Thankfully, one of the best ways to build great health is also one of the easiest: walking. Just moving your feet throughout the day offers so many benefits for your body, your waistline, your mood, and more. (And let’s not forget that it’s the simplest form of transportation!) In this article, we’ll share some of the top benefits of incorporating interval walking into your routine, along with five of our best 10-minute interval walking workouts to melt fat and get into shape.
The Top Benefits Of Interval Walking
Walking can help you melt belly fat and boost your heart, mental, and even brain health. It’s also a very gentle form of exercise, so it’s a great way to get cardio without pounding your feet, ankles, knees, hips, or back. But unless you’re completely out of shape, a relaxing walk around town isn’t intense enough to burn lots of calories for weight loss or to transform your heart health.
That’s where interval walking workouts come in. They crank up the difficulty—without being too hard—so you can get a greater effect from your walks in less time. Read on for how you can get moving today in just 10 minutes!
How To Get Started Interval Walking
These workouts are simple to do no matter your fitness level and don’t require fancy gym equipment. Just get some comfortable walking shoes and head outside or to any basic gym. Start with a very easy five-minute walk to get warmed up—don’t count this time as part of the workout—and then do your interval workout. Afterward, do an easy five-minute walk to cool down and stretch your muscles when you’re finished.
If you’re just starting out, try three times a week and gradually add another interval per week until you’re up to six times a week.
Workout #1
The Routine: This is a great protocol you can use to spice up a regular stroll around your neighborhood. Feel free to do it on flat terrain, or, once you get more conditioned, you can do it uphill or even while wearing a lightweight vest.
How To Do It:
- Do a 5-minute warm-up by walking at a comfortable pace.
- Walk for 30 seconds as fast as you can without running.
- Walk for 30 seconds at a regular pace.
- Repeat this 9 more times.
- Do a 5-minute cool down by walking at a relaxed pace.
Workout #2
The Routine: Walking up a gentle hill is a fantastic way to increase the intensity of your walk without putting lots of stress on your body. It also promotes good walking mechanics and strengthens more muscles than walking on a flat path. Find a stretch of road that goes uphill, or just keep walking up and down a hill at your local park.
You can also use a treadmill if you can’t really find an uphill area or you already have a gym available.
How To Do It:
- Do a 5-minute warm-up by walking at a comfortable pace.
- Walk for 1 minute uphill. (If using a treadmill, aim for a 10 – 15% incline.)
- Walk for 1 minute at a flat level or back down the hill.
- Repeat this 4 more times.
- Do a 5-minute cool down by walking at a relaxed pace.
Workout #3
The Routine: To boost your cardiovascular health and fitness, it’s important to train at the higher ends of your aerobic window. One of the best ways is to spend far more time pushing yourself during your walk than walking at a regular pace. Yet by having little “breaks” where you walk at a regular pace, you still maintain your energy for the fast walks.
How To Do It:
- Do a 5-minute warm-up by walking at a comfortable pace.
- Walk for 1:30 minutes as fast as you can without running.
- Walk for 30 seconds at a regular pace.
- Repeat this 4 more times.
- Do a 5-minute cool down by walking at a relaxed pace.
Workout #4
The Routine: If you really want to challenge your body and crank up the amount of calories you burn, throw in some total-body exercises to stimulate more muscles, build more strength, and burn more fat. By doing it in an interval method, you also increase your cardiovascular demands, which creates far more benefits when you combine it with a typical walk.
How To Do It:
- Do a 5-minute warm-up by walking at a comfortable pace.
- For 10 minutes, do 5 walking lunges on each leg at the start of every minute while walking at a regular pace.
- Do a 5-minute cool down by walking at a relaxed pace.
Workout #5
The Routine: This last interval workout combines the hardest elements of the previous ones to get maximum benefits. We recommend trying the previous ones first and getting used to them before jumping right into this workout.
How To Do It:
- Do a 5-minute warm-up by walking at a comfortable pace.
- For 1:30 minutes, start by doing 5 walking lunges on each leg and then walk as fast as you can without running for the remaining time.
- Walk for 30 seconds at a regular pace.
- Repeat this 4 more times.
- Do a 5-minute cool down by walking at a relaxed pace.
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