Is Walking a Good Form of Exercise?

The Nutrition Science Podcast

Dr. Adrian Chavez

Science, Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

4.8 • 633 Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today's episode of the podcast, we will discuss whether walking is a good form of exercise. We cover the health benefits of walking and why it is a great form of exercise for most people. Then we discuss why it shouldn't be the ONLY form of exercise and why higher intensity exercises have health benefits that are hard to get from walking. Tune into the podcast to hear more. Enjoying the show or have a questions about a particular topic? Send us a message here. Support the show

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Nutrition Science Podcast, where we help you cut through the noise and make informed science-based decisions about nutrition and your health.
0:11.1	How's it going, everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the Nutrition Science Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Adrian Chavez. And today we are going to discuss whether or not walking is a good form of exercise.
0:23.5	And the reason that I want to discuss this topic is because I recently posted on my
0:28.5	Instagram saying that walking is a good form of movement but isn't as effective for improving
0:35.3	fitness or improving cardiovascular health as other higher intensity forms
0:41.1	of cardiovascular exercise. And I got a lot of pushback. And I was surprised about that. So what I want to do
0:46.9	in this episode is discuss the benefits of walking and how walking can improve our health,
0:53.4	but also discuss some of the limitations
0:55.9	of walking as a form of exercise and discuss how different forms of cardiovascular exercise can lead
1:03.1	to different types of adaptations in our muscle, in our heart, in our blood vessels, which can
1:08.7	lead to different types of health benefits.
1:11.0	So I've already given you a hint of my overall view of walking as a form of exercise.
1:16.8	It is a great way to get moving.
1:19.7	It is a great, easily accessible way for beginners to start becoming more active.
1:25.3	It is a very light form of exercise that is accessible to nearly everyone, and it is beneficial for health, including 15, 20, 30 minutes of walking into your lifestyle every single day would lead to significant health benefits.
1:40.8	It would improve the way that your body uses energy at low levels of physical
1:45.8	activity. It would improve your blood sugar control, likely improve your blood pressure,
1:51.4	and lead to numerous positive health benefits. So I do not want to at all discourage anyone
1:58.3	from taking up walking or from including walking into their routine
2:02.0	or anyone to think that walking isn't beneficial for your health. It is without a doubt. However,
2:08.1	when it comes to improving our cardiovascular fitness, our cardiovascular health, our metabolism,
2:15.1	our muscle strength, our bone density, other forms of exercise are going to be
	...

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