11 replies to this topic

[drew_ab]

I'm wondering what your thoughts are about the safe upper limit for walking.  Is there anything wrong with walking 45-60min twice per day?  As far as I know, this would actually be fairly healthy but would like to hear others thoughts.

 

I'm currently weight training about 2hrs per week, along with 1hr of flexibility/yoga, 1 hr of vigorous activity like running, and 2 hours of meditation (mind exercise).

 

Thoughts?

[tunt01]

Amish men walk 18,000 steps per day for weekly activity levels of 10 hours vigorous activity, 42.8 hours moderate activity, and 12 hours walking activity.  That's 9.3 hours activity per day.

 

The average American gets less than 5,000 steps per day.

[nowayout]

I doubt there is any amount of walking that is unsafe.  It appears from recent research that it is time spent NOT walking that is unsafe.  

[sensei]

I doubt there is any amount of walking that is unsafe.  It appears from recent research that it is time spent NOT walking that is unsafe.  

 

 

When I was losing 75 lbs, about 4 years ago -- I would walk up to 15 miles in a day (yes 4 hours of walking 2 hrs am 2 hrs pm).

 

The downside was sore feet, very sore, even with very good shoes.

 

You can develop plantar fasciitis from too much walking.

[proileri]

In the 'light jogging' thread, it seemed that when it comes to aerobic exercise, only the highest intensity + highest frequency combination (top 5% or so of runners in that study) seems to have negative effects.

[Darryl]

In Sardinia, those who walk furthest and on the steepest grades live longest.

 

Pes, G. M., Tolu, F., Poulain, M., Errigo, A., Masala, S., Pietrobelli, A., ... & Maioli, M. (2013). Lifestyle and nutrition related to male longevity in Sardinia: an ecological study. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, 23(3), 212-219.

[Babol]

The more you walk the better you will be) Always loved to walk)

[Kalliste]

The mobility-research is pretty scary stuff to read. Some of the teams doing the research actually tossed every single chair from their office.

Some people are selling office-chairs with bicycle pedals and a distance-meter. One guy had logged 12.000km in a year of office-work.

[Juangalt]

When I was losing 75 lbs, about 4 years ago -- I would walk up to 15 miles in a day (yes 4 hours of walking 2 hrs am 2 hrs pm).

 

The downside was sore feet, very sore, even with very good shoes.

 

You can develop plantar fasciitis from too much walking.

 

 

Yes, I lost around 60 lbs walking 25k steps per day weekdays, and 30-40k steps on weekends (between 12-20 miles). My feet hurt a lot at first, and when they hurt too much to walk I would rest for a day. Of course this doesn't mean that I wasn't developing a heart arrhythmia, but my understanding is that they typically develop from activities that require  near maxium levels of bloodflow for prolonged periods. During these walks my heart rate stayed under 95 bpm most of the time, although on weekends I often would do an 8-11 mile hike in the am, and then finish off the day with a walk.

[icyT]

My safe upper limit is dictated by thigh chafe, a limit I bet would disappear if I lost some fat and learned more about which clothing frabrics protect or enhance friction.

[proileri]

My safe upper limit is dictated by thigh chafe, a limit I bet would disappear if I lost some fat and learned more about which clothing frabrics protect or enhance friction.

 

Running pants are usually designed to help with that particular problem. If you don't want to look like you're wearing stretch pants, they also make versions that have a loose 'regular' layer on top.  

 

 

Anyways, the old Harvard alumni study did look into walking and exercise intensity vs. mortality, more walking meant lower risk of mortality. Moderate to vigorous exercise was somewhat better than light exercise, but of course there might be some causality issues. 

 

http://aje.oxfordjou...151/3/293.long 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Edited by proileri, 04 May 2015 - 02:46 AM.

[zorba990]

My safe upper limit is dictated by thigh chafe, a limit I bet would disappear if I lost some fat and learned more about which clothing frabrics protect or enhance friction.

Coconut oil. I also did my half marathon commando for this reason.