The best walking pace

Walking is a great simple exercise that you can do anywhere. Fitness expert Mike Clark, DPT, reveals the best walking pace for a moderate-intensity workout.

Transcript

00:00

Strap on a pedometer, and make sure you're taking about 100 steps a minute. If you're new to exercise or have a health condition,

00:07

check with your doctor before trying to do 100 steps per minute. But if exercise is an old hat to you, don't let yourself get too comfortable with those numbers.

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00:30

Walking is one of the simplest exercises that you can do. And you often hear the advice to walk at moderate intensity. But do you know what that even means?

00:38

Here's how to tell. Strap on a pedometer, and make sure you're taking about 100 steps a minute.

00:44

For maximum health, you want to aim for 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise on most days of the week. In a study, researchers found that men

00:51

needed to take 92 to 102 steps a minute to elevate their heart rate and oxygen intake high enough

00:58

to qualify their activity as moderately intense. And women needed to do about 91 to 115 steps per minute.

01:05

If you're new to exercise or have a health condition, check with your doctor before trying to do 100 steps per minute. But if exercise is an old hat to you,

01:13

don't let yourself get too comfortable with those numbers. As the researchers pointed out, this is really the minimum walking pace

01:20

that qualifies as moderate intensity exercise. As you get fitter and stronger, you'll need to move faster.