Breaking up a longer workout into shorter “bouts” of activity can be helpful for beginners, Paluch suggested.

Think about where you are physically, and then progressively increase your walking time from there, Paluch advised.

You might wear a step-counting device for a few days to figure out your baseline steps. Say, it’s about 4,000, which is common, then add about 500 more steps per day for the next week, she suggested.

“Just think about trying to make each increase a habit, right? So, we don’t want to just jump into it and say, we’re going to go out and walk five miles,” Paluch said. “Our goals become more achievable when we think about those in bite-size pieces and, also, we prevent injury.”

Walking at a moderate-to-vigorous intensity is more helpful for someone wanting to incorporate walking into a weight-loss plan, she added.

A 150-pound person who walks briskly will burn about 297 calories per hour, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).

How many calories can you burn during a 40-minute walk? According to Livestrong, you can burn between 160 calories and 296 calories, depending on your weight and walking speed.

Walking more is best, the ACS suggested, citing a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That study found more steps were linked to lower death rates from heart disease and cancer.

Mayo Clinic offers tips on starting a 12-week walking schedule, suggesting five minutes of slower-paced walking at the beginning and again at the end of a walking workout to warm up and cool down. It recommends five walking days per week.

A brisk walk means you’re breathing hard, but can still talk, the Mayo Clinic noted. A moderate intensity walk means you can walk, but can’t sing, Paluch said.

A faster pace appears to be important for good health. Harvard Health noted that regular walking reduced risk of heart disease and early death, especially for those who walked at a pace of 3 miles an hour or faster.

• A few short bursts of exercise throughout the day may reduce heart disease risk by 50%, according to new research.
• Women specifically showed the most pronounced effects of short bursts of activity.
• Experts explain the findings.

If you struggle to get your steps in or to find enough time in the day to hit the gym, you’re in luck. New research finds that even a few short bursts of exercise may cut your heart disease risk in half.

A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine used data from more than 22,000 people between 40 and 79 years old from the UK. These participants wore physical activity trackers for nearly 24 hours a day between 2013 and 2015. Data from hospital and death records were also used to keep track of the participants’ heart health to look for major cardiovascular events, such as heart attack, heart failure, and stroke.

Women, in particular, showed more obvious effects from the short bursts of activity. That is, women who did at least 3.4 minutes of short bursts of vigorous activity per day were found to be 45% less likely to have a major cardiovascular event. When exercising between 1.5 and four minutes a day (with bursts lasting up to one minute), researchers saw an association of a 51% reduced risk for heart attack and a 67% reduced risk for heart failure, compared to those who did not perform this type of exercise.

For those of us who like to work out for our general wellbeing, compound exercises are a godsend. A compound exercise engages multiple muscle groups, helping to burn more calories than an isolation exercise, and helps you achieve a full-body workout in less time. There’s also a lot of crossover between compound and functional exercises, which mirror movements we make in everyday life.

Compound exercises normally engage two or three muscle groups, so when certified personal trainer Rachel Sacerdoti posted a Reel demonstrating one exercise that engages eight muscle groups I stopped scrolling.