Alternating between fast and slow walking is particularly suited to people who do not do much regular exercise
If the thought of pumping iron or holding a plank doesn’t put a spring in your step, maybe the latest exercise trend to dominate social media will: Japanese interval walking.
The idea is simple: alternate between three minutes of fast and three minutes of slow walking, ideally for 30 minutes at a time.
“The fast walking pace is typically fast [enough] that you are not able to speak in long sentences,” said Dr Kristian Karstoft, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, who has studied the method. “And then the slow intervals are so slow that you are able to recover.” He added that people could often find it challenging to walk slowly enough during these intervals.
Putting the approach to the test, I hit the area around King’s Cross in central London.
