Efficient walking
With all the recent interest in barefoot running I though this study was of interest. Barefoot running encourages you to land on the forefoot - it is the most efficient gait. Interestingly walking is most efficient when you land on the heel.
The cost of being on your toes
Walking heels-first is less work than walking on your toes or balls of the feet
“….Lots of elite athletes, whether sprinters or distance runners, don’t land on their heel. Many of them run on the balls of their feet,” as do people who run barefoot. That appears to be the natural ancestral condition for early human runners, he adds.
“The important thing is we are remarkable economical walkers,” Carrier says. “We are not efficient runners. In fact, we consume more energy to run than the typical mammal our size. But we are exceptionally economical walkers.”
“This study suggests that one of the things that may explain such economy is the unusual structure of our foot,” he adds. “The whole foot contacts the ground when we walk. We have a big heel. Our big toe is as long as our other toes and is much more robust. Our big toe also is parallel to and right next to the second toe.”
“These features are distinct among apes, and provide the mechanical basis for economical walking. No other primate or mammal could fit into human shoes.”
….and it is all about fighting?
Carrier speculates that a heel-first foot posture “may be advantageous during fighting by increasing stability and applying more torque to the ground to twist, push and shove. And it increases agility in rapid turning maneuvers during aggressive encounters.”
February 13th, 2010 at 10:57 am
How do you tell if your walking exercise is being efficient…………by distance walked, ……?
time spent walking,…….or heartrate?
Or is there some other way?
Because it sure isn’t showing on the scale that it is doing any good.
Or is it a total of all of the above in some kind of calculation?
February 13th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
The distance and the speed don’t just walk slow, burn more calories walking faster
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February 13th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
! mile is about 95 calories. 3500 cals make a pound. All walking is efficient.
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February 13th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
get on a scale every morning after you walk.
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February 13th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Get a pedometer and measure your steps. Focus on 10,000 steps (in a whole entire day), and if you’re "short" steps, then go for a walk. After about 4 weeks of 10,000 steps, move it up to 20,000 steps (you’ll have to do a walk, see how that works?).
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February 13th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Heartrate elevation over time, sustained through the time bracket (at least 30 minutes)
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February 13th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
The following:
1. You calculate the distance of your walk
2. Take down the time it takes you to do that walk
These are the factors on how efficient the walk will be, if in your first week you walk say 3kms in 40minutes 3 times a day the next week try to do the same but cut 5-7 minutes off the walk time.
Then in the third week extend the length of your walk.
Hope it makes sense
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February 13th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
If you’re doing this as your weight loss strategy, you probably would need to speed up your walk and do interval training: ie walking at different speeds and different inclines………..that with cutting calories will be more effective.
If you’re doing this for cardio health, increasing your speed gradually and keep walking consistently.
If you’re doing it for mediation or to get out of the house I’d say that the time you spend walking is the important factor. Longer walks.
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Don’t forget to stretch after walking. Everytime.
February 13th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
If your heartrate goes up, and stays there, you’re doing it right….
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February 13th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
I am in the same boat Nan. I walk, diet and go to the gym 2X week and I still haven’t dropped any weight. The trainer at the gym says I am building muscle and that weighs more than fat. I guess the weight will eventually come off. At least that is what I am hoping. Don’t give up my friend.
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February 13th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
There are many formulas that tell you nothing.
1) Do not weigh your self daily.
2) your loss is equal to your walk.
3) Walking will increase your cardio pulmonary rate and thus in turn your oxygen intake. More pure air will increase your breathing and oxygen levels and will promote weight loss in body fluids.
4) As you increase your oxygen levels, your body will drop and you you will feel invigorated to walk faster as you have more to burn away.
5) As far as eating, eat 1/2 of what you ate before per meal. It is easier to change and eating habit then to redesign your eating meals based upon caloric intakes.
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What my doctor told me to do. Went from 315 in Dec 2006 to 238 by Dec 2007, from a 48 to a 39 waist.
February 13th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Well, they all sound good, but you better listen to that one above me. He sounds smartest!
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February 13th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Nan,you will see the results if you walk.and stick to a proper diet.you didn’t gain weight over night,so give it time to work.if you loose it to fast you will gain it back,as you need to watch what you eat.
No bread,pastry.fried foods.beer,and salt,and sugar.Grammy is on a diet as i am.
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February 13th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
I think we have to separate two things here…
*Generally* speaking, the amount of calories you burn while walking can be determined *solely* by the distance. IT takes X number of calories for you to move your body that distance, whether you are walking fast or slow.
Increasing your heart rate to the point of making the exercise aerobic is good for your cardiovascular (and muscular) health, but does *not* increase the number of calories you burn over a given distance.
Finally, you have to remember that weight loss is really very basic: the amount of calories you consume (actually, metabolize, but consume is close enough) must be less than the amount of calories you burn. If you take up exercise but continue to consume more calories than you use, you will continue to gain weight, but more slowly. There is, of course, a point at which you consume (roughly) the same number of calories that you burn, and this may be the point which you have reached. To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume, and to lose weight more quickly, you must consume even fewer calories or burn even more calories.
A final consideration is fluids. Fat is water-soluble, which means that drinking more will *help* your body to metabolize fat instead of other substances (such as muscle) when exercising. However, normally the effect of fluid intake in weight loss is inconsequential compared to the difference between caloric intake and caloric use.
I hope this helps.
Jim, 46, lost about 100 pounds in the last year (I don’t bother with a scale)
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