For a better calorie burn, adjust your speed while walking

Walking is a great way to burn extra calories, but new research suggests you might gain even more benefit if you vary your speed as you stroll. The new research, from Ohio State University, found that changing your pace could burn up to 20 percent more calories than maintaining a steady stride. “Most of the […]

Walking is a great way to burn extra calories, but new research suggests you might gain even more benefit if you vary your speed as you stroll.
The new research, from Ohio State University, found that changing your pace could burn up to 20 percent more calories than maintaining a steady stride.
“Most of the existing literature has been on constant-speed walking. This study is a big missing piece,” study co-author Manoj Srinivasan, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, said in a university news release.
“Measuring the metabolic cost of changing speeds is very important, because people don’t live their lives on treadmills and do not walk at constant speeds. We found that changing speeds can increase the [caloric] cost of walking substantially,” Srinivasan explained.
People may also be underestimating the number of calories they burn while walking in daily life or playing sports, the study authors said. The researchers estimated that starting and stopping may account for up to 8 percent of the energy used during normal daily walking.
This caloric cost is often not included in calorie-burning estimations, Srinivasan’s group said.