional exercises can help you achieve great results at home with little or no workout equipment in just a couple of weeks. The best part is that it doesn’t matter if you’re 60 or 100 years old, if you’ve been active or inactive, or if your health is perfect or imperfect. It’s not too late to build muscle, cultivate strength, and change your life.