How to walk fast?

[soupfiend]

I have started walking and really struggle to get above 3mph.

Today I thought I was literally flying along, must have looked a sight as well in terms of marching along, I was in a hurry.

My fitbit thing said on the way there I was doing 3.4mph and on the way back (with heavy shopping), 3.2mph

I just cannot get really fast and I read on here about people walking at 4mph!!

I could save a lot of time going for my walks if I could get some speed up. Although very much slowed down by trying to cross roads.

I was drenched when I got back and well out of puff.

Back pack, but the other day I did a similar walk and took a stupid shopping bag that I couldnt even put over my shoulder, so had to keep shifting it from side to side as my hand were hurting. I got a lot more out of puff that day because I was trying to be really fast (the day I started the thread because I thought I was flying along only to find out I wasnt)

So walking back that day I was 3.2mph, with heavy shopping in an inconvenient bag.

Backpack is definitely the best option.

When I was a student, I used to carry my week's shop in my backpacking rucksack a mile or so. It was good exercise!

When I’m walking briskly during my lunchtime walk I do 3 miles at a 16 minute/m pace. I get warm and have a raised heart rate. It’s pretty quick to me.
My warm up jogging pace was about 13 minutes a mile for a mile or so, that’s quite a difference!
consistency is really the key, don’t put yourself under too much pressure, I do think it’s really important to enjoy what you do and not to analyse the stats (unless you’re training for something and you particularly need the analytics of course!) otherwise you’ll get disheartened.

I made a playlist of songs at roughly 120 bpm and play it while walking. I have discovered that Gimme Gimme Gimme a Man After Midnight is my current perfect speed - it feels fast but sustainable, and a bit too much when going uphill and a bit too slow for downhill. I also play at spotting a man walking briskly and trying to catch up with him.

I used to be a fast walk walker, but my children retrained me to walk at toddler pace and I haven't recovered even though they are now teenagers. So I'm trying to get my former speed back in middle age.

Long strides and a bit of a bounce.

Try walking with a 16 yr old dog.....speedy isnt the word Id use!😆

If you are slightly out of breath and abit sweaty then it will still count as exercise no matter how fast you are going.
Some people are just naturally fast walkers. Im fitter, thinner and taller then my best friend and she still leaves me in the dust when we are walking somewhere!

@henlake7 lol I ended up with a dog pram for my 15 year old Staffie. That was more of a weightlifting exercise. I'd push him for a bit, then lift him out so he could have a bit of a poke around and a wee, then lift him back in. Rinse and repeat. He weighed 17 kgs!

Be careful about increasing stride length unnaturally- it can lead to shin splints and hip issues. Better to move your legs faster, not longer.

No Im definitely not going to increase my stride length

By coincidence I was in a real hurry this morning and my stats said that was walking at 4mph for just one mile.

I noticed that the time I was walking quickest was the time I was making the shortest steps so the above posts that talk of small strides are absolutely right

However it was far too fast for me and I wouldnt be able to keep it up for any length of time. I seem to have a reasonably fast walk of between 3.2 and 3.4mph and that suits me the majority of the time

I think you're walking at a totally normal speed OP.

I walk faster than most of my friends and walk a bit faster than 3mph. When I walked to work every day I had got my 1.6m walk down to 26 minutes so that would have been 3.7mph but that was a very brisk pace. 4mph is a very fast pace unless you're really tall.