Does Walking Really Count As Cardio?

Walking is an easy way to get exercise during the day and it also has mental health benefits. I’m one of many people who’ve added daily walks to my routine during the pandemic, and they’ve improved my life so much that I have no plans to stop. But does walking do enough for your body that you can consider it a cardio exercise?

The answer is complicated. Walking counts as cardio in some ways: it can burn calories, it gets your heart rate up, and it counts toward the exercise we should all be doing each week. But on the other hand, it’s not going to increase your cardio aptitude in the same way as a run or an intense aerobics class. If you want to improve your endurance, you’ll need to do more than just walk.

Comparison between the caloric expenditure of walking and that of running

Running burns more calories than walking per unit of time, but the two are similar when considering distance.

Typically, you burn about 100 calories per mile whether you run or walk, but in reality, calorie burn varies depending on the size of your body (you burn more calories if you’re bigger) and the speed at which you run or walk. Calories per mile are slightly lower when you walk. This calculator estimates that a 150-pound person will burn 108 calories walking a mile at 3 miles per hour, or 104 calories running it at 6 miles per hour. Some calculators give a lower estimate for walking,

The biggest difference is calories per hour (rather than calories per mile): For the same 150-pound person, walking burns 324 calories per hour and running burns 627. The faster you go, the more calories burned. So if you walk or run to burn calories, running will burn about double the calories in a given time. But if you prefer to walk and have some free time, both will do.

Walking cannot replace “vigorous” cardio

Each level of exercise intensity offers its own benefits. Walking is what I consider very easy cardio, jogging is more of an average exercise and high intensity cardio would be something like sprinting or running. All of these are good for you, although depending on your goals, you may not need to do them all.

If you want to be a fast runner, for example, you’ll need lots of medium cardio (slow running) and some higher intensity exercises (speedwork); If you want to improve your endurance, as measured by metrics such as VO2max, you will definitely need to work at these intensities.

On the other hand, if you’re just trying to get moving in your life and don’t care about getting better, low-intensity exercises like walking may be enough.

According to leading health organizations (including the CDC, WHO, and AHA), we should all get at least 150 minutes per week of “moderate” exercise or 75 minutes of “vigorous” exercise. You can mix and match, with the idea that every minute of vigorous exercise counts double.

So, where does walking fit into this recommendation? Walking is moderate, and I have more here on how that is defined. But if you want a rule of thumb to compare it to heart rate, the American Heart Association defines moderate exercise as one in which your heart rate is between 50 and 70 percent of your maximum, and vigorous exercise is between 70 and 85 percent of your maximum. (This assumes you know your true max.) The walking will generally be moderate, so you’ll need to do twice as much, counting in minutes, as if you were choosing to do more vigorous cardio. This matches our calorie calculations.

Walking doesn’t necessarily mean an easy stroll

The distinction between walking and running is mechanical: if you always have at least one foot on the ground, you are walking. If, on the other hand, your gait skips slightly when you move from one foot to the other, you are running. (Jogging is simply slow running.)

It’s often easier to maintain a higher intensity (and higher heart rate) when running than when walking, but that’s not always true. If you’re hiking in the mountains, your heart rate can easily enter the “vigorous” zone. And if you’re an efficient enough runner, you may be able to go for a slow jog while keeping your heart rate at a “moderate” level.

When planning your workouts, think about intensity: measure your heart rate if you’re not sure where you fall; You can use a tracker like a Fitbit or Apple Watch to do this, but you can also just put two fingers on the side of your neck and count your pulse beats. If your maximum is 200 and you count 150 beats per minute, you are at 75% of your maximum heart rate.

Maybe walking gets you a higher heart rate than you thought, which isn’t impossible if you’re a beginner or if your walks take you over hilly terrain. If you want a more intense cardio workout, you can walk faster or choose another type of exercise like cycling or dancing that gets your heart rate up. But it’s fine to take an easy walk if that’s all you’re aiming for.