What do you think? Who's right?

Question

My friends all scooff at my running because they say walking is as good. I tell them that running is better because you burn more cals, raise your heart level higher and engage more muscles. Who's right?

Answer 1

you are both right as walking and running do things for the people who need to do one or the other

Answer 2

Just as good health benefits? No. Just as good Fat Burning benefits? Sort of.

training at a relatively high intensity 80-85% of your estimated maximal heart rate (220-your age * .8 or .85) is the best way to strengthen your heart and reduce blood pressure and your chances for future heart disease plus it provides the kind of conditioning that you could apply to say a pickup-game of full-court basketball, where you can keep up with the game and not puke-regular walking does not help any of these things.

What I would recommend is keep your high intensity cardio workouts to about 35 minutes (40 if you count a 5 minute walking cooldown) -5 minutes to warm up to your target rate and then sustain it for 30 minutes

. Do this type of workout three to four times a week---In the final analysis, your heart is your most important muscle, there is no excuse not to train it.

It is true that a higher percentage of calories burned come from bodyfat with low intensity work (as opposed to stored carbohydrate=glycogen) but the total number of calories burned is much greater with the high intensity work so this advantage is eclipsed--also only the high intensity work gives you the double benefit of burning A LOT of calories at the same time you strengthen your heart.

Running does cause joint stress. You can mitigate joint stress by doing low impact cardio biking, stationary bike, or the elliptical trainers at the gym- cross-train this way with your running.

Answer 3

Believe it or not it depends on the person. What burns more calories is whatever makes your heart reach the optimal BPM to the target rate. for some people this is walking. However, To be honest if you are a typical person and are even slightly in shape running will get you there faster, and maintain your heart rate.

Good luck - Making your choice to follow a healthy lifestyle will make you much happier in the long run.

Answer 4

Depending on what you mean by "better" will mean a lot. However, running burns more calories and it does raise your heart rate more, giving you a better aerobic workout. Walking is good (all exercise is to some degree), but it's certainly not the best physical exercise cardio-wise.

Answer 5

You end up burning the roughly the same amount of calories running and walking a certain distance (you just do it faster with running). However, running will provide you with better cardiopulmonary conditioning, as you have greater demand on your lungs and heart than with walking.

Answer 6

Both together. If you run all the time, or walk all the time, you'll get bored of them. Switching up between low and high intensity will keep your mind and body fresh.

Answer 7

Running a mile and walking a mile is the same thing. Running for one hour and walking for one hour is not the same because you'll run a greater distance than walking. I you are older it is probably better if you walk --for joint health. If you want to run don't let anyone discourage you.

Answer 8

Walking is good, but running is much better!

Answer 9

I think your friend is right. I don't remember all the facts and details, but I remember reading an article saying that walking can burn more calories.

Answer 10

Running as long as your knees aren't getting torn up in the process.