If we were born to run, we were also born to walk. It is perhaps the most natural movement of all. And, just like running, walking is wonderfully healthy for you. As any ultrarunner or ‘Jeffing’ enthusiast knows, running and walking are not mutually exclusive – combining them in a run/walk strategy can be effective across distances from 5K to 100 miles. But is one better for you than the other? What are the drawbacks of each? And when might one serve you better than the other?
First, though, let’s define the terms. Perhaps the simplest way to distinguish running from walking is this: when walking, one of your feet is always on the ground; when running, you become airborne, if only briefly.
Then there are other things that are broadly, but not always, true. For instance, walking is usually slower than running. Usually but not always: the men’s 10K record for race walking is 37:25, while the women’s is 41:56. Many of us regularly run slower than that.
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Finally, walking is usually easier than running. But that said, there are plenty of ways to make walking harder than an easy run. Adding a heavy backpack (or weighted vest) or finding a steep incline will make walking the aerobic equivalent of running.
For the purposes of this article, however, we’re going to compare moderate walking with moderate running.
Calories burned
When calculating calories burned running vs walking, it’s best to look at calories burned per minute during each activity. According to the American Council of Exercise, a 160-pound (72.5kg) person burns 15.1 calories per minute running compared with 8.7 calories per minute walking. Over the course of a 30-minute run, that works out at 453 calories running and 261 calories walking.
Why? In its simplest terms, the more intense an activity, the more calories you burn while doing it. As walking tends to be less intense than running, it burns fewer calories.
Weight Loss
While both running and walking can help to regulate body weight, running does appear to be the superior exercise when it comes to losing weight. A study looked at more than 70,000 individuals and found that every minute of vigorous activity (running) was equivalent to 15 minutes of moderate exercise (walking). It took only 35 minutes a week of vigorous activity to ‘offset the association between abdominal obesity (belly fat) and incident of cardiovascular disease’. The walker would need to rack up 500 minutes to achieve the equivalent results.
VO2 max
Journal of the American College of Cardiology VO2 max more than walking. Seen as the gold standard of cardiovascular fitness, VO2 max refers to the amount of oxygen your body can effectively use during exercise. It’s expressed as a number – the higher the number, the more aerobically fit you are. The reason running is more effective than walking when it comes to boosting VO2 max is the simple fact that it works your heart and lungs a little harder.
Injury risk
Here’s where the walkers strike back. Some of the things that make running so good – the fact it’s vigorous and high-impact – also make it more injurious than a more sedate activity such as walking. Running produces ground reaction forces of about 2.5 x bodyweight, compared with walking’s 1.2 x bodyweight. A study in the Advertisement - Continue Reading Below found that walking presented a lower risk of musculoskeletal injury than walking and could therefore be ‘safely recommended as a way to improve health and fitness’.
Longevity
What is active recovery Taiwanese study found that regular five-minute runs equalled 15-minute walks in the longevity stakes. The same study found that regular runners – including those whose pace was slower than 10min/miling – were 30% fitter than walkers and have a 30% lower risk of dying over the next 15 years.
Running on the treadmill vs. running outside Both activities can be social, too, and provide a way in which to meet like-minded people found that the real longevity benefits came only through light jogging. Those that jogged slowly two or three times per week lowered their risk of death by 25%. Those running strenuously, meanwhile, had a mortality rate not dissimilar from the sedentary.
It’s worth noting here, however, that other studies have found that VO2 max, boosted by vigorous activities such as running, is a key predictor of longevity. Whatever way you look at it, though, regular walking and running can help to put more candles on your cake.
Bone health
The high-impact nature of running is a boon to bone health. As mentioned above, running generates ground forces of 2.5 x bodyweight, compared with walking’s 1.2 x bodyweight. In theory, this means running will create stronger bones than walking – but it’s not quite as simple as that. Impact injuries such as stress fractures occur more frequently in running, meaning it’s vitally important that runners support their training with adequate nutrition, rest and strength training. Were a runner to be susceptible to stress fractures, potentially swapping one running session for an up-tempo walk might be a smart option, though seriously low-impact activities such as swimming or cycling What is rate of perceived exertion RPE.
Mental health
What is active recovery depression Should you change your stride length What is active recovery, while probably make more sense. Both running and walking score big here. A.
