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Hi,

After lunch I walk my loop with Enzo. Every day, because a dog does not do days off. For years I saw that walk as maintenance: good for my head, good for my blood sugar. Until I read what Japanese researchers have been measuring for almost 20 years. They change just one single thing about such a loop, the pace, and that turns it into a workout.

How it works

3 minutes of brisk walking, then 3 minutes at an easy pace, and that alternation 5 times in a row. That makes 30 minutes. Brisk is the pace at which talking still just works, in short sentences: getting warm is fine, panting is not needed. No running involved; the method was designed precisely for people of 60-plus.

What the study showed

In the first major study (246 participants, average age 63, 5 months) knee extensor strength rose by 13% and knee flexor strength by 17%, and fitness improved by 8 to 9%. The group dutifully collecting 8,000 daily steps barely moved. A follow-up analysis of 679 participants also found the dial that drives the effect: around 50 brisk minutes a week is enough, and beyond that the gains level off. That is 4 walks with 12 to 15 brisk minutes each.

Your belly joins in too

Danish researchers had 2 groups burn the same energy walking for 4 months; only the rhythm differed. The interval group lost fat mass and deep belly fat, and blood sugar peaks came down; the steady walkers changed on none of those points. It was a study in people with type 2 diabetes, but the mechanism belongs to everyone: muscles at work take up glucose from your blood without insulin needing to get involved.

And since your hands are free anyway: there are also 30 minutes of walking music waiting for you. Calm, modern lounge; a double chime means stride out, a single soft tone means ease off. No talking, just music.

All the studies, the honest nuance for women in menopause, and what I use alongside: it is all in the new blog Japanese walking: 3 minutes brisk, 3 minutes easy.

Tanja Thielen Health strategist & bestselling author Instagram (English)  ·  Facebook (Deutsch)  ·  LinkedIn (Nederlands) My books →