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

The social side of the gym is a definite bonus! I nearly always meet someone I know & it means I get some friendly face-to-face interaction on days when I wfh.

I think they are two different things. You are not going to get ripped going for a walk and you also are not going to be able to go for a walk at 9pm when it's dark and rainy (or if you did, wouldn't be much fun).

But they you won't get any vitamin C or nice views in the gym!

I run and gym with occasional family walk. Seems to do me ok.

Better for you in what way? Your mood or fitness. It is seldom better for you physically, mentally it depends.

I feel fantastic after the gym, as I get that endorphins hit and I feel good for a good while after with an elevated mood. I do not remotely feel that way going for a walk in the cold and pissing rain.

I do both every day.

1 hour exercise class, and 12-15k steps a day on average.

I don't have a car and live in a 'walking' city so barely notice the walking and don't consider it exercise.

Incorporating movement into your day is easier than motivating yourself to go to the gym. But doing both is ideal.

I generally much prefer walking outside, yes.

However, a gym was really useful when I needed to do some exercises to build up the strength of my knee joint. I saw lots of people in the gym for similar reasons.

Even for people doing cardio work it can be better in a gym if they need to carefully pace themselves and not overdo things.

Yes, I think that walking 10,000 steps a day is a bit of a myth for most. That's basically four and a half miles for many. Probably an hour and a half minimum. Two hours for some. Who the hell has the time to walk that much a day?

Who takes 2 hours to walk four miles!? Average walking speed is way more than that - closer to 3.5mph.

For me, 10K steps = 70 minutes (5 miles).

I do it twice a day, hold down a full time job (where I have a 90 minute commute each way twice a week), have kids and dogs. Going for long walks once a day is more than possible - it's about prioritisation and making time for things like that. As is going to the gym tbh. Get off a tube or bus a stop early. Walk the school run, walk to the shops etc. Easily adds up. No need to do it in one long burst, but honestly this 'who has time to walk 10k steps a day' argument is bonkers...

Are you a single parent?
You have a very narrow minded view on people's lives.

I agree that many, many people could do more exercise than they do, and find excuses as to why they can't, but really....not everyone has over an hour to themselves to walk 5 miles.
Not everyone gets the tube or the bus, or walks to school or the shops.

Nb I am a lone parent and do now have loads of time to myself because my youngest child is a teenager. When he was younger I really didn't have that sort of time. I did manage to run 3 times a week.

Who takes 2 hours to walk four miles!? Average walking speed is way more than that - closer to 3.5mph.

Lots of people.
"Average" walking pace is nowhere near 3.5 miles.

Is say about five miles too..I do a four mile loop every day and that isn't quite enough.

I think the problem is a lot of devices clock up arm movements and not just walking.

Its a decent walk and another wander later for me to get that. I have never been able to work out how people can do it pottering around the house. They might be able to make their watch say it but it's not the same.

Oh I dunno - especially in winter. If you are leaving in the dark, coming back in the dark - how can you? I wouldnt walk in the dark as a single woman alone, way too risky and scary. Lunch hour - yes, but maybe they might not get one, or the area they work isnt suitable? SAHM may struggle if your child wont sit in a buggy for that long (no way mine would of). So I totally get how some people cant walk 1 hour a day.

No way is average walking speed 3.5mph

3 is a good speed and generally 10k steps is 5 miles which even if it took 2 hours, is 2.5mph which is reasonable

I started a thread about this because people go on as if walking 4mph is normal or average, it isnt

I rack up around 3mph, soemtimes a touch over. I try to walk a mile to work and then back again and if Im able to take a lunch, I try to do 3 miles at lunch time.

Today however no such luck so only the 2 miles

I dont count the pottering around at work but my watch does and it even counts when Im blow drying my hair, it thinks Im stepping

10k steps is generally seen as 5 miles because a mile is from the Roman Mile, which is 1000 double steps (2k steps)

Women are generally as short as Romans were so Im pretty much on that.

If I wasnt able to walk to work I wouldnt be able to do much exercise at all.

No, I don't agree

10k steps is literally an arbitrary number pulled out of thin air

My gym workouts are definitely workouts where my walks aren't necessarily. And I don't walk slowly.

I do try and force myself to walk, and use things like the Conqueror Challenge as incentive (plus the medals are ace). I don't use a step counter. I look at where I walked on Google Maps

Not my experience at all. Most people around me (rural countryside - 2.5 miles from nearest A road or B road,) are very healthy and fit, and go for long walks, (in the country lanes, by the canal or river, or in the fields or woodlands.) Many people do lots of outdoor activities, and spend lots of time outside/in the garden etc...

When I lived in a town - and in a city - most people did very little walking and were very sedentary. And they couldn't be arsed with many outdoor pursuits, or gardening - some didn't even have a garden.

People are much fitter and healthier out here. It's far easier to do a nice 3 mile walk around lovely rural, country areas, and by the canal and the river, than it is in the middle of a busy, hectic, concrete jungle full of people, cars, buses, crime, pollution, and various hazards.

I moved to the countryside around 11 years ago (from a big town.) You couldn't pay me to move back. I do waaaay more walking out here, and am much fitter and healthier. Many people I know who live rurally say the same thing.

You are not representative statistically

Research always shows that people who live in rural areas walk less than urban/suburban/city dwellers

Im just out of a town but still considered in a town, but even here, our road is residential, comes out on an A road, but there is only pavement down one side of the busy A road and as you walk up that road, it disappears altogether, I cannot walk further up that road

In the other direction, once the residential roads lead out onto what is sort of a country lane, there is no pavement, no lighting. This makes it really difficult to walk even in the summer in light evenings, traffic doesnt care and they dont slow down or be considerate.
The roads that do have pavement are too narrow to walk on the pavement, the camber is unsettling also.
I try to walk a lot but Im also a driver, I couldnt live here without a car but I was born and bought up and lived half my life in London, didnt need a car ther, my mum didnt drive for example.
Public transport round here is impossible to work with so for any journeys that are meaningful, you have to drive.

That is replicated up and down the country

THIS! ALSO, I never said that most people I know walk 4 miles in 2 hours. I said '4.5 miles in one and half to two hours.' Learn to read peoples posts properly @LandSharksAnonymous before responding! And I agree with this poster that you sound narrow-minded and ignorant...

And you walk 5 miles in 70 minutes?! WTAF ???😆 No-one I know does that. An hour and three quarters is the typical time it would take to walk 5 miles. Some people will take 2 hours or a bit more. Very VERY few people will walk 5 miles in just over an hour!

Think it's best just to do whatever you enjoy, get benefit from and will keep doing.

I'd love to go for a long walk but I'm wrecked for days if I do due to arthritis in my hip. Especially annoying as I used to be a runner, ran a marathon in 2019 but a 3 mile walk is enough for me nowadays.
However, I can weight train so do this regularly. I can also still sail so that's my fresh air sport at least.

Five miles isn’t far if you’re healthy and of a young age. That being said my mum is 70 and walks 4mph. Everyone I know walks at least 3.4mph. Why? Because they’re fit and healthy.

The average healthy person - not skinny, not fat, just ‘normal’ with no serious health issues - should more than easily be able to walk 10k steps a day. Anyone who can’t is just making excuses. Sorry if that sounds ‘ignorant’ but it’s true - people make excuses when it comes to health and weight all the time.

In the summer, yes. Sunshine, Vit D, fresh air etc. Currently below freezing where I live this morning, icy pavements and thick mud on the rural paths (frozen into ankle breaking hummocks currently). I'm on the exercise bike.

Five miles isn’t far if you’re healthy and of a young age. That being said my mum is 70 and walks 4mph. Everyone I know walks at least 3.4mph. Why? Because they’re fit and healthy.

I'm not going to listen to your opinion.
As I said before, you have a very narrow world view.

Either you don't know many people or you only know people just like you and think everyone should be the same.

Walking got me in the best shape of my life. I do live somewhere very hilly so lots of steep inclines, my butt looks like a 20 year old's in my 50's! I also just love the views when out walking and observing the wildlife and the skies. Just a hippy at heart I guess 😁
I'm lucky I can walk to work (25 mins each way) and have an active job so don't really need to add in extra walks, I just do because I enjoy it and it clears my head. I often meet friends or neighbours for a walk too.
I personally can't stand gyms, full of other people and their sweat and germs, they reek! not my thing. I have a treadmill at home for the really bad weather days and some weights/resistance bands I use a few times a week. All free too after initial minimal investment.

Yep - 3.5 miles is classes as “brisk walking pace”, and if you have ever been stuck behind a group of people on the pavement you will know that most people do not walk briskly 🤣

3.5 miles is a good speed to aim for for fitness, but you are deluding yourself if you think the average person going for a saunter round the block and calling that their exercise for the day is achieving even half of that speed.

I use the womens only rooms, which are only accessible with your QR code. There's panic buttons and stuff dotted about, but no I've never felt nervous. Everyone is just doing their own thing really. There's generally a couple of other women there when I'm there, but not always.

I hate this snobbery around levels of fitness.

If someone is managing 10k steps per day at whatever speed - and lets not forget the slower you are the longer it takes - then I would look at diet first for any health benefits, rather than peevishly insisting it's the wrong speed of walking. Let's not forget they are already doing more than a great percentage of the population.

There is snobbery around levels of fitness yes, but I think there is a lot of delusion about what people are actually achieving

I got up very late this morning, Im not washed and dressed yet. We have taken down the xmas tree and chopped it up. I havent left the living room apart from to make a cup of tea. Ive done some sweeping, bagging up and hoovered.

My watch says Ive done 1533 steps. That is simply impossible an doesnt represent an actual distance. Thats on the way to doing a mile of walking. That is completely inaccurate

I said up thread that my watch thinks Im walking when Im blow drying my hair, thats a good 5 mins of steps

So some people like me, use their step count with extreme caution, I only count in my head my actual walks, which are around 3 miles a day, which is 6k steps for me and thats good enough for me, its an hour of actual intentional movement. I dont count the steps at work walking round the office.

I remember a day last summer when I hadnt left the house but had done loads of sweeping up with a small dustpan and brush, quite vigorously in the garden, for much of the day, it was exhausting. My watch told me I had done over 25k steps. It was taking the movement of me sweeping and the small movements of the dustpan and brush as steps.