Is fast walking a waste of time?

hamster

Hi I am a 70Kg 5" foot 32yo male. I go for walks most days in the evening (3-4 weekdays). Each walk takes about 1hr 40mins. I also walk to work which takes 30mins and 30 mins home again. For lunch I take light walk for 30 mins. I'm a programmer by trade so inevitably I sit most of the time.
At the back of my mind - I think I should be jogging/running during the 1hr 40mins in the evening but is walking a waste of time? I find it winds off stress and have been doing it for 3 years now. Body mass is stable at 65-70Kgs - I eat sugary crap weekends - no beer - I am aiming to reduce the sweets but don't think I'll ever eliminate them. I eat fruit and veg (pretty much anything).

Vinnie K

Walking is never gonna be bad for you!!

wasabi

Depends on your goals. If you're happy as you are and enjoy the walking then stick with it. If you have some other ends in mind then there might be more productive uses of the time, but it totally depends on what you're trying to get out of it.

hamster

Good point. I guess I want to keep moderately aerobically fit and trim the excess calories somewhat. Not sure but I guess 1hr 40mins would be "worth" 200-300 calories. I like the evening walks and I guess it's a habit now. Especially on a good long april/may evening!

Smellyirishman

Without any hard and fast goals then I would say it's great. Keep it up and continue to enjoy it.

Pherekydes

hamster wrote:

Good point. I guess I want to keep moderately aerobically fit and trim the excess calories somewhat. Not sure but I guess 1hr 40mins would be "worth" 200-300 calories. I like the evening walks and I guess it's a habit now. Especially on a good long april/may evening!

How fast are you walking, because 300 calories isn't a lot for 100 minutes. For CV benefits you really need to be raising your HR to 60-70%. At that pace you'd be walking 6-7 miles, which would be over 700 cals. In this HR range you'd also primarily be burning fat as fuel.

siochain

hamster, thats excellent what you doing, very little stress on the joints and great for your heart. Keep it going.

Sangre

If you jogged you could burn more calories in less time. Might be handy if you're busy.

hamster

Sangre wrote:

If you jogged you could burn more calories in less time. Might be handy if you're busy.

Heh! I always debated that. I mean, I guess you'd burn the same amount of energy but in less time? Probably more if my body was inefficient at the higher burn rate. Actually, I have one of those EKG watches and using it occasionally which suggested that I had an average of 100-120 beats/min for a fast walk.

Well, I checked Google earth - my walk to work is 1.81 miles (I guess that is 3.62 per day).

The evening walk (pic below) is 3.66 miles (or 5.89 km) each way (7.32 miles total) and takes almost exactly 1hr 40mins.



I wonder how many calories that burns if I am a 32yr 68-70Kg and of average height with a non-bulky build?

Pherekydes

A crude estimation is 100 calories per mile, so in the region of 750 cals. You also burn more calories when exercising more vigorously due to the added heat factor. This may also continue after exercise has ceased, due to increased core temp. Efficiency also comes into play, as you noted.

Guvnor

Hamster,

By my calculations you are putting in 14hrs of walking per week. If I was doing the same I'd be wearing 32in jeans not the 37's I'm currently in at 19.5st.

That is a lot of walking - maybe some running on one or two of the nights might make things a bit more interesting and break up the monotony of it all.

Alternatively you could run home from work a few times per week.

Kudos on the hrs you are putting in!

Guvnor

Bottom line is walking is never a waste of time.

hamster

Slow coach wrote:

A crude estimation is 100 calories per mile, so in the region of 750 cals. You also burn more calories when exercising more vigorously due to the added heat factor. This may also continue after exercise has ceased, due to increased core temp. Efficiency also comes into play, as you noted.

Wow! Thanks for the feedback guys. Up to 700 calories - amazing! That's shocking. I never really believed it would add up to that much. I had estimated conservatively around 250-350 cals max. I have been doing roughly the same for the last 3 years (given that some weeks I may not walk - rain etc) - so I also thought my body would "fighting" the cal loss through efficiency - ie it got used to that and I would have to raise the bar to burn the same amount.

Yeah, generally I try Mon-Thurs and relax Fri-Sun (home down the country those days). I listen to audiobooks (escpae pod sci-fi or pseudopod horror stories or just plain music). Thanks for facts guys!

Actually, Guvnor - I fit into a 32/32in jeans myself - I haven't really ever changed pant sizes for years - makes it handy when sorting out the wash

hamster

Guvnor wrote:

Hamster,
By my calculations you are putting in 14hrs of walking per week.

oops - It's only Mon-Thurs (ie weekdays after work). Looking forward to it this evening... smashing day outside now. Two biccies for tonight afterwards.

BossArky

That is some good walking Hamster. I walk 25 mins to work each day, then 25 mins back in the evenings. Terrible terrible terrible walking conditions... concrete jungle, fumes, dangerous crossings, etc.

Are you walking in a built up area? If so, try and take a few quieter back roads to get away from traffic pollution. I find that if I want on the right hand side of the road the pollution is less... perhaps this is just as slow moving traffic has exhausts pointing to left and goes straight up your nose if you walk on left hand side.

Fair play.

hamster

BossArky wrote:

That is some good walking Hamster. I walk 25 mins to work each day, then 25 mins back in the evenings. Terrible terrible terrible walking conditions... concrete jungle, fumes, dangerous crossings, etc.

Are you walking in a built up area? If so, try and take a few quieter back roads to get away from traffic pollution. I find that if I want on the right hand side of the road the pollution is less... perhaps this is just as slow moving traffic has exhausts pointing to left and goes straight up your nose if you walk on left hand side.

Fair play.

You read my mind! I did really noticed the fumes, by Gracepark especially since it's all wall on one side of the road, funnelling in your face if you are on that side.
Another good point about your 25min walk to work is that you are wide awake when you get there.

BossArky

The only drawback is the sweat patch on the back of my shirt from carrying a laptop:mad:

hamster

BossArky wrote:

The only drawback is the sweat patch on the back of my shirt from carrying a laptop:mad:

Ouch.. everyday? I suffer from that on Fridays with a big bag of weekender material

walt0r

You're only 5 inches tall? You're morbidly obese at 70kg man...

hamster

walt0r wrote:

You're only 5 inches tall? You're morbidly obese at 70kg man...

oops. 5.x foot whatever. Actually, I prefer the metric system. I actually don't know my actual height. Will check later... t' be sure I have shrunk.

justsomebloke

hamster wrote:

Ha, that is nearly the same as my walk to work each day except I end up on the east wall road and that I would go through marino as oppose to going further down grace park road after griffith avenue