this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2024
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Let's say you go to the gym 3 days a week, as an example, what do you do on the other 4 days?
Many people think because they are active some of the time, they are therefore healthy. However the evidence with walking and 10k steps a day is that it's important to be active every day and it confers big health benefits. Consistently hitting a level of exercise every day is important.
So walking is not "instead of nothing". It's also part of a whole package of fitness. For less active people, it's achievable way to exercise every day. And for active people, it's something that can be done on the less intense days of exercise rather than being inactive and doing nothing.
I walk 3-5 miles the same as I do on the days I go to the gym. I also sometimes run, and sometimes cycle on top of that. I worded it pretty poorly in my op. When i say walking should be considered bare minimum exercise I mean it's the baseline everyone should be doing no matter what. If you can do more, you definitely should. And not in lieu of walking, in addition to. If you're under the age of ~60 and don't have some kind of physical disability I just dont accept that walking 5 miles over the course of a day should be your only fitness goal. Its if course much better then nothing, but it should be considered foundational not aspirational.