Is Walking The Best Form Of Exercise?

Walking is an excellent form of exercise. Walking every day has numerous health benefits that have been well-established by research and practice. It is simple to do and can be done by people of all ages and at their own pace but at the end of the day, walking is a form of endurance exercise. What about resistance training?

We lose 1% of our muscle mass per year after the age of 40. Every year after that, strength is lost by 2%, and power is lost by twice that amount. Consider the late-life complications that make life miserable but are easily avoidable, for example, falls. To avoid a fall, your muscles must be strong and powerful enough to react quickly to external forces that could cause a fall. Walking will not help you with this, then how can we tackle this situation?

The answer is resistance training. Resistance training does not necessarily have to involve heavy dumbbells or exert an immense amount of force. It could be as simple as using one’s body weight as in the case of a free squat. A few more examples could be lunges, chair sit-to-stands, wall push-ups, marching on the spot, shoulder movements with a bottle of water etc.

The answer is right in front of us yet we fail to act on it. The best part of resistance training is that you are never too old to perform this form of exercise. Multiple research suggests that even at the age of 90, a resistance protocol of 8-12 weeks resulted in a gain in muscle mass, strength and power by a significant level.

Let me rephrase my first sentence: Walking is an excellent form of exercise but when combined with resistance training, it can lead to a greater quality of life.