A few months ago, if you’d told me one of the most effective forms of exercise I’d be doing would be walking, I probably would have laughed.
Walking felt like something you did on your rest days. Or when you couldn’t do a “real” workout. Or when you went to the mall.
Exercise, in my mind, meant something more demanding. Strength training. Kickboxing. A fitness class. Something that left you feeling like you’d actually accomplished something.
Walking barely registered.
Then earlier this year, I was diagnosed with endometriosis. I had no idea what I was in store for.
If you know, you know.
What I thought would be a straightforward health issue turned out to be far more disruptive than I expected. I experienced a significant flare that left me unable to do much in the way of exercise for over 40 days. Between the pain, fatigue, and uncertainty of what was happening in my body, working out just wasn’t an option.
When I finally started feeling better, I knew I needed to move again.
The problem was that my body wasn’t ready for the workouts I had been doing before.
So I started walking.
And honestly?
At first, I thought it wasn’t enough.
Why I Never Took Walking Seriously
Like many people, I had unconsciously placed walking in a different category from “real” exercise.
It felt too easy.
Too ordinary.
Too slow.
We live in a culture that celebrates intensity. High-intensity workouts, fitness challenges, pushing harder, burning more calories, and squeezing every last drop out of every training session.
Walking doesn’t exactly make for exciting fitness content.
Nobody is posting dramatic transformation videos about a 30-minute walk.
Or so I thought.
The more I started paying attention, the more I realised I had underestimated it.
Discovering Interval Walking
As I began rebuilding my fitness, I came across something called interval walking.
The concept is simple.
Instead of maintaining the same pace throughout your walk, you alternate between periods of faster walking and slower recovery.
My current routine is straightforward:
- 3 minutes at approximately 7 km/h
- 3 minutes at approximately 5–5.5 km/h
I repeat that pattern for about 30 minutes.
That’s it.
No complicated equipment.
No special skills.
No gym membership required.
What surprised me was how challenging it could be while still feeling accessible.
I didn’t need to run.
I didn’t need to jump.
I didn’t need to push myself to exhaustion.
I just needed to walk with intention.
The Interval Walking Benefits I’ve Personally Experienced
There are plenty of studies exploring interval walking benefits, particularly research coming out of Japan, where interval walking has gained significant attention as an effective and sustainable form of exercise.
But what interests me most is what I’ve personally experienced.
The first thing I noticed was my mood.
I felt better after walking. Not in a dramatic, life-changing way. Just noticeably better.
The second thing I noticed was my energy.
This surprised me because exercise is often associated with using energy. Yet after a walk, I generally felt more energised and more productive.
The third benefit was recovery.
As I’ve slowly returned to other forms of exercise, I’ve found that walking seems to support recovery between workouts. Instead of feeling stiff and sluggish, gentle movement helps me feel more mobile and ready for the next session.
Most importantly, walking helped me rebuild confidence in my body.
After a health setback, it’s easy to focus on everything you can’t do.
Walking shifted my attention back to what I could do, and that matters.
Why Walking Deserves More Credit Than It Gets
I still enjoy other forms of exercise. Walking hasn’t replaced everything else. What it has done is completely change the way I think about movement.
I used to see walking as the thing you did when you couldn’t exercise, and now I see it as exercise.
A legitimate, effective, accessible form of movement that most of us overlook because it seems too simple.
The truth is, simple doesn’t mean ineffective. Sometimes the best exercise is the one you’ll return to again and again.
Sometimes it’s the one that helps you rebuild after illness, injury, stress, or a difficult season of life.
And sometimes it’s the one that’s been available to you all along.
If you’re recovering from a setback, trying to become more active, or simply looking for a sustainable way to support your health, don’t underestimate the power of a good walk.
I certainly did.
And I’m glad I was wrong.
Looking After Your Body Every Day
If there’s one thing this experience taught me, it’s that movement doesn’t have to be complicated to be valuable.
For years, I underestimated walking because it seemed too simple.
Now it’s one of the tools I rely on most.
Not because it’s flashy, but because it works.
Looking after your body isn’t just about exercise. Recovery matters too. Our natural pain relief balm was designed to help you recover.
