And we burn more calories.
In addition to maintaining physical fitness, walking works joints, muscles, tendons, bones and helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and chronic diseases. Neurologically, it also has many benefits for anxiety, depression and memory. And like any physical activity, it uses energy and can help you lose weight. Walking is therefore excellent at all levels and this no longer needs to be proven. But are all ways of walking equal?
“Not really,” according to researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who have identified the best way to walk for good health. To do this, they asked a group of 18 healthy volunteers (men and women weighing 70 kg on average) to walk on a treadmill at a constant speed (4 kilometers/hour, i.e. “dynamic” walking) for 5 minutes. . Secondly, they were invited to take more or less long strides (the length of their steps varied by +5%, +10%, –5% or –10%), always at a constant speed and for 5 minutes. The participants’ metabolic expenditure (the number of calories burned) was then measured.
“At the end of our experiment, we saw that non-homogeneous walking, that is to say with sometimes long, sometimes short strides, was linked to an increase in muscular contraction and the energy used by the participants, which allowed more calories to be burned (+7%) compared to constant step lengthsindicate the researchers in their study published on Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in mid-2024. Step length variability plays a modest, but significant, role in the metabolic expenditure of walking” and therefore maintaining good overall health.
These findings could be particularly relevant to older adults, particularly those with neurological conditions, given that they naturally walk with “greater variability in step length“, added the researchers. Concretely, “non-homogeneous” walking consists of varying the length of one’s steps. Taking one big step, followed by two small steps for example. Which is not necessarily very practical or intuitive, concede the American researchers who specify that their results must still be validated by a scientific committee and that additional studies are necessary to quantify muscular activity according to the placement of the feet. In the meantime, nothing prevents us from walking alternating between small and large. not, to maximize physical effort.
As a reminder, the Ministry of Sports recommends doing at least the equivalent of 30 minutes of brisk walking (walking that significantly increases the heart rate) per day at least 5 days per week or the equivalent of 25 minutes of running or walking at brisk pace (or any other form of physical exercise during which the breathing shortens and the heart rate increases considerably) at least 3 days per week, coupled with muscle strengthening exercises (work against resistance) at least 2 days per week. week.