To think getting out for a walk is better for you than the gym?

[lostinthememory]

And this is a hill I'm willing to die on

Yes going to the gym is great, especially if you're lifting weights etc with a goal to building muscle mass. But for most of us, it's far better to get out and go for a nice brisk walk in the sunshine (or even the sleet, as I did yesterday!) and leaves you feeling much better

I used to have a commute that meant I could run along the South Bank in the mornings, & later one where I ran through London parks. I loved those.

On chilly mornings, running past the Serpentine & seeing the swimmers gave me a sense of perspective.

Apologies. I should have been more thoughtful in my comment.

I don't like walking

So YABU

I swim 5km a week

Whether it has the same benefits of intense workouts of different muscles is debatable but personally yes, I absolutely prefer outdoor activities. The fresh air, more peaceful, beats a loud crowded gym for me. Plus it's free! Xx

I absolutely hate ‘going out for a walk’ - I don’t mind walking somewhere to do something, but the idea of walking for walking’s sake just does not inspire me, on the other hand I love going to the gym, pop my headphones in and catch up on an audiobook.

Agree. Sadly, so much of the countryside near me is being ruined by developers. Honestly, I could cry. My local woods have been hacked down to make way for a new estate, and a second massive estate is being built at the other end of the village. We've also been told that the fields in the centre of the village are next. The developers must be licking their lips at the thought of all the disgusting little rabbit hutches they can jam on top of one another. I used to love walking across those fields on a summer evening. Now I'll have to drive to the fields in a neighbouring village instead – until those fields disappear under a sea of houses as well that is. At the rate we're going, soon everyone will have to join a gym because there won't BE any f-ing countryside to walk in.

Another erg rower! I just restarted, as I missed the whole-body workout I was getting from it.

It makes me so incredibly angry. The benefits of green spaces and trees on human health are absolutely proven and incontrovertible - yet they are treated as completely expendable.

Couldn't agree more. I get as many steps in as possible but it bores the pants off me. I love weight training and spin though.

I think we need to remember the average UK woman walks less than 1km a day and 47% of women have done no strenuous exercise in the last year.

I don't think that the walking is shit and you have to do weights at the gym message is likely to encourage engagement.

Don’t t actually know if it’s better, but personally I’m far more likely to go for a walk than ever set foot in a gym

What a strange thread. If you prefer to be outside to walk, then just go?

I don't count walking as exercise FOR ME, I don't care what other people do. I run instead, each to their own. I also go to the gym because I need to add different kind of exercise. I think a combination of activities is the best solution.

Weight loss is around 20% exercise and 80% diet anyway.

100 % agree. The best thing you can do is walk daily, preferably multiple walks through the day. Some people join the gym and then use it 2 or 3 times a week which is great but walking each day as much as you can is better, unless you do both which is great too. Walking is also just great for your mental health. If you ever get in a tangle of worry or thoughts - walk, even the action of walking helps our brains and thoughts organise better.

Apologies. I should have been more thoughtful in my comment.

No need. You’re fine. I wasn’t at at all offended and just wanted to explain that it’s more pain than pleasure for some of us.

So you don't care so it's strange? Not all of us have the same info. If it's beneath you feel free to scroll/walk past.

Sadly same near me, so horrible watching it all disappear.

I don’t think it’s a case of better. Do what you enjoy, and you will feel better.

I love running, outside not in the gym but I also love lifting weights. It’s not one against the other

I've only recently started going to the gym.
Honestly, most people who know me wouldn't believe you if you told them I was going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, but what I like about walking on the treadmill vs walking outside is the numbers in front of me. They 'make me' do a little bit more. They make me go a little bit further each week, and a little bit faster, and up a steeper incline. Yes, I know in theory I could try and go faster on a walk, but I can't make the flat land around me into a hill like I can on the treadmill. I like 'rounding up' to the next 5 mins, or the next km, or the next mile, to go just that little bit further than last week. You can't do that easily on a circular walk.

Then I can do specific exercises the physio has advised me to do, again, increasing the tension / weight / etc gradually as I improve which I can't do at home by tying a resistance band round the leg of my dining chair and so forth. Then I can do a little bit on my core - again, some of which, in theory I could do at home, but I'd have to rearrange furniture to get a space roomy enough to lie in. so on and so on.

For me, the gym is all together, doesn't depend on the weather, and has an instructor on hand to help reassure me I am doing something correctly, or to help me to move to the next stage.

But, as I've said above - I don't expect everyone to like the same things I like. It's odd that some people are adamant that one thing is 'better' than another.

You should do both - both are good for you. Doesn’t need to be either or.

It really does work almost everything. I feel the difference in my core and posterior chain when I don't row regularly. I get the endorphins after about 20" too.

I’d agree that walking outside - provided that you’ve got access to safe and pleasant places to walk - is more fun than using the treadmill at the gym.

But when I’m at the gym I’m mainly focusing on a strength workout, or on other cardio machines like the rowing machine or the cross trainer, which I can’t easily do at home / outside, and which also make me feel better.

It doesn’t have to be a competition between the two, surely? Mixing up walks outside with the other exercises in the gym works well for me. And the gym definitely wins when the weather outside is as horrible as it has been lately!

But does everyone agree, that PHYSICALLY a fast paced 10k steps a day (so you are puffed out, walking at 4mph) is equivalent to a gym workout? I think it is, but am I right?

Im not talking about a leisurely amble.

Sure, but I wouldn’t replace all my gym workouts with fast paced walks, because the weights equipment & cardio equipment (except the treadmill) in the gym is exercising different parts of my body than the fast paced walks is.

Did I touch a nerve with you 😂

Who said it was "beneath me". I don't have to agree that " a walk" is better than the gym?

Not really, surely It depends what your workout is to start with.

People cross-train for a reason.