walk vs. jog

B

BethRN

Active Member
Cathe,
I was wanting your opinion or anyone else interested. What is better walking or jogging? For instance, I was told by a personal trainer that it is better to walk on the treadmill at a speed of 4.2 than to jog at the same speed. I would think jogging would be better because of increasing heart rate but maybe I am missing something. What do you think?
Thanks!
 
I was told by a
>personal trainer that it is better to walk on the treadmill at
>a speed of 4.2 than to jog at the same speed.

The key here is "at the same speed." If you can walk at a pace that would really be more comfortable to run at, you are actually burning more calories than you would if you would run, because your body is working somewhat inefficiently (also the reason why an out-of-shape person burns more calories doing the same workout as an in-shape person). At least that's what I've read, in several places.
 
I sometimes run, don't tend to find walking to be enough of a workout. However, since I live in a hilly area of NC, I often run on the flat and faster downhill, then walk as fast as I can (inefficiently) on the uphills. I find I walk nearly as fast as I would run the hills, sometimes I even make up for it by running faster on the flat and downhills. It seems to use different muscles, certainly more tibialis and hamstring during the walking, and there is definitely less total impact on my knees. I can feel the difference.

Once I started doing my hilly runs this way, I enjoyed it more, do it more often (heck, do you think those two could be related :) ) and actually feel like I get a more thorough workout since I do slightly different activities.
 
I can't run on a treadmill, only outdoors (something with my stride being off) but instead I walk on a treadmill at 10 to 15 incline and a fast pace and my heart rate is equal to running without all the impact. Try and remember to not hold on too, that makes it harder. Plus the incline adds to the work on your hamstrings and butt so you get an extra bonus.

Skye :7
 
As a person who still runs but crosstrains, it is much too slow of a jog at 4.2 miles per hour. Most people who jog, even those with shorter legs don't go much slower than a speed of 5 miles an hour on a treadmill, which is a 12 minute mile.

A 4.2 mile per hour jog is so slow that there isn't much of a point in doing that. If you are going to go that slowly, it is better to walk briskly at 4.2 miles per hour.
 
Hi all,

I'm mostly a walker and I just don't enjoy running but untimately the energy expended is meters/second squared no matter what you do. You certainly have to take incline into account but with all things equal, it the distance you travel and the time you exercise. I suppose if you have a really inefficient running style where you bounce up and down alot (like me!) you would cover more distance that actually couldn't be measured as it would be all the up and down movement.
 
I've lately added golf course walking to my routine (getting bored with a lot of the same stuff) and lemme tell ya........!!!!!!!!! It takes me an hour to walk all 18 holes of the cart paths and I'm whipped! This is opposed to walking around town for 90 minutes with the usual road ups and downs - in comparison, the golf course is much tougher. I'm lucky because I live right next door to a golf course, and my son works at another one in another town.

Any of you who want an alternative to jogging but think plain old walking would not give you a good enough workout, go out on a golf course!!!
Just Do It! :)
 
My heart rate hardly goes up at all even when I walk briskly, and I have to do step workouts on an eight inch step to stay in my training zone. Although I love LowMax, my heart rate often drops too low during it. I even have the problem with IMAX 2. Running keeps my heart rate up, and I prefer to run outside.
 
Your trainer is correct.

On the treadmill I power walk for 6 miles at a speed of 5.4 mph on the treadmill. Because my walking is an inefficient method of moving at this speed, I therefore burn more calories than if I were running at this speed because my body is actually working harder due to the inefficiency of the movement.

If you also intersperse this fast walking with interval bursts where you go to the max incline and speed of 4.2 or 4 mph for 3 mins at a time, you will be doing some excellent cardiovascular training that takes you repeatedly to your anaerobic threshold, just as the Imaxes do. This routine is my current workout and after 60-70 mins it is also an excellent workout for all the lower body muscles. When I come off the treadmill, I tend to stagger about my legs are so tired!

Clare
 
Wow, Clare! That's really impressive!! I powerwalk, but am working my way up to 5.2 mph (currently at 5). How often do you powerwalk and how often do you do the intervals? And do you do your intervals at a high incline and at 4 mph? When I do intervals (not often enough--I workout in the a.m. before work and it's hard to get the energy to kill myself with intervals before work)--anyhow, when I do them, I am at 5.6 mph and an incline of 1.

Thanks! Hope you don't mind my asking!
Bunbun
 
Hi Bunbun:

When I go for max speed, I have the incline on zero or 1. When I am doing intervals, I put the incline on 15, the max the treadmills at a local fitness centre offer. I will then drop the speed to between 4 and 4.2 mph. It is tough. It feels like the hiking I have done in the Pyrenees, just straight up with a heavy backpack, all along the switch backs and take no breaks! The mileage tracker on the display monitor shows a lap as a quarter of a mile (I don't know if this is standard, this is the only treadmill I have ever used), so I use this as my interval segment and keep going with the interval for the full quarter of a mile distance, about 3 mins. After this, I will do a 2 min recovery walk at a max of 4.6. I play a psychological game with myself, trying not to keep checking the distance-covered tracker but focussing on setting a rhythm with my feet and keeping a steady breathing pattern, that's how I keep myself challenged, on track, and going the distance throughout the full interval.

I power walk at the moment about 4 times a week. My kids are members of our local YMCA in Ann Arbor, a fabulously top of the range refurbished facility and when I take them to swim, I go to the top floor where they have a running track while they leap about in the water and then we are all happy. I speed walk 6 miles there, which I have completed in 60 mins. I was so happy! I do this twice per week as my steady state cardio, and then the other two times I do the intervals at a different fitness centre when I am either on my own or the girls are using the ice skating rink there. I pretty much have to fit my activities around the girls at the moment. Once they start school again after the break, I will be able to add in Cathe's again.

I just had to buy anew pair of runnimng sneakers today as I had worn out and totally broken down my old pair. I had had them for 5 years! Terrible. So, I am hoping to improve my speed walking even more with all this improved cushioning and zip!

Keep me posted, let me know about your progress, any good training routine you have set up for yourself.

See ya,

Clare
 
Thanks so much, Clare. I do mostly steady state right now--two moderate walks, two shorter ones, one long one a week--all of the above falling between 4 to 5ish miles, so not that long, relatively speaking. Plus I wind up doing a lot of walking during the day--probably 20-30 minutes outdoors daily at least (I have to walk part of my commute). I had added intervals to the treadmill routine a while back, but have since gotten lazy. Anyhow, you're inspiring me to mix up my routine some more! 6 miles in 60 minutes is fantastic--congrats!!

Also, I have to add that I can't believe you kept the same shoes for 5 years. If I go much beyond 6 months, my knees start to complain to me.

LOL--OK, I have totally spammed this thread now. Maybe we should start a walker/powerwalker's check-in? :)
 
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