24. Blogs and Jogs... and Walks

Pineapple on pizza? Fine.

Gherkins in burgers? Delightful.

Ronaldo better than Messi? Siuuuu!

There’s a lot of stuff in this world that’s hotly debated. Then there’s the stuff that’s less so. One of those things is the health benefits of exercise. Generally speaking, we agree (as much as we can as humans) that it tends to be good for us.

Of course, the type of exercise, when to do it, how much to do, and the intensity at which we do it is all a bit more contentious. Like pizza toppings and burger fillings, there’s a whole host of contradicting schools of thought in that area.

When it comes to general physical health, the science suggests that it's probably optimal to do some sort of combination of strength training, cardio exercise and mobility work.

However, within that, although there are some exercises that provide more bang for their buck (think deadlifts vs arm curls), I don’t believe it matters too much (within reason) what specific exercise(s) we do, just as long as we do them with relative consistency.

And to do anything consistently, then unless we have David Goggins levels of self-discipline, I've found that one of the most important things is that we find it at least mildly enjoyable or rewarding.

Naturally, this comes down to personal preference, and what we're individually trying to achieve. Five 6am spin classes a week may be the stuff of dreams for some, and the stuff of nightmares for others. There are people who absolutely love low-rep weight sessions, and there are others who find them more boring than fruit on pizza debates.

As such, it’s basically impossible to give a one-size-fits-all recommendation on what the perfect workout routine is, and claim what is the universal best type of exercise.

And although that's not the objective here, I did want to give a bit of a shout out to two particular forms of exercise that I’ve, relatively recently, found to be immensely beneficial. These are running and walking.

To save you from having to read my thoughts on both all in a oner (that’d be a workout in itself...), this particular post is focused on walking, and there’ll be a follow up post more about running. A superset if you will.

So first up, walking. I can’t help but feel that it’s a tragically underrated form of exercise.

I say that because I tragically underrated it for the first 30-odd years of my life. And over the past couple of years, I’ve totally flip-flopped (or walking shoe-d) on that idea. I believe that it’s possible to be in relatively decent physical, mental and emotional shape by ‘merely’ walking as our main form of exercise.

So, why is there a tendency to undervalue it so much?

One of the key reasons is probably because we don’t see a lot of the typical effects of a workout. In comparison to the spiked heart rate of a hiit session, the muscle soreness from doing weights, or the puddles of sweat that come with going for a run, a humble walk can feel like it’s “not a proper workout”.

If we don’t see it as a proper workout, it can be very easy to question the point of doing it. I was massively guilty of this, and just didn’t see the appeal. The thought of a walk was a massive effort.

Though that’s exercise in general, isn’t it?

Often it can feel like a bit of a mission to do. The good thing about walking in this regard is that generally speaking, it’s a far less daunting prospect than a higher intensity workout.

We know a 5km run is probably going to be pretty brutal, though a 5km walk will be much easier. Easier’s nice at times, and if we’re struggling for exercise motivation, the relative simplicity of going for a walk can make it a far more appealing option. A gateway workout, so to speak.

But it’s not just the easier option, it has a whole host of physical benefits. I won’t go into the specific scientific detail (mainly because I don’t know it), but anecdotally a good walk is something that more often than not, I feel the immediate benefits of. I remember this was particularly apparent during lockdown when I spent a lot of time hunched over my laptop with god awful posture. Stretching out the body, getting it moving, raising the heart rate, and getting a bit of fresh air felt like an antidote to this.

It’s a deceptive calorie burner as well. Let’s take a 30 minute walk. Broadly speaking, that’s pretty doable. Say we did that in the morning, nipped out again at lunch, then did a final one in the evening after work, it’s possible to burn the same amount of calories as in one of those 6am spin classes. Of course, the heart rate doesn’t get as high so it won’t have the same cardio effects, but it’s not a bad alternative from a purely weight management point of view.

Physically beneficial, and mentally even more so. As I’ve mentioned on a few of these blogs, if I spend too much time chilling out or generally not doing anything, my brain has a tendency to go into overthink mode, and down that slippery slope towards harsh self-criticism, negative thoughts and general existential crises. Never a particularly fun place to be in.

I’ve found that this simple change in environment that comes with leaving the flat and going for a walk can massively help offset this. ‘Get out of your bed, get out of your head’ and all that.

I suppose just to reiterate, there's fairly extensive research pointing towards the importance of strength training, higher intensity cardio and mobility work when it comes to overall physical health, so this quick look at some of the benefits of walking is obviously by no means a suggestion to pack all that good stuff in.

Instead, as I believe there are a whole host of hugely beneficial and underrated physical, mental and emotional effects to be had by walking, it was more to shine a bit of a light on some of these. Especially as it’s a form of exercise that is for the most part, fairly accessible and achievable.

It was Mahatma Gandhi who claimed that walking was “The Prince of exercises”, and I can’t help but agree with him on that.

Hope to see you next time where we up the tempo, and have a similar look at the benefits of running.