A Couch Potato’s Guide to Running and Walking

Ever since human beings got up off four legs and started wandering African savannahs on two, we have spent most of our time running and walking. In our modern car obsessed culture, we don't walk or run much anymore. Luckily, while most of us have traded in walking and running for prodding a gas pedal, other people have been busy creating new forms of walking and running and others have been busy studying the benefits of living an active life. And there are a lot of benefits. Starting with the least intensive type of walking going right up to the most intensive type of running, here’s a rundown of everything we’ve been missing. Perhaps after reading this, we’ll all be inspired to leave the car keys at home just a little more often.

First off, the easiest, least intensive and most comfortable type of walking is good old fashioned walking. No frills, no additions, just walking. Our bipedal walk is unique in the animal world and it is the most efficient form of movement us human beings are capable of. Walking on a regular basis can improve aerobic fitness, general health, and noticeably extend the walker's life span. The best part of walking is the accessibility. You can do it anywhere. Around the mall, in the office, or while you pop down to the shops. Walk often enough, and you’ll start to feel the difference.

A blend of western biomechanical science and the Chinese art of T’ai Chi gives us Chi Walking. This type of walking emphasises good posture, loose joints, core muscle engagement and the relaxing of muscles in the arms and legs. This makes walking easier and helps to improve and eliminate the aches and pains often caused by incorrect walking styles without robbing the walker of the health benefits of walking. The T’ai Chi element of Chi walking helps walkers reduce stress and build up a strong sense of spiritual well being.

Water Walking, is simple. It is walking, waist deep or more, in water. Water walkers are often people recovering from injuries or people with joint pain. They use it therapeutically because it is completely non-impact. Water resistance to each step takes away any impact from stepping forward and at the same time, it acts as gentle resistance training. Other water walkers do it because they’ve got busy schedules and just don’t have the time to spend hours walking. Water walking, because of water resistance, burns more calories, tone muscles more effectively, and gives walkers more of a cardio workout for their time than walking on land. Just 30 minutes of fast water walking can be equal to an hour or more of walking on land. Of course if anyone starts to find water walking is too easy, the solution is simple: water power walking.

Power walking is the F1 of the walking world, It’s the fastest and most intense form of unaided walking. Power walking is instantly identifiable thanks to the exaggerated arm movements and dramatically swivelling hips of power walkers. It is great for overweight people or people with joint problems looking for a more intensive workout on land than they can get just by walking but don’t want to risk getting injured from the jarring shocks of running. Keeping up the pace and walking style of power walking over an extended walk tones and strengthens the muscles around the core and legs; builds stamina; and boosts cardiorespiratory fitness, much more than just walking.

Even more intense than power walking, is Nordic Walking. This is essentially walking...with poles. By combining walking with ski poles, Nordic walkers get a great upper body workout at the same time as their walk. Research shows that Nordic walking increases the heart rate more than walking at any given pace so it burns more calories than walking and gives more of a cardiorespiratory workout. Plus, using poles takes away most of the jolting walkers usually endure so Nordic walkers are noticeably less prone to stresses on the hip, knee and ankle joints. They are also able to walk further, and over more treacherous terrain thanks to what are effectively two extra limbs on the ground.

As intensive as Nordic Walking is, it is still easier than the easiest of running types which is, amazingly, running. Running is vigourous exercise so it has been shown to cause significant increases in good cholesterol and dramatic decreases in general body fat and coronary heart disease. Running also works on cardiorespiratory fitness, training the heart to pump more blood per beat, the muscles to absorb more oxygen, and the lungs to be more efficient.

Chi Running is a relative of Chi Walking and, like barefoot running below, recommends runners run barefoot. Like it’s Chi walking brother, it is a meld of biomechanics and T’ai Chi, but it also incorporates principles from yoga and pilates. It combines these elements so that during a run, it isn’t just the legs that get worked out. Am emphasis is also placed on exercising the core, proper breathing techniques, and the integration of mind, body, and spirit and focuses on the overall and long term performance of the runner. It gives the same health benefits of running but incorporates the spiritual elements of the exercises that inspired it.

If you take away a traditional runner’s shoes, you have Barefoot Running and it really is just running without shoes, but some barefoot runners wear specially designed barefoot shoes. The barefoot running style is different from traditional running and it disappeared from the mainstream years ago. Recently though, it has had a comeback of Mickey Rourke proportions thanks to studies indicating that barefoot running offers all the health benefits of traditional running while allowing the runner to run faster, for longer, and with less foot, shin and muscle injuries. All this is possible because barefoot runners naturally land on the ball of the foot, directly below their centre of gravity which means they can use the flex of their legs to absorb the shock, increase their stability and they end up in the perfect position for a powerful takeoff.

Trail running, also known as fell running, mountain running, hill running and adventure running is running on hiking trails. Trail runners cover a seemingly endless variety of terrain, from hills, to mountains, to deserts, to forests, up steep inclines and over rough trails. Obviously, trail running is extremely intensive and as a result has many benefits to the runner. The steep hills act as resistance training which builds calves, quads, hamstrings and glutes much more than running on flat ground. Lifting the legs to climb inclines builds up hip flexors and Achilles tendons, which increases stride, and increases overall speed. Even better, these strengthened leg muscles are less prone to injury. As for cardiorespiratory fitness, trail running forces the lungs and heart to work much harder than traditional running, giving runners a level of fitness far surpassing that of a normal runner. Some trail runners choose to push these gains further by running in barefoot shoes or even barefoot.

For most urbanites, trail running just isn’t possible. For them, there is Tower Running. This is the slightly insane sport of running up tall man-made structures. Usually, tower running refers only to skyscrapers but really, it includes anything high and man made. The health benefits of this are pretty much the same as, but some argue greater than, trail running because while trail runners can rest during flat and downhill sections, tower runners must have the physical strength and stamina to keep pushing upwards. To make life more difficult, Tower runners have to deal with cramped, hot and humid indoor conditions on top of the exhaustion that develops when running upwards with no respite.

The most vigourous form of running currently invented, is Free Running. Free running is a form of urban acrobatics which centers on pulling stunts while running. It is a running style which incorporates the cat-like movements of parkour, vaults, flips, freezes, street stunts and tricking. Unlike every other form of running, which primarily work the legs and core muscles, free running is an absolute, intensive full body workout. Participants can develop near superhuman levels of balance and extremely strong upper bodies akin to Olympic gymnasts as well as extremely high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness through running, climbing, and jumping.

Now that you’re something of an expert in all the types of walking and running, it’s time to make a choice for yourself. Which one do you want to do? Which one sounds the most fun? Can’t decide? Well just try it out! The health benefits everyone can gain from just putting down the car keys and walking to the shops once a week is worth the hassle. Just remember, whichever type you decide on, remember to exercise safe. Warm up, drink plenty of fluids, use the right equipment, and don’t overdo it. Have fun!