All about at home walking workouts

   Walking is one of the easiest, most accessible workouts for beginners. Increasing your daily step count with a medium walk can burn a few extra calories, help you unwind and improve your aerobic endurance. Gentle, low impact exercise won't dramatically increase your hunger as high impact workouts therefore can be a prime cardio choice for achieving a calorie deficit for fat loss. So, if walking is that good and easy, why most of us aren't walking daily?

Photo credit: Tim Samuel from Pexels 

    Time constraints, poor weather and living in unsafe areas are strong reasons to avoid walking outside, or perhaps you just prefer working out in the privacy of your home. Getting a treadmill or a stepper can be expensive and clunky, plus not as motivating when using them outside the gym. At home walking workouts without equipment solve many of these problems: not only you're walking in place safe at home, the instructor will motivate you to follow their guide and provide simple follow along moves to make the routine less monotonous. And now, let's take a look at popular walking workout instructors to learn more about the usual structure of these workouts.

Leslie Sansone is a pioneer of the Walk at Home format

  Here we have a short workout by Leslie Sansone, the creator behind Walk at Home that popularized the indoor walking trend during the 2000s. The structure is quite simple: alternating between brisk walking and fast small movements during twenty minutes. Leslie herself narrates the workout and guides you through every move, reminding you to change before every exercise change and even giving some healthy advice to keep you engaged. While the video quality might not be as fancy and the music is outdated, Leslie's enthusiastic instructions feel encouraging yet not being too pushy. In the Walk at Home channel you will find similar workouts by Leslie and other instructors in the same format, sorted by distance or time duration. The newer workouts without Leslie are just as great and keep the same motivational vibe.

 

Grow with Jo has re-popularized the walk at home format

 

  The Canadian fitness YouTuber Grow with Jo helped making walking workouts a trend during the Covid lockdown. Just like Leslie, she alternates walking in place with easy moves to follow along. Providing viewers with a timer for each exercise, a preview of the upcoming move and crisp modern editing; Jo's body language and gestures will motivate you to keep going. While the moves she does can feel too random at times, the usage of a strategically placed mirror can help you follow along. Jo has also added some variety to walking workouts by infusing them with dance-inspired moves, adding light weights and even jogging in place during her high intensity walks. Something important to keep in mind when doing Jo's walking workouts is that the provided step count and burned calorie estimate is mostly inaccurate, tending to be much higher that what you'll actually get from the actual workout. Even so, Jo's popularity is definitely justified and her routines have helped me and many others to start their fitness journey. 

If you're not a fan of royalty-free music, Kyra Pro has walking 

workouts with songs by popular artists

   

   For pop music and musical fans, Kyra Pro has walking workouts in the same format as Jo's, with moves that feel more dancey and slightly choreographed to the song. Her channel also has walking workouts sorted by step count, walking challenge for beginners and even shorter five-minute walks for using during your breaks. One thing I really like about Kyra is that the step count she provides mostly matches the number you'll get if you match her rhythm during the workout; if you're trying to track your step count without a watch she's a good option.

An easy workout with less aerobic moves and more walking in place

 

  BurpeeGirl is another great popular YouTuber with clever walking workout variations. Her video format is very simple to follow, dividing the workout in rounds and giving small breaks between them. The walking intervals are also long and more frequent; being the best choice if you choose to watch TV while working out to keep your focus. A timer and a progress bar are always present on screen, so feel free to mute the sound and put your music of choice, upcoming exercises are also previewed beforehand. And if you're up to challenge, BurpeeGirl also has running in place workouts with walking intervals. Something that I like about BurpeeGirl is her emphasis on Zone 2 training (workouts that make you perform at 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate), extremely beneficial for regulating blood sugar levels, promoting fat loss and avoiding fatigue. Zone 2 training, often called Low Impact Steady State (LISS) is not only incredibly good for you, but also mild enough to allow beginners to perform it more than once each week without risking burn out.

 

Olivia Lawson has some of the best walking workouts on YouTube

 

   Finally, I would like to recommend my current favorite YouTuber for walking workouts: UK-based Olivia Lawson. Her newer walking workouts challenge me with sharp, precise moves and an emphasis on standing core exercises. With polished aesthetics and enjoyable background music, these workouts are a nice step up for other basic walking workouts. Keep in mind that Olivia doesn't use walking breaks as much as other trainers, so be prepared to change moves often. What I also like about Olivia is that her current workouts don't list a specific step goal, instead titling her workouts according to the intensity and target areas; for those wanting a step count reference she lists her own achieved steps and burned calories as reference at the beginning.

 

    Walking workouts are definitely my top recommendation for anyone wanting to start their fitness journey at home: no equipment, beginner friendly, extremely doable and easily modified to suit your needs. I've personally tried workouts by all the coaches listed above and can vouch for their effectiveness in helping to create a daily exercise habit. Other walking YouTubers I like but didn't get mentioned are Get Fit by Rick, Up to the Beat Fit and EleniFit; feel free to browse your options and give them a try.