Walking is one of the easiest and most accessible ways for anyone to improve their cardiovascular fitness.
The average person only walks 5,000 steps per day. A good goal is to walk at least 10,000 steps per day.
Fast-paced walking of 75–149 min per week was associated with clinically meaningful improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness (Anton, Duncan, Limacher, Martin, & Perri, 2011). (1)
Even low amounts of vigorous intensity physical activity, about 35 minutes a week, can produce significant fitness improvements for some individuals (Anton et al., 2011). (1)
There were positive changes for multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors, including aerobic fitness, but also systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and a few different measures of adiposity in previously inactive adults who began walking as part of a randomised controlled trial (Murtagh, Nichols, Mohammed, Holder, Nevill, & Murphy, 2015). (2)
Clinicians and healthcare providers can prescribe walking with confidence that it will provide health benefits to their patients.
Reference:
(1) Anton, S., Duncan, G., Limacher, M., Martin, A., & Perri, M. (2011). How much
walking is needed to improve cardiorespiratory fitness? An examination of the 2008 physical activity guidelines for Americans. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 82(2), 365-370.
(2) Murtagh, Nichols, Mohammed, Holder, Nevill, & Murphy. (2015). The effect of
walking on risk factors for cardiovascular disease: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials. Preventive Medicine, 72, 34-43.
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