Fitness Focus: 10 Ways to Start (or Refresh) a Running or Walking Routine

When it comes to fitness, walking and running are both winners.

What’s not to love about walking and running? Both approaches to fitness are:

• Inexpensive. Put on your comfy clothes and a good pair of shoes and you’re ready to roll.
• Convenient. Just open the door and go.
• Easy. No learning curve or instruction needed.

A run or a walk will improve your heart health and blood sugar regulation, burn calories, and boost your mood.

Which is Better?

Walking is great exercise. So is running. How do you choose which is best?

Experts at the Cleveland Clinic say that there’s no “best” answer here. Running is a great option if you’re limited on time and want to burn more calories. On a 30-minute run, you’ll burn more calories than on a 30-minute walk.

On the other hand, running is considered a high-impact form of exercise, which can lead to an increase in stress on your knees and feet, or even injury.

Walking is a bit gentler and is often considered a “functional fitness” workout. Most people want to be able to walk for the rest of their lives, so developing a walking routine is ideal for good health and mobility at any age.

You could also consider doing both—walking most days and running a few days each week, or doing run-walk sets to pump up your heartrate and improve fitness. Walking is also a great entry point if you’d like to start running.

The Starting Line

Ready to get started? Follow these steps to starting a new walking or running routine.

1. Before you start any new exercise routine, check with your healthcare provider. If you’ve never had much of a fitness routine, walking is the perfect place to start. Running, on the other hand, is a high-impact physical activity. Make sure your joints and body can handle the impact, especially if you have health issues or have been sedentary.
2. Start slowly. If you’ve been a bit of a couch potato, start with 10 to 15 minutes of walking, adding five minutes more each day as your body adapts. And don’t forget to warm up with dynamic stretching, such as a set of jumping jacks.
3. Pace yourself. If you’re just starting, aim for a 15-minute mile pace. That might seem challenging at first, but you might soon find that you can pick up the pace and get into a faster, 12-minute mile power-walking mode. During your walk or run, check: Are you feeling a bit breathless? Good.
4. Set short-term and long-term goals. Maybe your initial goal is to walk for 15 minutes each day. A longer-term goal might be to walk briskly for 30 minutes a day, three to five times a week, gradually increasing your speed and training time to run a 5K in 12 weeks. Whatever your goal, plan to keep moving the goalposts so that you’re continually being challenged.
5. Focus on time, not distance. Running experts at outdoor retailer REI advise to first focus on increasing your time rather than distance. The idea is to get out there and move, no matter how fast or slow you do it. Once you get your body moving consistently for a period of time, you can pick up the pace, build up your mileage or increase your endurance.

Refresh Your Routine

Routines are great, but they can also feel…routine. You might need to tweak your running or walking workouts to stay motivated. Some ideas:

1. If you’re walking, try to incorporate a little running. Once you’ve been walking for a few weeks, incorporate periods of running into those 30 minutes. REI running experts suggest warming up with 5 minutes of brisk walking and then gradually mix walking and running. Try running for 1 minute, walking for 2 minutes and repeating. As you get comfortable running, lengthen the time you do it.
2. Change your route. Reverse your usual route, or look for completely new walking or running trails that offer new scenery or more challenging terrain, such as hills or steps. If you’re a morning walker, try a noon or after dinner walk once or twice a week.
3. Find a buddy. Walking or running with a friend can combine two wellness activities: socializing and exercising. Both will do wonders for your physical and mental health. If you’re solo, try listening to an audiobook or podcast, or phone a friend.
4. Join a running, walking or hiking club. Organized clubs offer opportunities to meet new people, find encouragement and improve your fitness level.
5. Make it a race (against yourself). Use a stopwatch (your cell phone has a handy app for that) to time walking or running a mile or any distance you choose. Check your time a week or two later and see if you improve, then keep striving for your personal best.

ProTip: Good walking or running shoes can be expensive, but there’s no reason to pay full price. Look for sales of last season’s top sellers and you can find bargains—saving both money and the impact on your feet and joints.