Which is better – running or brisk walking.It all depends on your goals and health status.
The more calories you spend on exercise, the higher your chances of losing weight. In this regard, running beats walking, at least if you are limited in time.
We have collected the best workouts for different purposes on one page ! Choose the option for your fitness level, learn the right technique from photos and videos, and get ready to make sport a part of your life.
Run at 10 km/h in 30 minuteswill spendCalories burned in 30 minutes for people of three different weights / Harvard Health Publishingabout 495 kcal, and a half-hour walk at a brisk pace of 6 km / h – only 135 kcal.
To burn the same number of calories, you have to walk twice as long as you run.
In oneresearchP. T. Williams. Greater weight loss from running than walking during a 6.2‑yr prospective follow‑up / Medicine and science in sports and exerciseThe scientists analyzed data from 32,000 runners and 15,000 walkers over six years. It turned out that the latter spend half as much energy and weigh more.
What’s more, when intensity and time were equalized, runners lost more weight and waist inches than those who preferred walking.
In addition to physical activity, nutrition is also important for weight loss, and here running wins again. In oneexperimentD. E. Larson‑Meyer, S. Palm, A. Bansal. Influence of Running and Walking on Hormonal Regulators of Appetite in Women / Journal of obesityIn 18 women who were walking or running, they measured portions of food after training, as well as the level of hormones that affect appetite and satiety.
Despite the fact that the runners spent more energy on training, after they ate even a little less than those who walked. As a result, their group had a negative calorie balance (-194 kcal), while the walking group had a slightly positive balance (+41 kcal).
Running reduces the feeling of hunger after exercise and increases the feeling of satiety after eating.
Thus, running is better for maintaining a good figure. But there is one important point: in order to lose weight and maintain weight, you need to do it constantly. Preferably for the rest of your life.
If just thinking about it makes you feel sick , there will be no benefit from training. Walking is easier to carry than running, causes almost no difficulties, and together with conversations, music or audio books, it is generally perceived as entertainment.
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At the same time, just 10 minutes of brisk walking will help you spend an additional 50 kcal, and an hour-long walk will “work out” a small dessert.
For joint health
It is generally accepted that running puts more stress on the joints, which means it is more dangerous for them than walking. And indeed, inresearchL. H. Colbert, J. M. Hootman, C. A. Macera. Physical activity‑related injuries in walkers and runners in the aerobics center longitudinal study / Clinical journal of sport medicinewith data from five thousand men and women found that it increases the risk of injury compared to walking.
Men who ran for more than half an hour a day were significantly more likely to get injured during a workout than those who ran for less than 15 minutes. But walking in any amount was safe for both sexes.
Even long and regular walks do not increase the risk of injury.
At least this is true for moving at a comfortable speed of about 4-5 km / h. But with fast walking, not everything is so simple.
In oneresearchA. C. de David, F. P. Carpes, D. Stefanyshyn. Effects of changing speed on knee and ankle joint load during walking and running / Journal of sports scienceswith the participation of 11 amateur athletes, scientists tested how the speed of movement affects the joints. It turned out that brisk walking (7.5 km / h) provides the same outward rotation of the knees as running. And at the same time, it makes the legs bend at the knees much more, which increases the load on the joints.
At the same time, running is not so dangerous. Moreover, it can becomepreventionN. E. Lane, J. W. Oehlert, D. A. Bloch, J. F. Fries. The relationship of running to osteoarthritis of the knee and hip and bone mineral density of the lumbar spine: a 9 year longitudinal study / The Journal of rheumatologyosteoarthritis is a thinning of the articular cartilage that leads to pain and stiffness.
AnalysisP. T. Williams. Effects of Running and Walking on Osteoarthritis and Hip Replacement Risk / Medicine and science in sports and exercisedata of 74.7 thousand people showed that by running at least 1.8 km per day (12.4 km per week), people reduce the risk of this disease by 18%. And increasing the running volume to 5.4 km per day – by 50%.
Walking at a similar energy expenditure also helps reduce risk, but slightly less than running. What’s more, the researchers noted that runners were more likely to reach the required level of activity than walkers and weigh less. Being overweight is one of the major risk factors for osteoarthritis.
In other scientificworks1. U. M. Kujala, J. Kettunen, H. Paananen, T. Aalto. Knee osteoarthritis in former runners, soccer players, weight lifters, and shooters / Arthritis and rheumatis
2. J. B. Driban, J. M. Hootman, M. R. Sitler.Is Participation in Certain Sports Associated With Knee Osteoarthritis? A Systematic Review / Journal of athletic trainingrecognize that amateur jogging is far from the most dangerous activity for the joints. Football players, competitive powerlifters , elite long-distance runners, and those who do not play sports at all should be much more worried .
ATanalysisE. Alentorn‑Geli, K. Samuelsson, V. Musahl. The Association of Recreational and Competitive Running With Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta‑analysis | Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy / Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical TherapyA study of 114,000 people found that only 3.5% of amateur runners had osteoarthritis of the knee or hip, while 10.2% of non-athletic runners suffered from thinning cartilage.
Unless you’re doing crazy amounts of exercise, running won’t kill your joints, it will protect them.
And to avoid other possible injuries, it is enough to choose the right load. For those who want to be sure to rule out any injuries or already suffer from diseases of the musculoskeletal system, long walks at a comfortable pace are suitable – they will provide less stress on the joints.
For health and longevity
To support health, WHOadvisesPhysical activity / WHOdo 150-300 minutes of light activity per week or 75-150 minutes of moderate activity. In other words, you can walk for 20-40 minutes every day or run for 10-20 minutes and get the same health benefits from it.
In oneexperimentE. Suter, B. Marti, F. Gutzwiller. Jogging or walking—comparison of health effects / Annals of epidemiologyfor six months of half-hour runs 4 times a week or similar walks 6 times a week, men equally well lost weight and pumped endurance.
In a differentresearchP. T. Williams, P. D. Thompson. Walking Versus Running for Hypertension, Cholesterol, and Diabetes Mellitus Risk Reduction / Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biologyreviewed data from nearly 49,000 people over six years and found that running and walking were equally good at reducing the risks of hypertension , high cholesterol, diabetes, and possibly coronary heart disease, for similar energy expenditure.
But at the same time, more intense training seems to prolong lifespan a little better. In the BiganalysisD. Lee, R. R. Pate, C. J. Lavie. Leisure‑Time Running Reduces All‑Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality Risk / Journal of the American College of Cardiologyusing data from 55,000 people over 15 years, they found that regular jogging reduces the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by 50%, and from any other cause by 29%.
To live longer, it is enough to run 50 minutes or 10 km a week. You can fulfill this norm both in 1-2 workouts, and in 5 small sessions of 10 minutes each.
In a differentanalysisP. Schnohr, J. L. Marott, P. Lange, G. B. Jensen. Longevity in Male and Female Joggers: The Copenhagen City Heart Study / American Journal of EpidemiologyIn a study of 17,500 participants, regular gentle jogging increased life expectancy for men by 6.2 years and for women by 5.6 years.
Walks alsoprolongW. Zhao, S.Ukawa, T. Kawamura. Health Benefits of Daily Walking on Mortality Among Younger‑Elderly Men With or Without Major Critical Diseases in the New Integrated Suburban Seniority Investigation Project: A Prospective Cohort Study / Journal of epidemiologylife, but doesn’t seem to be as efficient. For example, inanalysisM. Nagai, S. Kuriyama, M. Kakizaki. Impact of walking on life expectancy and lifetime medical expenditure: the Ohsaki Cohort Study / BMJ OpenAccording to 27.7 thousand people, walking more than an hour a day increased life expectancy by 1.3 years for men and 1.1 for women.
There is also onestudyP. T. Williams. Significantly greater reduction in breast cancer mortality from post‐diagnosis running than walking / International journal of cancer, which compared the effect of running and walking on survival in women with breast cancer. And here the first one turned out to be the absolute winner.
After checking the data of 986 participants, they found that with similar energy expenditures for walking and running, the latter reduces the risk of death by about five times more effectively. However, there is only one study, and more information is needed to draw specific conclusions.
Given the similar benefits for endurance, weight, and heart health, walking could be just as effective in extending the lifespan of healthy people as running. At least if you spend the same amount of energy on classes.
