Walking is an excellent form of cardio exercise
Cardio is short for “cardiovascular,” which means it involves the heart (cardio) and blood vessels (vascular). A good cardio workout gets your heart pumping stronger and faster, moving oxygen-rich blood more efficiently to all the muscles, organs and tissue throughout your body.
You may associate all that blood-pumping action with running and wonder, “Is walking cardio?” The truth is that any activity that gets your heart and lungs, as well as your large muscle groups, working harder can be considered aerobic or cardio exercise.
However, I'm talking about "A brisk walk" which does all those things above.
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To walk at a moderate-intensity pace, try to aim below 10:45min/km for 10km. At this pace, your heart rate and breathing will speed up but you won’t be out of breath. If you want to walk at a more vigorous pace, aim for 9:45min/km or lower.
If you’re just starting out, try to maintain a brisk walking pace of 11:30min/km for 3km. If you’re already fairly active, aim for a pace of 10:30min/km. And if you are ready to do some racewalking, kick it up below 9:30min/km.
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Make it fun!
Chances are, you’ll be more likely to stick to your walking routine if it’s something you enjoy doing. You may want to consider:
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walking with one friend
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listening to a podcast/playlist while walking
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using a fitness tracker or app to set goals and challenge yourself
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Finally, if you’re looking for a way to boost your cardio fitness, walking is a great workout that you can do any time and any place. The key is to make sure you walk at a pace that challenges your cardiovascular system.
A 100 minutes each brisk walking is a good goal to aim for, you can reap even more benefits by increasing the duration, frequency, and intensity of your walks each time.
And if you want to boost your motivation, walking fast for 1 km, then run for 500m, back to 1km fast walk and repeat for next 8km.