Ever since the fitness tracker and smartwatch boom <\/a>in the 2010s, the push to increase daily step counts \u2014 often aiming for 10,000 steps a day<\/a> \u2014 to maintain a healthy lifestyle<\/a> has become a global phenomenon.<\/p>\n But a recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine <\/a>found that the health benefits of walking may depend less on how often people walk and more on the quality of the movement. <\/p>\n One of the biggest factors, experts say, is whether your walk raises your heart rate <\/a>enough to qualify as cardio. Molly Gearin, a physical therapist at WAVE Physical Therapy & Pilates in Ohio, told USA Today<\/a> that \u201cthis will vary depending on a person\u2019s training and health history.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTypically, a brisk walk <\/a>and incorporation of hills\/variable elevation can be considered a cardio workout, but a casual walk more than likely won\u2019t raise your heart rate into an aerobic training zone,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n There are five main target heart rate zones, according to the Cleveland Clinic.<\/a> To calculate your max heart rate, subtract your age from 220. And from there, you can figure out your goal heart rate for each zone. <\/p>\n Zone 1 is considered an easy, warm-up or recovery effort, using only 50 to 60 percent of your max heart rate. Zone 2 is a light effort that is 60 to 70 percent of your max heart rate, helping build endurance and burn fat. Zone 3 is a moderate effort, between 70 and 80 percent of your max heart rate, that improves aerobic fitness and strength. Zone 4 improves speed and power, using between 80 to 90 percent of your max heart rate. Zone 5 is peak effort, between 90 to 100 percent of your max heart rate, and is best for competitions or breaking personal records.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are walking for stress relief or social interaction, a low-intensity, moderate-to-long duration walk can be a good option,\u201d Gearin said. \u201cHowever, for maximal cardiac benefit, you may want to consider adding in some bursts of high intensity \u2014 around 80 percent of your max heart rate \u2014 for one to 4 minutes at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Elroy Aguiar, an assistant professor of exercise science at the University of Alabama, similarly emphasized <\/a>the importance of picking up the pace on walks.<\/p>\n \u201cOur studies [published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine<\/a>] show that if you walk at a cadence of about 100 steps per minute, that\u2019s equivalent to what\u2019s called \u2018moderate-intensity\u2019,\u201d Dr. Aguiar told The Independent\u2019s fitness writer Harry Bullmore last year<\/a>. \u201cAll of the research in this area suggests that most of the benefits [of walking] accumulate at a moderate or higher intensity.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that \u201ceven a short amount of exercise has an immediate effect,\u201d explaining, \u201cStraight away, you get lower blood pressure and lower blood glucose.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Aguiar said, \u201cThese studies are showing that walking, not necessarily in huge volumes, is associated with large reductions in risk of all-cause mortality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[278],"tags":[221280,3898,18,440,525,135,35809,789,19,3520,17,3618,53421,443],"class_list":["post-584885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-airconditioning","tag-climate","tag-eire","tag-environment","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-heating","tag-horizontal","tag-ie","tag-illustration","tag-ireland","tag-nature","tag-plant","tag-weather"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116917553232802430","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2285287211...jpeg\")
The quality of a walk is more important than the frequency, experts say (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n![\"It\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/iStock-1151818401.jpg\")
It\u2019s recommended that the walk elevates your heart \u2018into an aerobic training zone,\u2019 experts say (Getty)<\/p>\n