Why Walking Isn’t Enough When It Comes to Exercise
为什么步行不足以锻炼身体

Walking is often thought of as a mere mode of transportation: a way to get from point A to point B. Few of us consider the fact that it’s one of the most fundamental, accessible physical activities a person can do.
步行通常被认为只是一种交通方式：一种从 A 点到 B 点的方式。很少有人考虑到它是一个人可以进行的最基本、最容易进行的身体活动之一。

What’s so great about walking? 
步行有什么好处？

Walking might not be as impressive as holding a plank or doing mountain climbers, but “it’s considered a bodyweight exercise, because your large muscle groups are working to move the weight of your body,” says Dr. Marie Kanagie-McAleese, a pediatric hospitalist at University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health and the leader of the Bel Air, Md. chapter of Walk With a Doc.
步行可能不像举木板或爬山那么令人印象深刻，但“它被认为是一种自重运动，因为你的大肌肉群正在努力移动你身体的重量，”儿科住院医生玛丽·卡纳吉-麦卡利斯博士说马里兰大学上切萨皮克健康中心的教授，也是“与医生同行”马里兰州贝莱尔分会的领导者。

As you walk, “your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves—even your abdominals, biceps, and shoulders—are all using oxygen to contract,” says Ali Ball, an exercise physiologist and outpatient cardiac rehab/wellness coordinator at OSF HealthCare in Urbana, Ill. That also makes walking a form of aerobic exercise, she adds, which means it keeps your heart rate elevated for a sustained amount of time. One study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that 15 minutes of walking was as beneficial as five minutes of running.
当你走路时，“你的股四头肌、腿筋、小腿——甚至你的腹部、二头肌和肩膀——都在使用氧气来收缩，”伊利诺伊州厄巴纳 OSF HealthCare 的运动生理学家和门诊心脏康复/健康协调员 Ali Ball 说。她补充说，这也使得步行成为一种有氧运动，这意味着它可以在一段时间内持续提高你的心率。 《美国心脏病学会杂志》上发表的一项研究发现，步行 15 分钟与跑步 5 分钟一样有益。

From a physiological perspective, that’s a one-two punch of health benefits.
从生理角度来看，这对健康有益。

“First, walking improves the health of our cardiovascular system,” says McAleese. “With improved oxygen delivery to our organs, we see a decrease in the risk of heart disease, stroke, obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.” 
“首先，步行可以改善心血管系统的健康，”麦卡利斯说。 “随着我们器官的氧气输送改善，我们发现心脏病、中风、肥胖、代谢综合征、糖尿病、高血压和高胆固醇的风险降低了。”

Read More: Your Brain Doesn't Want You to Exercise
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Research bears this out. In a 2021 study published in JAMA Network Open, people who logged at least 7,000 steps per day had a 50 to 70%lower risk of early death, compared to those who walked less than 7,000 steps per day. Meanwhile, a 2023 meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine concluded that doing moderate-intensity physical activity—like brisk walking—for just 11 minutes a day is enough to lower the risk of diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and a number of cancers.
研究证实了这一点。 2021 年发表在《JAMA Network Open》上的一项研究表明，与每天步行少于 7,000 步的人相比，每天至少步行 7,000 步的人过早死亡的风险要低 50% 至 70%。与此同时，《英国运动医学杂志》上发表的 2023 年荟萃分析得出结论，每天只需进行 11 分钟的中等强度体力活动（如快走）就足以降低患心脏病、中风和心脏病等疾病的风险。多种癌症。

Plus, it’s the easiest way to counter the risk of a sedentary lifestyle, says McAleese. “Walking more throughout the entire day, even if you’re not doing it at a moderate-intensity level, is critically important,” since sitting too much increases the risk of getting—and dying from—many chronic diseases.
此外，麦卡利斯说，这是应对久坐生活方式风险的最简单方法。 “一整天多走路，即使不是中等强度的步行，也是至关重要的”，因为坐得太多会增加罹患许多慢性疾病和死亡的风险。

But is just walking enough exercise? 
但仅仅步行就足够锻炼了吗？

It can’t do everything. Federal physical-activity guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of aerobic physical activity a week, plus two or more sessions of muscle-strengthening activities involving all major muscle groups per week. Both types of physical activity have to be of at least moderate intensity. 
它不能做所有事情。联邦体育活动指南建议每周至少进行 150 分钟的有氧体育活动，再加上每周两次或两次以上涉及所有主要肌肉群的肌肉强化活动。两种类型的身体活动都必须至少是中等强度。

With a few tweaks, your walk can fulfill the first aerobic category. “Most people just don’t do it hard enough because they don’t think about it as exercise,” says Ball. If you’re used to a casual stroll, it’s easy to increase your intensity and get into that moderate range: You can increase the pace, walk on an incline, walk on a different terrain, or add weight via a vest or pack.
经过一些调整，您的步行就可以满足第一个有氧类别。 “大多数人只是做得不够努力，因为他们不认为这是一种锻炼，”鲍尔说。如果您习惯了休闲散步，那么很容易增加强度并进入中等范围：您可以加快步伐，在斜坡上行走，在不同的地形上行走，或者通过背心或背包增加重量。

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Not so much for the second category. “Walking does provide a low level of bodyweight exercise, but there are a lot of other muscle groups that we’re not really exercising when walking,” says McAleese. Strength training comes with a lot of additional health benefits, like lowering your risk of injury and improving mobility and flexibility.
对于第二类来说就不那么重要了。 “步行确实提供了低水平的体重锻炼，但步行时我们并没有真正锻炼到许多其他肌肉群，”麦卡利斯说。力量训练还具有许多额外的健康益处，例如降低受伤风险以及提高活动能力和灵活性。

How to make your walk count as a workout 
如何让步行算作锻炼

Wearable devices have made mainstream the idea that everyone needs to hit 10,000 steps per day, but “that’s an arbitrary number not based in science,” says McAleese. A more important metric than steps, she says, is time. When it comes to the recommended 150 weekly minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, “you can break that up however works for you,” she explains. “If you can only fit in 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, it all counts.”
麦卡利斯表示，可穿戴设备已经使每个人每天都需要达到 10,000 步的想法成为主流，但“这是一个没有科学依据的任意数字”。她说，比步数更重要的指标是时间。当谈到建议每周 150 分钟的中等强度体力活动时，“你可以根据自己的情况将其分解，”她解释道。 “如果你只能在这里呆 10 分钟，在那里呆 10 分钟，那就很重要了。”

For walking to really qualify as “moderate-intensity” exercise, you need to be moving a little more intentionally than you would during a casual stroll from one meeting to the next. The guidelines consider walking briskly—where you could walk a mile in 15 to 24 minutes—to be moderate-intensity physical activity. That’s a purposeful, I-have-somewhere-to-be pace.
为了让步行真正成为“中等强度”的锻炼，你需要比从一个会议到下一个会议随意散步时更有意识地移动。该指南认为快走（您可以在 15 到 24 分钟内走一英里）属于中等强度的身体活动。这是一种有目的的、“我要去某个地方”的节奏。

The best way to tell if you’re in that moderate-intensity range is the talk test. “If you’re able to speak in complete sentences and can carry on a conversation—but if you were to try to sing, you would become out of breath—that counts as moderate-intensity aerobic exercise,” says McAleese.
判断您是否处于中等强度范围的最佳方法是谈话测试。 “如果你能够说出完整的句子并且能够进行对话——但如果你尝试唱歌，你就会上气不接下气——这算是中等强度的有氧运动，”麦卡利斯说。

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You can also check your heart rate. An approximate (but easy-to-remember) way to find your maximum heart rate is to subtract your age from the number 220, says Ball. During moderate-intensity exercise, your heart rate should be at about 50 to 70% of that maximum heart rate, according to the American Heart Association.
您还可以检查您的心率。鲍尔说，找到最大心率的一种近似（但易于记忆）的方法是用数字 220 减去您的年龄。根据美国心脏协会的数据，在中等强度运动期间，您的心率应约为最大心率的 50% 至 70%。

And to make sure you're getting the most out of this type of physical activity, you also need to think about your form. (Yes, there’s proper form for walking.) “Focus on staying upright and keeping your abdominals engaged,” says Ball. Squeeze your butt, and let your arms swing naturally rather than exaggeratedly pumping them. Leaning forward, especially if you increase your intensity, can cause back pain.

For many people, embracing walking as exercise might just require a slight shift in perspective. “We focus a lot on scheduling exercise as a very specific activity that happens at a certain place at a certain time during our day,” says McAleese. “But we really should be expanding our definition of exercise to include all levels and amounts of physical activity that we perform throughout the entire day.”