What I’ve learned walking 3 hours a day for the past 3 years — Part I: fitness

It won’t make you slim but… — Use it or lose it — Who needs yoga ? — Interval train with skin in the game — hormesis

IT WON’T MAKE YOU SLIM BUT…

Increasingly more people are waking up to the fact that exercising is an inefficient strategy to burn fat. I’ve calculated that at my bodyweight I burn approximately 150 net calories (calories that I burned due to the walking only) per hour. See more details in this article here. You know what? 150 calories is 25 peanuts. A mere handful. I can wolf that down in 30 seconds. What’s easier? Skipping the peanuts or walking for 60 minutes?

Waking 3h./day is a lot of exercise for only 450 calories burned. At first I didn’t see any results on my waistline although I really wanted to. My body adapted. It found ways to walk more efficiently, to rest more than before in between walks and above else, triggered more acute hunger signals more to offset some of the calories burned.

Very tricky. When I eventually trimmed down was when I started counting calories meticulously. But one thing also happened that would end making a big impact.

As walking became my go-to means of transportation, it started to permeates in my life. I began to think of myself as the kind of person who loves movement. So I would start doing everything possible on foot. Everything that was (and still is) in a 5-mile radius I would do on foot. No car, bus, bike, electric scooter. None of that “convenience”. And I started craving movement. I felt cabin fever way earlier that I used to. Any excuse I could find, I would take advantage of to take a walk.

All that movement added up. A new habit shaped by a new identity formed. And let me tell you, although it’s much more efficient to reduce the amount of calories you eat or drink to lose fat, adopting a routine where movement is front and center in your life makes it a lot easier and sustainable. Who knows, you might feel the itch to take the stairs instead of the elevator next (I live on the 9th floor, call me crazy).

Movement is contagious. Inoculate with the virus and don’t be selfish, spread the germs to the ones you love.

USE IT OR LOSE IT

Walking involves all your body organs. What I didn’t know and that I came to realize is that the ability to walk long distances for a long time transfers very well to any cardio activity.

Running used to be part of my routine when I was in my 30s. I enjoyed the “runner’s high”. At the time I had pretty good endurance levels. Now fast forward to my 40s. I haven’t run in ages. I only walk and Sprint occasionally. But on the rare occasions I play ultimate or when I do an ECG at my annual checkup I display great stamina. I just walk. That’s it.

Walking is an all-encompassing movement. And it’s easy on the joints. Back in 2012 after 20 sessions of physical therapy that couldn’t relieve pain from a slipped disc I started walking as a means to get around town. Not because of health reasons or anything but simply because my bike broke down and I was too lazy to get it fixed. 3 months after the back pain was gone, never to come back. A coincidence? Maybe. Honestly I’ll never know. But there’s a reason why doctors don’t cast people for injuries anymore.

Keep your body in good condition. Take it for a spin as often as possible.

WHO NEEDS YOGA?

Yoga? Meditation? Relaxation? Creativity? Go on a leisurely stroll and you’ll get all that and more. I’m writing those very lines walking.

Walking has magical powers. I swear. It shifts your focus, new ideas come flowing in. It relieves the stress. Look, movement is action and action is what you need when you’re stuck in a rut. And as crazy as it sounds I feel even more inspired walking in an urban setting than in nature.

Forget the yoga mat. Go out and walk!

INTERVAL TRAIN WITH SKIN IN THE GAME

Walking in the city makes for the best Interval training I could think of. It’s a high-stakes, exhilarating way to interperse slow long walks with fast bouts of intense sprinting. What do I mean by that? Well in my city, São Paulo, Brazil, crossing a street safely can sometimes mean running hard and fast for a couple of seconds as if your life was on the line because.. it actually is! Cars not using turn signals, motorcycles driving the wrong way on a two-way street, trucks laughing at the idea of yielding to pedestrians (“insects!!!”); I don’t care, I eat’em for breakfast.

Contrast that with the usual artificially designed Interval training most people do: long warm-up with foam rolling for deep tissue activation or whatever the current fad is followed by series of programmed walks and sprints with no skin in the game. Bo-ring.

With your ass on the line, no warm up, no foam roll shenihagans and no workout clothes it’s a lot more challenging and, dare I say, a more fun way to interval train.

Dodge that car, feel the rush. Be alive.

HORMESIS

Come rain or shine I walk. Summers get insanely hot here in São Paulo and winters deceptively cold on occasion. Dry weather is followed by tropical showers followed by some blazing sun. When I walk my body endures all kinds of conditions: wind, humidity, high/low air pressure, pollen from plants, exhaust fumes from vehicles, etc…

In low amounts, exposure to toxins can have a beneficial effect on any organism. That phenomenon is dubbed HORMESIS. All the stressors you’ll be subject to walking help your body function the way it was designed to: stimuli from the environment help it “calibrate”. It’s a feedback loop (or homeostasis). Your body stays strong and prepared for all sorts of weather and environmental conditions.

Walk. Feel the environment. Keep your body in tune and stronger.

Keep walking in PART II: the economics of walking (coming in January 2019).