Walking Workout Routines

Should I vary my walking workout? Yes, for the best training effect you should alternate easy days and harder days, either by distance, speed, or incline.

Tackle your first 10K (6.2 mile) walk with this training schedule for beginner walkers. More advanced walkers can use it to build speed and endurance.

This easy walk builds long-term health and well-being and may be used daily or alternated with more strenuous walking workouts.

Brisk walking is often recommended for fitness and to reduce health risks. But what is brisk walking? How fast is a brisk walking pace?

How to walk in the optimum fat-burning zone. Those wanting to lose body fat should do this walk most days of the week. May be done daily, or used as a recovery day for those alternating with other walking workouts.

Builds endurance and burns off calories (approximately 100 per mile for 150-pound person.) Those training for longer distance events should build up their mileage steadily. Those training for a 5K or 10K competitive walk should exceed the event distance by a mile or two in their distance workout.

Improve your aerobic fitness with this walking workout, increasing the number and size of blood vessels in the muscles and increasing your lung power.

Use this walking workout to increase your athletic performance by bringing your body up to the anaerobic threshold. It is used by racewalkers to improve their VO2 maximum(the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise). Improves endurance at speed.

This walking workout builds your walking speed.

Dave McGovern developed this schedule of walking workouts that challenges your body in a different way each day.

Stuck with the same treadmill workouts and not seeing results? Use high intensity interval training on the treadmill.

Working out on the treadmill with dumbbells can enhance your treadmill workout.

Jumping intervals on the treadmill exercises alternate muscles for a unique treadmill workout.

If you walk with a dog or your route includes a lot of traffic signals, you may find yourself stopping and starting a lot. Does this affect your workout?

Does walking backward have more exercise benefits than forward walking? Studies have shown that walking backwards increases heart rate.

One of the best ways to take a walking routine up a notch is to add some interval training. This means you'll speed up your pace for a minute or two every several minutes. If you're walking more than one mile, you could also alternate a run-walk, adding arm movements, while leaving one mile to take a little more slowly.