Walking has been & always will be our basic mode of commute. Different types of walking have been invented according to one’s need like when you are in hurry or when it’s just a casual stroll through the park.
Walking is easy and free you don’t need any equipment except shoes to protect yourself from elements that are present on the ground in nature. Walking is a form of cardio with low impact but it can help you lose weight, reduce stress, and change your overall mood to positive.
When we are asked to start burning some calories without any help from equipment? running always comes to mind our as it ideal to burn heavy extra calories. 30 minutes of running will help you burn at least 200 to 500 calories which is a good start to lose weight but as you have known that not everyone can run for 30 minutes or they avoid running due to some kind of injury in their knees.
Health benefits of walking
- Increased cardiovascular, and lung health.
- Helps you manage various health diseases such as blood pressure, diabetes, and improves your cholesterol level.
- Stronger and better bones.
- Increase in stamina and muscle level.
- Burning calories and reducing fat.
- Boosting immunity.
- Improves your mood and fills you with energy.
So for some walking is a good form of cardio. I sat on a park bench after an evening stroll looking at everybody else walking at different pace and style it made me wonder about different types of walking? how many types of walking are there? so I did some research and here they are…
Different types of walking
- Casual stroll
This kind of walking is normally done with the hope to escape from reality and stress. A casual stroll happens when you have some extra time at your hand and you don’t have any errands to run like during a lunch break or evening or morning walk by taking a simple breath and being one with nature.
Casual strolls take place when you are pent up from work and you need a little break to recharge your energy as some working professional or student your most of the time goes by looking at a blue screen getting work done so you should take a casual stroll as a break.
The average speed of casual walking speed is around 4.82 kilometer per hour so let’s say you take a 20-minute break with that speed you will cover around 1.6 kilometers and in those 20 minutes, you will burn around 80 to 100 calories a but the actual calories value will depend upon your weight.
2. Brisk walking
It’s a type of walking everyone goes to when they hope to lose some weight. Brisk walking will burn more calories than your normal walk because In the brisk walking speed of a particular person differs due to age and fitness level but the walking pace is usually higher than the normal walk.
People love to conversate as they meet for their brisk walking session you will be able to conversate while at the same time running out of breath.
You will get somewhat 100 steps in a minute as the brisk walk is walking at a faster pace it will also burn more amount of calories than your normal pace. I would suggest doing a brisk walk daily for about 30 minutes if you want to notice some change in your weight.
Brisk walking alone would be a hard task and doing it everyday will be even harder so take a friend with you and if they can’t join you, take your pet they will love it.
3. Power walking
Power walking is a better form of a walk than brisk because power walking involves a faster pace than brisk walking, your hand also plays its part as you swing them vigorously to help you build better cardiovascular endurance with the added perk of getting total body strength. Power walking can be called level 2 of brisk walking for some it’s alternative of running.
In power walking it isn’t just about the pace there is a bigger picture making 90-degree arm swing, keeping your back leg straight as you step forward your heel lands first, and with the back leg being on its toes pushing it forward with energy. Your hand shouldn’t rise more than your shoulder level, and elbow tucked in you will feel as you are pushing the air.
With just 20 minute of casual stroll you burn up to 100 calories in power walking you speed will be higher so in 20 minutes of power walking you will burn around 180 to 200 calories, twice of casual walking.
4. Race walking
Race walking is an Olympic game for people who love walking and want to have some competition so they can keep pushing themselves. The first game of race walking was a men’s event held in the 1908 London Olympics that featured 3500 meters and 10 miles distance. Now they do have men’s and women’s race walking competition just distance of race varies.
There are some rules that a person has to follow if thinks he can take part in a race walking such as your one foot must always stay in contact with the ground all the time otherwise you will heighten the chances of you being disqualified. You can see participant’s creating a motion like they are running straight posture, the swing of the arm to generate movement
This type of walking will give you various benefits such as elevated heart rate, increase in calories burning which in turn will help you lose weight… that was the goal, right? and strengthens muscle mainly around leg and core. It will also somewhat improve your flexibility.
Average race walkers walk around 10 kilometers, and on average they burn up to 700 to 900 calories in an hour. This makes it great for weight loss.
5. Nordic walking
This is another type of walking that is a sport in Finland, the purpose of this walking was so the people can train and learn about skiing in the off-season too. Nordic walking is also known as ski walking.
Nordic walking is like brisk walking only difference between them is that Nordic walking involves movement of your upper body too. Poles incorporate you in this walk as you have them in your hand and use them to push yourself forward these poles are designed in such a way so they can be useful on any surface like pavement or somewhere else it doesn’t matter.
Nordic walking is good because it combined your cardiovascular function with vigorous muscle movement of arms, legs, shoulder, and core. Nordic walking will also help you improve your body balance, boosting blood circulation, improving your heart and lung, will help you have an overall toned body, and weight loss which is obvious.
6. Marathon walking
Marathon walking simply explains what it is… you have to walk for a long distance within a limited time period. The average distance that a marathon takes place is around 42 km and you have to walk/run that distance within 6 to 8 hours that made it easier and encouraging for the average walkers to take part and compete with themselves and others.
So keeping time and distance in the mind most of the participants start training months before the race they try to build up their endurance and stamina by walking miles after miles doing it at a faster pace and maintaining that pace throughout the race.
Marathon walking will have many health benefits such as a strong lower section of your body because of the months spent in training, building up endurance, etc. With the speed of brisk walking and the distance of a marathon, you will burn around 1500 to 2000 calories that an average, see told ya walking is an easy way to burn off calories.
7. Chi walking
This type of walking focuses around on proper mechanics of walking around such as having a good posture, loose joints, engaged core, and lose muscle around arms, and shoulder. It’s derived from tai chi that promotes the spiritual exploration with mind, body, and soul connected.
This walking helps reduce the pain and ache in your body that comes with walking incorrectly. Chi walking revolves around maintaining proper posture and balance with mind and spirit aligned.
8. The walk
I call it the walk, It’s just a normal walk with no destination in the mind you’re just walking like you get tired of sitting in a one place for too long like a flight you just need to get up stretch, and roam. That’s all I can say about “the walk”.
Conclusion
Doesn’t matter what type of walker you were but once you learn to do power walking or race walking you don’t have to worry about getting from one destination to another within a limited time like reaching a bus station on time to catch a bus. Just don’t be a casual walker mix it up, and hit all the types of walking so you can burn up to a good amount of calories without any equipment and lose some weight but lose some weight you need to eat healthy too you can’t eat pizza, fries every day and hope to lose weight unless you burn more than you eat.
Pair yourself with a fitness watch to known the precise amount of calories burned in different types of walking. If you don’t feel motivated enough to take up walking there are other forms of cardio such as cycling, jumping ropes(which is my favorite), and yoga. All these habits add a step towards living a healthy lifestyle.
Another good tip would be downloading apps that pay you to walk (in-app coin) and you can buy stuff and who doesn’t love free stuff. Apps like step set go sweat coin, etc.
This sums up different types of walking that I know of, If I missed out on something let me know in the comment section.
Great topic!!
Thank you!