Before lacing up your sneakers and stepping out the door, keep reading to get the lowdown on the whole running vs. walking debate. Walking and running also support zone 2 cardio—a training style where you keep your heart rate between 60 and 70% of your maximum heart rate5 for an extended period to build cardiovascular endurance. Zone 2 training increases your aerobic capacity to walk or run faster while maintaining a lower heart rate. Jonathan Olonade, CPT, NCSF, a certified personal trainer with Life Time Fitness, tells mindbodygreen, “Training in zone 2 and doing cardio consistently is reflective of longevity.” While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to living a healthy lifestyle, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that healthy adults accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise weekly. Increased exposure to nature is also good for your gut health10, which in turn helps lower stress and anxiety via the gut-brain connection. Additionally, more time outdoors means more sun exposure and intake of vitamin D11—an essential nutrient for cardiovascular health and immune function. “There are so many benefits of walking,” says Bethany Welch, CPT, a certified personal trainer and running coach with Garage Gym Reviews. “It’s an amazing low-impact workout that’s free and accessible to most people. Walking is perfect for those with injuries who shouldn’t have high-impact stress on their body.” “Typically, running will burn more calories than walking if done for the same duration,” explains Welch. “However, if you power walk or walk on an incline (or both), you can have the same heart rate response as you would running and therefore burn around the same amount of calories.” Before taking the leap from walking to running, speak with your health care provider, who can advise you on getting started safely and without injury. On the other hand, running can cause muscle soreness and has a higher injury risk than walking. If you’re a beginner, running too much too soon can lead to overtraining syndrome and fatigue, causing you to burn out and lose motivation to exercise. Adam lives in British Columbia, Canada, with his wife, two kids and an Australian shepherd. That’s where you can find him running mountain trails, working out in his home gym, or writing in a coffee shop.
