Best Aerobic Exercise

Overview: A detailed explanation of the various components of Wisercise and how they work together to provide a life-long urban health fitness training system.

Mindfulness: Harness the Power of The Mind-Body Connection with the practice of Mindfulness. Free yourself from mechanical, conditioned ways of thinking and living which may be harmful to yourself or others.

Breathing: Ageing and the pressures of modern daily life will cause you to change the way you breathe. This article introduces a technique of deep breathing called the Complete Breath and highlights its role in maintaining good health and quality of life.

Posture: Many of the muscles used for breathing are also used for postural alignment. Good posture will improve your breathing and balance in addition to preventing falls and injuries. Learn how to fine-tune your posture for best results.

Stretching: Stretching is an extremely versatile and accomodating form of movement used by physiotherapists, athletes, ballet dancers, pugilists and the military. It is not only a bookend to vigorous exercise but a beneficial exercise in itself!

Aerobic Exercise: Add Years to Life & Life to Years with a traditional, easy-to-do exercise form that positively affects the years of life after age 40, lengthening life while postponing and compacting end-of-life disability.

Inside Aerobics: Find out what happens to you when you exercise aerobically and the benefits to your heart, brain and vital organs.

Best Aerobic Exercise: Researchers have found Walking to be the best aerobic exercise for daily health and wellness maintenance due to its accessibility, lowest injury rate of any exercise form and ability to reduce risk of premature death, dementia and other diseases.

Quickstep Overview: An overview of the Quickstep aerobic briskwalking technique. What is it? How can it benefit you?

Inside Quickstep: An inside look at Quickstep. Find out about Walking Mechanics, Tensegrity, Core Muscles and Balance and how to make these work together to make Quickstep go.

Why Is Walking The Best Aerobic Exercise?

Exercise is beneficial only if you have the ability to keep it up over the long term and preferably throughout your life.

If an exercise is too strenuous, causes you discomfort, or you generally dread it, you’re much more likely to give it up fairly quickly.

Walking is a great form of exercise as most everyone has the innate ability to keep at it and experience improvements over time.

Walking isn’t glamorized by purveyors of fad or trending exercises because there is no financial incentive for them to recommend walking as a “real exercise”.

However, walking has many benefits over other types of fitness regimes.

These advantages keep avid walkers coming back every day, improving their skills and living a healthier life.

Authentic experts such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US), the National Health Service (UK) and the World Health Organisation recommend walking not just as an exercise but as the best form of exercise.1.2.3

"Walking is the most studied form of exercise, and multiple studies have proven that it’s the best thing we can do to improve our overall health, and increase our longevity and functional years."

Robert Sallis,
MD.
Sports Medicine Doctor,
Kaiser Permanente.

Some Well Documented Benefits Of Walking

In its scientific report to the Department of Health and Human Services, the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee noted that walking is the most accessible aerobic activity and has one of the lowest injury rates of any form of exercise.4

A clinical trial of older adults in Japan published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in 2015 found that after 12 weeks, men and women in a prescribed daily walking exercise group had significantly greater improvements in memory and Executive Control Functions compared with those in a control group who were instructed to just carry on with their usual daily routine.5

In a review of studies published in 2014 in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, researchers found that walking for roughly 3 hours a week was associated with an 11 percent reduced risk of premature death compared with those who did little or no activity.6

The National Walkers’ Health study (2013) found that regular walking was linked to a 7 percent reduced risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.7

A 2013 study in the journal Maturitas found that seniors with an average age of 80 who walked just four times a week were much less likely to die over the study's 10-year follow-up period compared with those who walked less.8

A study of 299 adults, published in the journal Neurology in 2010 found that walking was associated with a greater volume of gray matter in the brain, a measure of brain health.9

"You don’t have to run a marathon. Get 30 minutes of walking in on most days. It doesn’t have to be all at once. Just a total of 30 minutes. That’s it. You will add years to your life.”

"Higher levels of physical fitness appear to delay all-cause mortality primarily due to lowered rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer."

Kenneth H. Cooper,
MD, MPH.
The "Father of Aerobics"
Board Certified in Preventive Medicine.
Founder and Chairman of
The Cooper Institute and
Cooper Aerobics

Picking Up The Pace

To get the maximum benefits from walking, you need to log some mileage and pick up the pace.10.11.12.13

According to Dr. Stephanie Studenski, a geriatrician and rheumatologist whose practice, teaching and research focus on mobility, balance disorders and falls in older adults, the efficient and synchronized functioning of multiple body systems, including the cardiovascular system, nervous system and musculoskeletal system are necessary to support a faster than usual walking pace.

As such, researchers associate the way we walk and how quickly we walk with fitness and health.

"Walking—or gait—speed is a powerful indicator of vitality."

"We're able to show that a person's capacity to move strongly reflects vitality and health."

“We are saying your body selects a walking speed that is best for you based on the health of all your body systems.

Your speed is your health indicator.”

Stephanie A. Studenski,
MD, MPH.

Before you quicken your pace there are two important factors to bear in mind:

Aerobic exercise occurs within a specific range of exercise intensity.

A faster walking pace is achieved by technique. Walking the right way will help you build muscle, gain strength, improve your posture, balance, flexibility and range of motion while helping eliminate aches and pains.