Japanese interval walking: the viral exercise trend that could put a spring in your step
The idea is simple: alternate between three minutes of fast and three minutes of slow walking, ideally for 30 minutes at a time.
'The fast walking pace is typically fast [enough] that you are not able to speak in long sentences,' said Dr Kristian Karstoft, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, who has studied the method. 'And then the slow intervals are so slow that you are able to recover.' He added that people could often find it challenging to walk slowly enough during these intervals.
Putting the approach to the test, I hit the area around King's Cross in central London.
I began striding out, as though late for a train. Three minutes later my watch beeped and I slowed down, pottering along as if searching for a dropped earring. Another beep and I sped up once more, arms swinging.
I was slightly worried what passersby might think of my erratic pace – I suspect I looked as if I needed the loo but dared not risk a jog. Already I was regretting attempting this without my two flat-coated retrievers: if they were in tow I could at least have blamed my dawdling intervals on their lamp-post sniffing.
After 30 minutes I felt warm, but not exactly out of puff.
Karstoft said the approach was particularly suited to people prone to running injuries, as walking is less hard on the joints, or middle-aged or older adults who do not do much regular training. People who were already pretty fit, he said, would need to jog or run for intervals to experience similar benefits.
The regime is similar to high-intensity interval training (Hiit). Dr Shaun Phillips, a senior lecturer in sport and exercise physiology at the University of Edinburgh, said: 'High-intensity exercise can give similar benefits to moderate-intensity exercise but in a shorter time frame [or] with a lower volume of exercise. The use of high-intensity places a bigger stimulus on the body to adapt.'
But not everyone can keep up a furious pace, even when walking. Phillips said people who were less active or fit should start with normal walking to get into the swing of it, and then try interval walking.
'A way to maximise your ability to do high-intensity training is to do it with the alternating intensities, meaning the interval-based training,' Karstoft said.
While high-intensity interval walking has recently become popular on TikTok, where enthusiasts share videos of themselves earnestly striding around town parks, the idea goes back more than 20 years when scientists in Japan began studying it in middle-aged and older adults.
According to one Japanese study, involving an analysis of data from 139 healthy participants with an average age of 63, people who did high-intensity interval walking on four or more days a week over a five-month period increased their peak aerobic capacity, indicating an improvement in physical fitness. What's more, these improvements were greater than for participants who had undertaken a walking regime of continuous, moderate intensity or who did no walking training.
The study also suggested high-intensity interval walking may reduce blood pressure and increase the strength of the knee joint.
A small randomised control trial by Karstoft and his colleagues found the approach could also benefit people with type 2 diabetes, including by improving their glycaemic control.
Four months of high-intensity interval walking was associated with greater benefits than continuous walking, even though the overall energy expenditure and mean training intensity were the same.
'Typically with interval walking, we've seen a gain in fitness level of around 15% to 20% compared to trivial or no improvements in fitness levels when subjects are doing the continuous walking [or no walking],' Karstoft said. 'We've seen improvements in body composition with an average weight loss during four to six months of training of around three to five kilograms, mainly due to fat mass.'
A review on the topic published by Karstoft and his colleagues last year concluded that Japanese interval walking was a feasible and effective training regimen for older, fragile people. 'It significantly enhances fitness, muscle strength, and health markers,' they wrote.
But, Phillips acknowledged, while some people like the challenge of higher intensity periods of exercise, others hate it.
'We're certainly never going to come to the ideal exercise protocol that everybody loves,' he said. 'It's about trying to give as many workable and beneficial options as possible that people can pick from.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Busy Brits are calling this walking app a 'life-changer' for fitness: 'Gives me the motivation to walk every day'
Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - learn more Busy Brits looking for a low-impact and affordable way to stay fit are raving about one walking app. WalkFit by Welltech is a gentle, guided, and science-backed way to get healthier. Designed as an accessible step counter and walking tracker, the app personalises your daily step goals based on your weight, age, and fitness level to help you reach your fitness goals in a sustainable, achievable way. No gyms, no diets, just consistent, low-impact walks. WalkFit by Welltech WalkFit by Welltech helps to make walking into a rewarding daily activity, whether at home or on the go. Helping you set fitness goals, you can choose from flexible options for indoor and outdoor walking, making it simple to stay consistent and build healthy routines that last. Shoppers can sign up for one one-week paid trial at £6.93, which then converts to a monthly subscription at £38.95 1 month = £15.19, which then converts to a monthly subscription at £38.95 3 month = £25.99, which then converts to a 3-month rolling subscription at £66.65 The first price refers to the introductory offer (61 per cent off) available for the first 10 minutes on the payment page, applied to the initial payment. The second price reflects the recurring subscription fee for all subsequent rebills if the user does not cancel. £15.19 per month Shop Designed for 'real people with real lives', the WalkFit by Welltech is being hailed as an easy way to support you towards a healthier and happier lifestyle. Offering guided walks and walking workouts along with fun daily challenges, the app is here to make walking more of a fitness challenge or simply make the pursuit more fun. With personalised walking plans, you can help tone up, improve your cardiovascular health and posture - all without overwhelming routines. The WalkFit by Welltech is an app with 18 million users, and counting, helping bust the myth that we all need 10,000 steps a day. Discarding the arbitrary 'rules' that govern the usual walking plans for weight loss, the app begins with simple inquiries that unveil your unique endurance level and preferred workload. The reality is that most individuals should begin their journey from a more attainable starting point. After a short survey asking about your fitness history, goals and current routine, the walking app helps craft a plan suited to your specific needs and limitations. Accessibility is key, with options to choose from like indoor workouts, treadmill exercises, and step aerobics to mix things up and help you stay motivated. It's an easy way to track your activity, goals and celebrate your achievements. And users have been largely impressed with the WalkFit by Welltech. 'This app has really helped me to build up my fitness at a manageable pace, as the workouts are tailored to you,' wrote one review. 'The challenges and daily streak are a great motivator for me too. You can also connect it to whatever fitness tracker you use, which is fab, in my case Fitbit.' Another agreed, adding: 'As a single, working mum, I was finding it difficult to find the time or confidence to exercise. It was easy to link to my Fitbit & accurately updates. 'This gives me the motivation to walk every day with many different challenges & workouts to try. Eases you in gently & some workouts are only 10 minutes so can achieve daily. Allows 2 rest days a week so no guilt!'.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
The zone zero secret: how ultra-low-stress exercise can change your life
In our modern, time-squeezed lives, it's tempting to do everything as fast as possible: listen to podcasts on double speed, work in email-free sprints, or train at lung-bursting intensity in the gaps between your morning meditation and the school run. But evidence is piling up that the last one might not be as beneficial as it seems – and that, in fact, just introducing a lot more ultra-low-intensity movement into your schedule can improve your fitness as well as your quality of life, whether you're a top-tier athlete or experienced couch-crasher. Welcome to zone zero. In case you're unfamiliar with the concept, or just need a quick refresher, zone training is a way of structuring workouts based on how high your heart rate gets as a percentage of the fastest it can possibly thump. Lower means slower – and most of us will never hit maximum intensity in our day-to-day lives. Over the decades, the most-recommended zones have shifted as training techniques evolve and knowledge of our biology improves – but zone zero, the state just slightly above total inactivity, where your heart never gets above 50% of its maximum rate, is enjoying a resurgence. One reason? It's easy. Most zone training requires you to know your maximum heart rate – the British Heart Foundation recommends deducting your age from 220, though more accurate, less pleasant methods exist – and then making sure it doesn't go too high or low, usually by training with a heart rate monitor. Zone zero, though, doesn't require any of this. It's essentially where you spend most of your semi-active life: walking slowly, doing light tidying, or even working at a standing desk. It shouldn't really feel like exercise at all – but it might help you live longer, run faster, or feel better. 'Zone zero is an accessible way to increase daily movement without the need for formal workouts or special equipment,' says Brian Passenti, founder of Altitude Endurance Coaching. 'Getting more time in it can be as simple as parking further from the shops to get more steps in, taking a walk break while on a work call, or standing and stretching regularly at your desk. Of course, as you get more used to it, you can walk further or more frequently throughout your day, until you're spending hours in zone zero rather than on the couch.' To understand why this is beneficial, it helps to know a bit about how your body fuels itself. After a meal or snack, carbohydrates are broken down and released into the bloodstream as glucose (a form of sugar), with any excess stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen. When you stand up or walk around, your muscles start contracting, which uses some of this glucose for fuel. This can have dramatic effects over time – a 2022 review of studies found that even a little bit of light-intensity walking was enough to 'significantly attenuate' post-food glucose levels compared with continued sitting, which almost certainly reduces your risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Although there's some criticism of the idea that people living in 'blue zones' (those regions of the world where life-and-health span might be slightly longer than elsewhere) really differ from other populations, one thing that's fairly consistent among them is a significant amount of low-level activity, especially after meals – something that the evidence suggests is a pretty good idea. Glucose is also released when you're stressed, as part of the body's fight-or-flight response – and managing that process might be one of the reasons that walking seems to be related to reduced stress, improved mood and general happiness. And there's another key element to the fuelling process – low-intensity exercise uses a higher percentage of fat for fuel than high-intensity exercise, which tends to rely on the quick energy hit provided by glucose. This means that walking for a long time, or walking in a fasted state (like taking the dog out before you have breakfast) tends to pull energy from your body's fat stores. Total calories burned matter, and so if fat loss is your main goal, adding more high-intensity exercise might get you there faster – but if that's unpleasant, injurious, or makes you ravenous, it may do more harm than good. 'For many of my clients – especially women in midlife or those just beginning their movement journey – zone zero is the bridge between sedentary and sustainable,' says Terry Tateossian, a personal trainer and nutritionist. 'It reduces stress, supports mental clarity, can help with improved circulation and better digestion, and it's a more enjoyable, flexible way to stick with training over time.' It's also important to note that, in longevity terms, a bit (or a lot) more daily movement can play a huge role. A 2022 review of studies in the Lancet, for instance, found that taking more daily steps – fast or slow – was associated with a progressively lower risk of all-cause mortality, to an upper limit that varied by age. Another study led by the American Cancer Society found that any amount of walking, even at a moderate pace and at levels below the recommended guidelines, was associated with lower mortality risk. Consistency counts. But what about more athletic endeavours? Well, even people who schedule workouts five or six days a week will still probably benefit from adding some extra low-intensity movement to their routine. A few more daily steps can bring all of the benefits mentioned above. But can going (very) slowly actually help you run faster? This, it turns out, is a contentious area. Marathon data, for instance, shows that faster runners tend to spend a huge amount of time in the low-intensity zone compared with their slower peers – something that has prompted a recent examination in the European Journal of Applied Physiology. One theory is that faster athletes train a lot more in general – they're spending more hours on the roads and trails, and so some of those have to be slow so they don't burnout. This is the first of seven different hypotheses in the new piece, which notes that 'complete cardiac recovery from [high intensity] exercises might take over two days, limiting athletes to two to three weekly well-rested HI sessions' – leaving four or five days a week that can be filled with low intensity work. There are also other explanations. Very low-intensity training may trigger training adaptations in a slightly different way to higher-intensity at the molecular level, or through different pathways. It might gradually remodel the structure and function of the heart (particularly the left ventricle), or shift the composition of an athlete's muscle fibres to the more endurance-focused (and economical) slow-twitch kind. It might also reinforce the effect of more serious training, as suggested by a 2021 study that found decreasing daily background steps actually blunted the effects of a high-intensity training programme. 'There have been studies comparing people doing training and getting 2,000 steps per day versus people doing the same training and doing 5,000 to 7,000 steps per day, and those getting more steps get better training adaptations,' says Brady Holmer, an exercise scientist and the author of VO2 Max Essentials. 'We often think it's best to do your training session and sit on the couch all day, but that doesn't appear to be the case. You need the high-intensity training to get a faster race time, but zone zero training plays a supportive role.' It has been well established for some time now that 'active recovery' – even if you're barely doing anything – works to mitigate the effects of workouts that would otherwise leave you sore for days, by getting oxygen and nutrients to damaged muscle tissue through better blood flow. 'An easy walk around the block is the best way to combat sore muscles,' says Passenti. 'My wife is not as active as I am, but an easy after-dinner walk on a summer evening can offer benefits for both of us, and our dog too. While it may not directly improve sprint speed, it supports recovery and endurance development. Every bit of movement counts.' But also, staying in zone zero is just … easy. High-intensity training is horrible almost by design: you might come to 'enjoy' it on some level, but it tends to have a negative effect on mood even in well-trained people. Going for a walk or a gentle yoga session, though, decreases mental fatigue and improves your mood, leaving you psychologically more prepared for the hard stuff. 'Zone zero addresses the biggest challenge I see across all levels of athletes: the inability to slow down,' says endurance coach Stephanie Holbrook. 'Over 16 years of coaching, I've found that most endurance athletes start out too hard and are simply not willing to embrace truly gentle movement. Zone zero – that sweet spot where you're just slightly active but not actually feeling like you're exerting yourself – can be revolutionary. For beginners who have never exercised, it removes the intimidation factor and shows that movement doesn't require suffering. For experienced 5k and marathon runners, it's often the missing piece that unlocks breakthrough performances because it facilitates genuine recovery without contributing to the body's stress response.' So where to start? Anywhere you like. The point of zone zero is to stop thinking of your day as a split between workouts (horrible) and inactivity (non-ideal), and try to maximise the amount of very gentle movement you're doing without ever really worrying about it. In a typical day, that might mean going out for a quick walk before breakfast or getting off the bus to work a couple of stops early, getting up regularly for a stretch while you're at your desk, and going for a 20-minute wander at lunchtime. It could mean a short amble after dinner or a bit of very gentle yoga while you're watching Netflix (if you don't know any, just sit on the floor instead of the sofa, and you'll find yourself moving naturally). 'Start with 10 to 15 intentional minutes of zone zero a day,' says Tateossian. 'Add mobility while your coffee brews. Park further away on purpose. These micro-movements add up, and for people who feel intimidated by 'exercise', this is the entry point.' It sounds like a hassle, compared with what many of us are used to – but if it pays off with improved mental energy now and a better quality of life later, it will be worth the effort. And, if you've never quite cracked the code to enjoying exercise, it could be just what you need. 'There can be a psychological breakthrough that comes from learning that sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is almost nothing at all,' says Holbrook. Besides, any form of exercise where you don't have to wash your gym kit has to be worth a try. Zone 0: casual strollHeart rate: below 50% of max Super-easy. Slow walking, gentle cleaning, or possibly just working at a standing desk. Spend as much time here as possible: it's where our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have spent most of their days. Zone 1: getting goingHeart rate: 50% to 60% of max Still barely challenging. This is where you'd be during an easy warm-up, walking the dog, or having a kickabout with a toddler. Useful for building work capacity for more challenging stuff. Zone 2: this is fine Heart rate: 60% to 70% of max Easyish. You're breathing a bit harder, but you could still explain the plot of Severance if you really had to. Modern runners spend hours here to build a base without burning out. Can be boring, but very effective. Zone 3: this isn't fine Heart rate: 70% to 80% of max This is where tempo runs – a pace that's right at the edge of your ability for sustained efforts – happen. You could talk, but you'd rather not. A zone that's fallen a bit out of fashion recently, as many coaches recommend a mix of long, slow training and higher-intensity efforts. Can still be useful, though. Zone 4: can't talk, lungs hurting Heart rate: 80% to 90% of max Hard. This is what happens when you do intervals or threshold runs, or ill-advisedly sprint up an escalator as fast as you can. In theory, this is what nudges up your lactate threshold – or your body's ability to deal with lactate buildup in the blood. You can't sustain it for long, and you probably shouldn't try. Zone 5: almost unbearable Heart rate: 90% to 100% of max Maximum effort: this is where you're redlining it because someone's yelling at you. Honestly, you probably don't need to be here much.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
From 190 to 163 pounds! How one man used a motivating AI fitness app to get the body he always wanted
Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - learn more Sticking to a workout regimen isn't always easy. If your schedule is just too demanding, you aren't crazy about going to the gym, or you're just feeling unmotivated, you may need a little nudge to get moving in the right direction. The beauty of evolving technology is that it's hit the fitness world in a big way — and the Muscle Booster app is an amazing example. The app is designed to create completely personalized training experiences that adapt to your individual needs and goals. This approach takes the guesswork out of sticking to a routine, while helping you stay motivated during your journey. The secret to its success is the intelligent customization factor. An AI-powered fitness test evaluates your current fitness levels, identifies your strength, and takes into account areas that might require improvement. The Muscle Booster app uses the information you supply to generate a customized workout plan that takes into account your specific needs Using that information, Muscle Booster generates a workout plan that is specifically designed just for you. Are you trying to shed a couple of pounds? Want to lose a bit more weight? Interested in gaining more muscle? You're in the right place! It's so effective that one user experienced stunning results over the course of a year using the groundbreaking app. 'What a year of consistency and dedication can do,' he raved. 'I'm proud to say I'm in the healthiest state of my life, both mentally and physically. A year ago, I went from 1980 lbs to 175. Today, I'm at 163 lbs.' This app even makes it fun to break a sweat, presenting you with a wide range of workout choices that range from strength training and chair workouts to calisthenics and recovery exercises. You can also use the built-in Workout Builder feature to make your own training routine, customized exactly to your skill level and schedule. And Muscle Booster centers you through every phase. One of the most important and helpful features is the ability to monitor your progress as you go along. Seeing those results is highly motivating, giving you that extra boost you need to keep going. You'll also be privy to the app's smart recommendations, which develop as it 'learns' your habits, needs, and goals. It's an intuitive detail that can make all the difference, especially if you find that standard weight loss plans and workout routines just don't work for you. Maybe the most important addition of all is the focus on motivation. It's far too easy to lose focus, hope, or confidence while attempting to make major changes to your health and fitness routines. What sets Muscle Booster apart is that it's really in your corner, a bit like a personal coach. Motivation tools really make a difference, reminding you that you're on this path for a reason and that with some effort, you can absolutely accomplish whatever you set out to do. Getting started is both easy and fun. Just fill out the short quiz on the Muscle Booster website. The information you supply is used to create a fitness plan that meets your requirements for important factors like intensity and scheduling.
