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It’s become a viral fitness trend, and the Japanese interval walking technique is a relatively easy way to boost your fitness. And the great thing is it’s totally free
For those looking to improve their health and fitness in the year ahead, it can often feel like an uphill struggle just trying to start a new regime. But as most medical experts will tell you, making even small steps to being more active can have a big impact on your overall health and well-being.
As the MEN reported at the weekend, one free and easy way to boost your fitness is by using the Japanese walking technique, which involves walking fast and then slow at set intervals. We tried the technique with impressive results, as you can read about here.
Much has been written in recent years about trying to hit a steps goal as a way of using walking for fitness, with many striving to hit a 10,000 daily steps target to stay healthy and in shape.
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But with Japanese walking, there’s no steps goal – instead you are encouraged to walk for 30 minutes, at least four times a week, alternating between three minutes “fast” walking and three minutes “slow”.
You set your own pace while doing the technique, so it’s whatever you consider to be “fast” – described by experts as enough to make you feel “out of breath” by the end of each set.
The technique has become known as Japanese walking as it was first developed and studied for its health benefits by experts at Shinshu University in Japan. Its medical research team there found that participants completing interval training over a five month period improved their fitness by up to 20 per cent.
Professor Masuki Shizue of the Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine was one of the co-researchers on the project. She noted that the interval walking technique was particularly helpful for older people as it’s a low impact form of exercise, and may help ease existing health problems too.
The most recent study on the official website states: “Walking is one of the easiest form of exercise for older adults. Professor Masuki and her team demonstrated that “interval walking,” which involves alternating between brisk and slow walking, can help mitigate the risk of lifestyle-related diseases.
“A large-scale survey of 234 participants who engaged in interval walking was conducted to determine whether interval walking improves bone mineral density and whether this improvement is greater among individuals with low bone mineral density. The findings of the present study revealed that interval walking is an excellent form of exercise, especially for individuals with low bone mineral density.”
It continued that given that it does not require any special equipment and can be performed at a pace that suits the physical fitness of the individual, interval walking is also a sustainable form of exercise for most able-bodied individuals.
Indeed the only “equipment” you need to get started on the interval walking is comfortable walking shoes and either a watch or phone to time each three minute interval. As each workout is just 30 minutes, it’s also a great form of exercise to fit into busy schedules, or for those simply not that keen on exercising, as you’re not striving to reach a set steps limit each day.
Studies are now ongoing at the university to verify the effects of interval walking on specific diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. But it added that it “could help prevent the incidence of lifestyle-related diseases and exert therapeutic effects if it can reduce the dosage of prescription medications or eliminate their requirement”.
How do you do interval walking?
As described by Shinshu University, interval walking involves walking briskly for three minutes until “one is out of breath (approximately 70% of the peak aerobic capacity), followed by three minutes of slow walking and this process is repeated thereafter”.
To improve physical fitness, they recommend adopting the technique for five sets of intervals (so 30 minutes) of this style of walking per day, on 4 or more days a week.
They say that after five months, doing the interval walking 4 times a week “can improve physical fitness by up to 20%.” They say it may also help to prevent “lifestyle-related illnesses.”
Who can benefit from interval walking?
As well as being good for people aiming to improve their overall fitness levels, the study by Shinshu University found that this style of interval walking could be particularly beneficial to those with “low bone mineral density”. As bone density declines with age, that includes some older people, and women going through the menopause.
The research said: “Osteoporosis [weakening bones] is particularly prevalent among postmenopausal women owing to the rapid decline in the secretion of female hormones resulting in a reduction in bone mineral density.
“A total of 234 postmenopausal women completed five sets of interval walking per day on at least 4 days per week for 5 months in this study.
“Measurement of the bone mineral density of the participants revealed an increase in the bone mineral density of individuals with low bone mineral density at baseline. No changes were observed in the bone density of individuals with high bone mineral density at baseline.”
