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Walking is Fitness - Why I Gave Up Running For Walking

Thumbnail of the video “Walking is Fitness - Why I Gave Up Running For Walking”
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Author: Walking is Fitness
Categories: Fitness
Tags: fitness
Views: 2 · Last viewed: 2026-10-16 14:01 UTC

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Choose the exercise you actually enjoy and will keep doing, which the speaker found was walking rather than running. The speaker switched from running to walking for fitness on May 7, 2013, after realizing he enjoyed the walk more than the run, and has averaged about 19,000 steps a day since January 2, 2013. He frames "which do you enjoy more?" as a better question than "which is better, running or walking?"

Key Points

  • The switch was not caused by injury or inability to run; it was a personal preference decision made while walking to a running trail.
  • The speaker ran for five years, including 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, and an accidental full marathon he finished in 4 hours and 56 minutes.
  • Experts give conflicting answers on running versus walking: walking is low impact (less injury risk), while running is high intensity (higher heart rate).
  • The speaker states there is no research showing 19,000 steps a day is optimal, and that you can get incredible health benefits from walking even without hitting 10,000 steps a day.
  • Consistency is the goal the speaker emphasizes: he has walked daily for over a decade because he looks forward to it.

Details Worth Noting

  • Concrete instructions: Track your activity (the speaker used a Fitbit starting January 2, 2013, with a 10,000-step goal); if you run, you can add walking to reach your step target, as he did by running about three miles and then walking to reach 10,000 steps; and pick the activity you enjoy most and commit to doing it regularly.
  • The speaker's running history began at age 47, when he started by running from one mailbox to the next and added mailboxes over two to three weeks until he could run a full mile.
  • His accidental marathon happened because he signed up for the full marathon instead of the half; the half was sold out, so he could not switch, and he chose to run it untrained with the goals of not dying and finishing in a respectable time.
  • He notes he is not a doctor or licensed personal trainer, so the advice is his personal experience rather than professional guidance.

Bottom Line

Pick the exercise you enjoy enough to keep doing, because consistency matters more than which form is objectively better.