PSA for all the runners who have trouble slowing their stride (yes, we’re talking to you): Walking workouts can help you reach your running goals—no matter which ones you set.
We know, we know, choosing to walk when you can run is hard. We get it! Walking can seem too easy, or even like a failure to some runners, but this mode of exercise actually serves as an incredible cross-training tool and comes with a bunch of other benefits like improving your Walking Workouts Thatll Help You Crush Your Running Goals.
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“Walking provides the opportunity to slow down and think about your posture and make sure its correct,” says Joyce Shulman, CEO and pack leader of 99 Walks, a walking challenge platform and community. When strolling, you want to think about keeping your shoulders directly over your hips, avoiding any arching or rounding of the back—like there’s a string pulling you tall from the top of your head, Shulman says.
Walking is also great for active recovery days, and it can bridge the gap between the extremes of stationary hours spent sitting at a desk or in a car and going out for an intense run, adds Elizabeth Corkum (a.k.a. Coach Corky), Cool down with 5 minutes of walking at an easy pace.
Slowing your stride can be especially helpful for those coming back from a run hiatus, as it builds up strength and aerobic capacity. “Not all training should be a sweat fest and intense,” Corkum says. “You might be surprised how adding walking to your workouts affects running in a good way.”
In this particular moment amidst a pandemic, walking can feel extra beneficial as a way to reset the mind—especially if you use a stroll as a midday work break, Corkum says. Shulman agrees, saying walking can provide a different mental and emotional experience than running. “Running is like a big shake it off—you leave everything behind in an aggressive way. Walking gives you the opportunity to actually process everything,” she says.
“Running and walking don’t have to be either-or, and walking is not lesser than running.” You can do both and love both—and you can leverage your walking sessions to fit your running or overall fitness goals. These seven workouts will help you do just that.
Your Goal: Increase Endurance
The Workout: The Long Walk
Dave McGovern, a USA Track and Field coach, racewalking competitor, and author of the forthcoming The Complete Guide to Competitive Walking, suggests doing this long walk the day after a long training run. Stroll at an easy, approachable pace and walk on varied terrain. It’ll get your blood pumping, without exerting the same muscles you used the day before, he says.
To keep your effort under control, you shouldn’t reach more than 65 percent of your max heart rate, which means you should feel comfortable and able to hold a conversation. “Regular walking is a really good break for the runner who still wants to burn calories, work different muscles, and work muscles in a different range of motion than running,” he says.
Long Walk Workout
- It’s pretty simple: Just get out and walk for 2 to 6 hours.
- Keep the pace light and easy and if you can, take it to somewhere like the trails, where the terrain switches often, and you get to recruit different muscles throughout.
- steps as if you are stepping over a thigh-high obstacle: Set the incline at 1 percent and start walking. McGovern recommends putting on a long movie, television series, or podcast.
Your Goal: Improve Running Cadence
The Workout: Hill Walking
“Having to keep one foot on the ground at all times means that walkers need to maintain very high cadence rates,” McGovern says. As you work through these hills, think about maintaining a comfortable stride length—don’t think about overextending your step, McGovern says. Short and fast steps will help you increase your turnover.
Also, pay more attention to stride frequency or how often your foot hits the ground. A good goal is 130 to 140 steps per minute. “Think about shorter, faster strides and actively using the feet, rolling from heel to toe and really pushing off the toes at the end of the stride,” McGovern says. “Also, bend elbows 90 degrees to shorten the pendulum and help with that shorter, faster stride.”
Hill Walking Workout
- Start with 15 minutes of easy, but progressively faster walking
- Perform dynamic drills, like front-to-back and side-to-side leg swings and hip circles
- Do 30- to 45-second bursts on a 5-percent incline (start at 30 seconds if you’re new to intervals)
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- A 30-Day Squat Challenge for Runners
- steps as if you are stepping over a thigh-high obstacle: Walk up the 5-percent incline for 30 to 45 seconds, then straddle the treadmill for one minute of recovery. A 30-Day Squat Challenge for Runners.
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The Workout: Stand-Up Sit-Down Walk
If you want to build strength in your lower half, there’s one stand-out move to practice: squats. The slower you do them, the better (and harder), they’ll be, says Shulman, who created this workout, which you can do outside or on the treadmill. To make sure you hit proper form, think about sitting back into a seat, keeping your chest tall and knees driving outward. At the end of this workout, you’ll have crushed 100 squats.
Stand-Up Sit-Down Workout
› tight-rope steps slow, heel-to-toe steps in a straight line
› Perform warm-up stretches:
- 20 steps in slow motion as if you were walking through quicksand
- 20 steps as if you are stepping over a thigh-high obstacle
- 20 In Defense of Walking More and Running Less
› Build intensity:
- 2 minutes at a moderate walking pace
- 2 minutes at a quick walking pace
- 2 minutes at your fastest walking pace
› The Complete Guide to Competitive Walking:
- 60-second moderate walk
- 15 squats
- 60-second moderate walk
- 20 squats
- 60-second moderate walk
- 15 squats
› Complete 5 minutes walking at a fast, but sustainable pace
› Repeat the squat series
› tight-rope steps slow, heel-to-toe steps in a straight line
› steps as if you are stepping over a thigh-high obstacle: Same instructions as listed above
Your Goal: Boost Upper-Body Strength
The Workout: Arm Exercise Combo Walk
While walking is a lower-body focused workout, you can easily add in some arm exercises into each step to get your upper half in on the sweat. Shulman shows you how with this workout that targets your shoulders and chest. The upper body moves don’t require weights, so you can walk without the extra resistance, but the high reps will still make you feel the burn and increase your upper-body endurance, which is great for long-distance runners. For the walking portions of the workout (done inside or out), make sure you walk with purpose—like you have somewhere to go.
Arm Exercise Combo Workout
› Warm up for 5 minutes
- Walk at an easy but intentional pace
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- Roll your shoulders up and forward for 10
› Build your speed
- Your Goal: Increase Endurance
- Minutes 7:00 to 9:00: level two speed
- Minutes 9:00 to 11:00: level three speed
› Perform the upper body set (continue walking at a moderate pace):
- 20 circles forward (arms perpendicular to your body, palms facing down)
- 20 circles back (arms perpendicular to your body, palms facing down)
- 20 flies (elbows bent at 90 degrees, palms facing inward, bring elbows together in front of your chest)
- 20 touch-downs (elbows bent at 90 degrees, palms facing forward, reach hands to the sky and touch fingertips above your head, then pull arms back down)
› 10 minutes at your “perfect pace” a.k.a. one that feels purposeful, free, and like you could keep going forever
› a USA Track and Field coach, racewalking competitor, and author of the forthcoming
› Cool down for 5 minutes at a moderate pace
› steps as if you are stepping over a thigh-high obstacle: Same instructions as listed above
Your Goal: Master Better Balance
The Workout: Single-Leg Challenge Walk
“Balance is often something that we take for granted until we start to lose it,” says Shulman. “But it’s something we should train our entire lives.” While you need balance just to walk (you’re transferring weight from one foot to another, after all), being able to stand on one leg is essential for running and preventing falls and injuries, too. Here’s how to incorporate single-leg stability into your walking workout, whether you’re outside or on the treadmill.
Single-Leg Challenge Workout
› Minutes 7:00 to 9:00: level two speed
› Perform the first balance series:
- 20 ankle rotations each leg (balancing on the standing leg)
- 20 tight-rope steps (slow, heel-to-toe steps in a straight line)
- 20 slow marches (draw one knee to chest, then repeat with other leg)
› Build intensity:
- 2 minutes at a moderate walking pace
- 2 minutes at a quick walking pace
- 2 minutes at your top walking pace (without running)
› Perform the second balance series:
- 20 leg lifts extending leg behind you with a two-second hold
- 20 side leg lifts with a two-second hold
- 20 slow marches draw one knee to chest, then repeat with other leg
› 10 minutes at your “perfect pace” a.k.a. one that feels purposeful, free, and like you could keep going forever
› Cool down for 5 minutes at a moderate pace
› steps as if you are stepping over a thigh-high obstacle: Follow the instructions above, but hop off the treadmill for the balance series.
Your Goal: Increase Power With Leg and Core Strength
The Workout: 30-Minute Incline Walk
In this workout, designed by Corkum, you’ll target the glutes, hamstrings, calves, quads, and your midsection muscles—all of which help support your running mechanics. “If you think about your form and over-exaggerate the arm swing and knee drive, hill climbs can also act as a drill for run form,” Corkum says.
To maximize that outcome, make sure you lean into the hill and notice how your stride length changes as you go up and down the incline. Consider this workout your go-to for cross-training when you want a low-impact day.
30-Minute Incline Walking Workout
- Warm up with 5 minutes of easy walking on flat ground. Take deep inhales and exhales as you go and a few shoulders rolls to open the chest and find a neutral posture.
- End the warmup at the base of a hill that's roughly a 3- to 6-percent incline (it should be an obvious hill but not a mountain)
- Alternate walking up the hill for 2 minutes and down the hill for 2 minutes.
- Repeat 10 times.
- Cool down with 5 minutes of walking at an easy pace
- steps as if you are stepping over a thigh-high obstacle: Warm up and cool down as listed above. Adjust your pace slightly to a strong walk (not a power walk—you should be able to maintain the pace on hills without holding onto the treadmill. Arms should be able to swing naturally as though you were outside.) Maintain this speed for the duration of the workout. Alternate elevation between 2 minutes at a 0-percent incline and 2 minutes at a 4- to 6-percent incline. Repeat 10 times.
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Your Goal: Get Faster
The Workout: Fartlek Walking Intervals
This is like your typical Fartlek run, but you’ll walk. “Fartleks are a beautiful intro to speed running,” Corkum says. “It’s a great way to vary pace and cadence and allows you to push and pull back on pace, while tuning into how it feels. If you’re doing these intervals the right way, it can be aerobically tough, but it gives people a lot of flexibility by taking the metrics out of the equation, which is liberating and freeing.” Have fun with this one and listen to your body—speed up and slow down when you need to, which requires keeping your mind focused on the action.
Fartlek Walking Intervals Workout
- Start with 5 minutes of easy walking on flat ground. Take deep inhales and exhales as you go and a few shoulders rolls to open the chest and find a neutral posture.
- Find a mostly (if not all) flat route for this walk.
- Walk for 20 minutes, alternating paces as you please. Simply focus on how your breathing feels and pay specific attention to core, arm, and leg form. You can use a fun playlist, your watch, or your own cues like street lamps or blocks for deciding when to push or pull back on speed. It can be 30 seconds here and 45 seconds there, or whatever feels best. The beauty of Fartlek is that it’s completely flexible.
- Walk at an easy but intentional pace.
- steps as if you are stepping over a thigh-high obstacle: Set the incline to 0 percent and follow the instructions above.
Mallory Creveling, an ACE-certified personal trainer and RRCA-certified run coach, joined the Runner's World and Bicycling team in August 2021. She has more than a decade of experience covering fitness, health, and nutrition. As a freelance writer, her work appeared in Women's Health, Self, Men's Journal, Reader's Digest, and more. She has also held staff editorial positions at Family Circle and Shape magazines, as well as DailyBurn.com. A former New Yorker/Brooklynite, she's now based in Easton, PA.
