The Phenomenal Benefits of Walking One Hour A Day for A Month

As a personal trainer with over 30 years of experience, I’ve tried almost every workout method you can think of. Some, like freeweight and bodyweight training, are pretty conventional. Others, such as blood flow restriction training and overcoming isometrics, are less mainstream.

However, widely known or not, having all these methods in my training toolbox means I have endless options for creating effective workouts and programs for my army of clients. As such, I don’t think of myself as a calisthenics guy, a bodybuilding guy, a functional training guy, or a sports training guy.

Instead, like the great martial artist Bruce Lee, “I absorb what is useful, discard what is not, and add what is uniquely my own.” This breadth and depth of knowledge means I can create programs for almost anyone, from beginners to elite, and for any training goal.

But, despite having a wealth of exercise information to call on, I firmly believe that most people would benefit from incorporating more walking into their health and fitness routines. This is something I actively encourage.

That’s because, in terms of bang for your buck, daily walking is almost unbeatable.

Whatever you are training for, be it fitness, fat loss, muscle building, or the next Olympics, regular walking will help you get there faster. In this article, I reveal the phenomenal benefits of walking for an hour a day for a month.  

The Advantages of Walking Your Way to Health and Fitness

Before I lift the lid on the benefits of daily walking, let’s take a moment to look at what makes this simple activity such a valuable form of exercise.   

Accessibility

Walking is a low-skill, low-intensity activity that most people can do without instruction. You need no athletic skills, and other than a pair of comfortable shoes, you don’t require any equipment, either. All you need is some space, time, and a willingness to get up off your butt and move your body.

As such, walking is not only widely accessible, but it’s also the ultimate excuse-free workout. In contrast, things like running and going to the gym can be impractical for some people, making consistent exercise harder to achieve.

Low-Risk

The chances of hurting yourself during a walk are extremely low. Poorly-fitting shoes could cause blisters, and you could twist or sprain an ankle, but severe injury is very unlikely. Consequently, walking is ideal for anyone who feels beaten up and broken down by more intense workouts.

You Can Walk Every Day

Walking an hour a day is a low-intensity activity that puts very little strain on your muscles and joints. As such, you should have no problems doing it every day. I have walked 10,000 steps every day for well over a year with nothing but positive effects.

In contrast, doing some other workouts every day will probably lead to injury and overtraining. For example, very few people are robust enough to run daily. In my experience, daily walking helps ward off aches and pains while speeding up recovery between more intense workouts.

Easy to Slot into Your Daily Routine

Because you can walk almost anywhere and anytime, daily walking will slip seamlessly into your daily routine. For example, you can walk for an hour in one go or do several short walks spread throughout the day. Both options provide similar benefits.  

Now, imagine trying to break a gym workout down into 15 to 20-minute chunks. Needless to say, that will be impractical for most people.

Won’t Interfere with Other Workouts

Critics of walking are quick to point out that it won’t do much for strength and upper-range fitness. As such, they label walking as ineffective or only suitable for beginners.

However, they’re missing an important point.

You see, no one is saying you should replace your existing workouts with walking. In fact, doing so would inevitably lead to lost fitness and strength. Instead, the advice is to ADD walking to your current training program.  

Walking is entirely compatible with almost every other type of exercise. In reality, daily walks will probably make your training program more effective.

So, don’t feel that walking more means giving up lifting weights or doing HIIT. Instead, I encourage you to add walking to your current exercise program.

The Benefits of Walking One Hour A Day for A Month

Walking for an hour a day can have a profound effect on your health and fitness. Here is a list of the main benefits you will experience when you make walking part of your daily routine.

Weight Loss

Whether you are overweight or want to get leaner for the summer, walking will help you shed those excess pounds (1). Assuming you are an average-sized person and walk about three miles per hour, your daily walk should burn approximately 300 extra kilocalories.

While that might not sound like a lot, assuming your food intake equals your energy expenditure, this should result in a 2.6-pound weight loss in a month. Keep this up for a year, and you’ll lose just over 31 pounds, which is very impressive.

Needless to say, the actual number of kilocalories you’ll burn by walking an hour depends on several factors, including your walking speed, the terrain, and your weight. However, 100 kilocalories per mile is pretty typical.

Get a more accurate estimate of your energy expenditure while walking with our Calories Burned Walking Calculator.

Related: Walking Vs. Running for Weight Loss – Which is Better?  

Improved Cardiovascular Fitness

When it comes to improving fitness, most people turn to higher-intensity workouts like running, interval training, circuits, or group exercise classes. However, research published on PubMed suggests that walking can also have a positive effect on your VO2 Max, which is a measure of heart, lung, and circulatory fitness (2).

This is good news for anyone who dislikes intense exercise or wants to add extra fitness training to their current workout regimen without risking overuse injuries. While more intense exercise will have a bigger impact on your fitness, walking still provides a welcome fitness boost.

Increased Muscular Strength and Endurance

Walking is probably not the first workout you think of for building strength. However, it actually puts quite a lot of stress through your lower body muscles, which, studies suggest,  will increase functional strength and endurance (3).

Walking uphill, carrying extra weight, and walking on an uneven surface will all enhance your strength gains. However, it’s worth noting that walking probably won’t do much for your strength if you are already in good shape.

Regular walking will also enhance muscular endurance, which is your ability to resist fatigue. In my experience, this means you’ll be able to do more reps during your leg workouts and recover faster between sets. This will result in more effective workouts and better gains.

Improved Cardiovascular Health

Cardiovascular fitness and cardiovascular health are intrinsically linked. In simpler terms, the fitter your heart and lungs are, the healthier those organs will be. Walking provides protection against some of the most common cardiovascular diseases, including (4):  

1. Atherosclerosis
2. Coronary artery disease (CAD)
3. Heart failure
4. Heart valve diseases
5. Hypertension (high blood pressure)
6. Peripheral artery disease (PAD)
7. Stroke

It’s no coincidence that some of the longest-living populations are dedicated walkers. There is a very strong link between regular physical activity and longevity. Consequently, walking for an hour a day could lead to a longer, healthier life.

Reduced Stress

Stress is a part of modern living and is often hard to avoid. Financial and work pressure, complicated relationships, major life events, commuting, and life in general can leave you feeling anxious or annoyed. Occasional stress is no big deal. However, many people are under constant stress, which is very unhealthy.

Chronic stress can hurt many aspects of your health, leading to:  

• Autoimmune diseases
• Cardiovascular disease,
• Changes to the menstrual cycle in women
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Digestive problems
• Eating disorders
• Fatigue
• Heart attacks
• High blood pressure
• Increased cancer risk
• Increased physical and emotional pain
• Insomnia
• Memory and concentration impairment
• Sexual dysfunction
• Skin and hair problems
• Strokes
• Weight gain

However, while the causes of stress are often difficult to avoid, daily walking provides a valuable layer of protection against it. Walking offers an outlet for stress and the time to analyze your feelings and come up with solutions. Physiologically, walking lowers cortisol levels and reduces blood pressure.

While almost any walk is good for lowering stress, walking in nature has been shown to have a significant impact on feelings of stress and anxiety (5). So, if you can, try to do at least some of your walks in a natural setting, e.g., a park, forest, or gardens.

Better Sleep

Getting enough sleep is crucial for physical and mental well-being, and most experts agree that adults need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. However, a lot of people get by on much less. This is often because they’re “bad sleepers” who find it hard to fall asleep or wake up frequently during the night.

While there are natural sleep remedies you can try, research shows that walking is an effective sleep aid (6). While the mechanisms for this are unclear, reduced stress is a likely factor.

Related: The Importance of Sleep for Building Muscle and Losing Fat  

Closing Thoughts

While some people dismiss walking as being too easy, the reality is that it’s one of the most powerful things you can do for your physical and mental health. This is not new information. In fact, Hippocrates, who is considered by many to be the father of medicine, said this about 2,400 years ago!  

 Walking for an hour a day will have a noticeable impact on your weight, fitness, and health. You’ll cover roughly three miles during the hour, equating to approximately 6,000-8,000 steps. While this falls short of the “magic” 10,000 steps per day, studies suggest that 6-8k is more than enough walking to be beneficial (7).

So, why not take on the challenge of walking for an hour a day for 30 days? The phenomenal results will probably inspire you to keep going long after you reach your one-month target.

Related:

• How to Walk for Fitness and Fat Loss – Your Ultimate Guide  
• Walking 30 Minutes A Day for A Month: Benefits and Expected Results
• Walking 2 Miles a Day: Uncover How This Simple Habit Can Transform Your Health
• How to Use Counting Steps to Get Lean

References:

1. Kleist B, Wahrburg U, Stehle P, Schomaker R, Greiwing A, Stoffel-Wagner B, Egert S. Moderate Walking Enhances the Effects of an Energy-Restricted Diet on Fat Mass Loss and Serum Insulin in Overweight and Obese Adults in a 12-Week Randomized Controlled Trial. J Nutr. 2017 Oct 1;147(10):1875-1884. doi: 10.3945/jn.117.251744. PMID: 28794207.
2. Kukkonen-Harjula K, Laukkanen R, Vuori I, Oja P, Pasanen M, Nenonen A, Uusi-Rasi K. Effects of walking training on health-related fitness in healthy middle-aged adults–a randomized controlled study. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 1998 Aug;8(4):236-42. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.1998.tb00198.x. PMID: 9764446.
3. Bai X, Soh KG, Omar Dev RD, Talib O, Xiao W, Cai H. Effect of Brisk Walking on Health-Related Physical Fitness Balance and Life Satisfaction Among the Elderly: A Systematic Review. Front Public Health. 2022 Jan 31;9:829367. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.829367. PMID: 35174137; PMCID: PMC8841590.
4. Ungvari Z, Fazekas-Pongor V, Csiszar A, Kunutsor SK. The multifaceted benefits of walking for healthy aging: from Blue Zones to molecular mechanisms. Geroscience. 2023 Dec;45(6):3211-3239. doi: 10.1007/s11357-023-00873-8. Epub 2023 Jul 26. PMID: 37495893; PMCID: PMC10643563.
5. Song C, Ikei H, Park BJ, Lee J, Kagawa T, Miyazaki Y. Psychological Benefits of Walking through Forest Areas. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Dec 10;15(12):2804. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15122804. Erratum in: Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Feb 18;17(4): PMID: 30544682; PMCID: PMC6313311.
6. Hori H, Ikenouchi-Sugita A, Yoshimura R, Nakamura J. Does subjective sleep quality improve by a walking intervention? A real-world study in a Japanese workplace. BMJ Open. 2016 Oct 24;6(10):e011055. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011055. PMID: 27797982; PMCID: PMC5093382.
7. Tudor-Locke C, Bassett DR Jr. How many steps/day are enough? Preliminary pedometer indices for public health. Sports Med. 2004;34(1):1-8. doi: 10.2165/00007256-200434010-00001. PMID: 14715035.

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