One solution to make your every single day hike extra environment friendly, science says

If you can, walking is without a doubt the easiest and most effective way to exercise regularly for good health and fitness. After all, the learning curve is non-existent.

Ah, but is it really? The only way, in fact the best way, to get the most out of your daily walk is to learn about how to go, suggest many studies and a walking expert we talked to who says The key to making your daily walk more efficient is to simply shorten the step.

“We are so comfortable walking that we tend to lull into a pace that is energy efficient,” says the walking coach. Michele Stanten, author of Lose weight: Burn 3 times more fat with this proven program to trim your belly, butt and back fat. Too energy efficient. “We do not burn enough calories.”

Related: 36 tips when losing weight to lose weight, according to experts

Hundreds of studies have shown that the more you walk the better for all sorts of health reasons: weight loss, lower blood pressure and blood sugar, a better cholesterol profile, stress reduction, improved mood, memory and brain power and longevity. (See: What Happens to Your Body When You Walk Every Day.) But the faster you walk, the more effective your effort will be.

“The big mistake that most hikers make is to take a step too far,” says Stanten. “When the foot lands straight in front of you, it acts almost like a brake and slows you down. By shortening the step, you go faster and burn more calories. “

How a shorter step and interval hiking can make your walk more efficient.

That’s the critical thing, ahem, take the step to a new level with a training technique called intervals.

Interval walk is nothing more than going at a fast to fast pace for a short period of time, say 30 seconds, followed by 30 seconds to a minute or more recovery at a slow to moderate pace. Done correctly, interval running can be challenging, but the potential dividends are quite large.

First, you save time: A 3.5 km / h takes you home much faster than a quiet 1.5 km / h and makes it easier to fit a walk in your hectic day. Just like in other forms of interval training, interval walking also increases – “pushing yourself out of your comfort zone”, says Stanten – calorie burning.

The benefits of interval walking.

Danish research presented in Diabetes care studied people with type 2 diabetes who were randomly assigned to either a walking group with a continuous pace that went at a steady moderate speed or an interval group that alternated 3-minute repetitions with low and high intensity. After four months, researchers found that only interval walkers improved their blood sugar levels, decreased BMI (Body Mass Index) and lost dangerous visceral belly fat.

In a related study published in 2015 in the journal Biology letter, Ohio State University researchers found that walking at different speeds can burn up to 20% more calories compared to keeping a steady pace. The researchers put the participants on a treadmill at a steady speed and asked them to walk quickly to the treadmill or slowly move to the back of the treadmill while monitoring their breathing. Their analysis showed that the very change of speeds burns more energy because the legs have to do more work to go from slow to fast pace and vice versa. The researchers estimated that up to eight percent of the energy we use during normal daily walking may depend on the energy needed to accelerate and slow down.

Going at a fast pace also seems to improve longevity, suggests an analysis in Mayo Clinic Proceedings based on data from nearly 475,000 people followed for seven years. The study suggested that physical fitness is a better indicator of life expectancy than the Body Mass Index and that participating in regular brisk walking can provide up to 15 years in people’s lives.

Expert tips to make your walk more efficient.

Adding two or three day interval walks to your weekly routine is an easy way to increase your heart rate and build better cardiovascular fitness, says Stanten. Improving your gait will help you walk faster and get more training for the money, she says. We posted some tips to help you make your walk more efficient. Read on, and for more, check out the 30-second tricks to lose weight while walking.

Do not bend. Stand tall, roll your shoulders back and lift your chest and hold your chin up. “Look 10 to 20 feet in front of you instead of down on the ground,” says Stanten. “You will still be able to see what is in front of you and you will not travel.” Stanten tells the story of a 70-year-old woman with Parkinson’s disease who trained for a hiking race. The woman was so nervous about falling that she only looked at her feet as she walked. “When I showed her that she could still see the ground by looking ahead, she was so excited that for the first time in several years she could enjoy the landscape.”

You do not run with straight arms so do not walk with them either. “Bending and swinging your arms will give you more power; your legs want to keep pace,” says Stanten.

Make your step shorter by lifting your knees as if you were marching. Lay the lead foot just about 5 inches in front of your back foot. “Land on the heel, roll through and push off with the foot ball and toes in an even step,” says Stanten.

Try 30-second intervals at a fast pace followed by either 30 seconds, a minute or even more recovery at a slower pace. And keep switching this way. “Count your steps”, Stanten recommends. “Generally, 130 to 137 steps per minute is about 4 miles per hour, so try about 65 steps in 30 seconds.” If you do not want to count steps, measure your intensity by breathing. At a fast pace, it becomes very difficult to speak in full sentences.

You can also measure interval periods on a walk using telephone poles or street lamp posts. Options go at a fast and moderate pace from one to another. Going up and down hills is another way to automatically build intervals in your walk as the intensity changes with altitude.

With practice, your brisk walks can even turn into quick hike sessions, where you burn as many calories at a rate of 5 mph as if you were driving. Turn up to 5.2 km / h and you will even burn more calories than you would run because “running is biomechanically easier than walking at that pace”, says Stanten.

Do you want more workouts? Try this 20-minute walk to get in shape and burn fat.