I’ve shown you that a sedentary lifestyle is your bigger risk factor for heart disease, demonstrated that daily walking is essential for a healthy brain, and proven that eating right and walking burns more fat than carb-ing up to fuel an excessively long run. But what if I told you that interval walking is going to increase that fat burning even more…?
And unlike continuous walking it’s going to increase your endurance capacity (Vo2max) and improve your glycemic control….?
The best part is, the participants in the research I’m referring to had type-2 diabetes. Which is refreshing, because other than struggling to burn fat and control blood sugar, these individuals often struggle to exercise. Predominantly because they’re carrying quite a bit of excess fat and have unstable blood sugar levels, but also because they’ve been told that “more exercise” is the only solution to losing it.
Fortunately, these are 2 things they won’t encounter with interval walking. And as the charts below reflect – the differences in weight, fat mass, visceral fat, and Vo2max when compared to continuous walking (5 times a week for 60-minutes over 4 months) are significant!
Though I guess all this shouldn’t come as a surprise, given what we know about intensity and it’s far greater influence on body composition than duration. Even if it is super-simple intervals of fast-walking for 3 minutes, that require “no extra energy output” to standard walking.
Sadly, this information was hardly promoted when it was released in 2012, despite being groundbreaking for the obese, sedentary, insulin-resistant population. Who, in most cases, have unfortunately become “too big” to exercise pain-free, and without getting discouraged.
In 2030, 439 million people worldwide will be diagnosed with diabetes!
And sure, food needs to come first, and more exercise isn’t the answer, but a little extra low-impact fat burning couldn’t hurt – if people knew it was an option!
You should be walking everyday anyways, so why not double-time it to the nearest light post, pretend you’re late for an appointment, or do your best impression of race walking at the Olympics?
Will you look stupid? Maybe. But the results speak for themselves. And you’ll feel far better about yourself in the future than any embarrassment you’ll experience along the way.
Stay Lean!
Coach Mike
RELATED ARTICLES:
Walking is a Man's Best Medicine
Why MORE Exercise Fails For Fat Loss