These Walking Routines Will Increase Your Burn And Deliver Faster Results

These healthy boosts aren’t just for beginners. Once you learn how to incorporate not-just-a-walk-in-the-park variations into your routine, you’ll find yourself craving more sweaty strolls. Knowledge, ahead…

IF YOU WANT TO BUILD MUSCLE: RUCKING

Long before social media existed, this loaded variety was a military training workout: Soldiers carried a heavy pack (rucksack) and logged miles (ruck marching). Think of the practice simply as an extended walk with a weighted pack, says Katie Knight, CPT, an online fitness coach and a GoRuck Games champion.

The pack (you can purchase a specific rucking one or DIY it) is key to getting the most from the miles. “It makes you stand up straighter as you move, and you work different muscles compared to hiking or backpacking,” says Emily McCarthy, cofounder of the community GoRuck.

Rucking is a total-body workout too; it uses your core and shoulder muscles as well as your legs as you carry the load. It also really pays off: The method improved strength in upper- and lower-body muscles, according to a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. After a 10-week period of resistance training and weighted walking, participants gained overall strength in squat jumps, pushups, and situps.

TRY IT: START SMALL, WITH A LIGHT PACK AND LOW MILEAGE.

Then gradually increase both as your fitness improves, recommends Knight. You can even attempt rucking at home or at the gym on a treadmill. There are specialty rucking packs that allow you to insert different weight plates and keep them evenly distributed. (See “Gear Up and Go,” below, for a great rec!) But you can also just grab a backpack and put in a five-pound dumbbell, some ankle weights, and/or a full water bottle. For beginners, 5 to 10 pounds is ideal. “Put your treadmill on an aggressive incline between 8 and 12 percent and walk at a speed from 2.7 to 3.5 for about 10 to 30 minutes,” says Percell Dugger, CPT, a Nike running coach.

IF YOU WANT A TOTAL-BODY CARDIO WORKOUT: NORDIC WALKING

At its most basic, this style simply involves strolling with poles. Nordic walking originated as a way for cross-country skiers to keep up their training sans snow, says Malin Svensson, CPT, an International Nordic Walking Association master trainer and coach. But it has evolved into a year-round, any-surface way to walk.

The variation is excellent cross-training or off-season cardio for other sports because you coordinate muscles from head to toe and keep the heart and lungs pumping, says Svensson. It also “increases your endurance while taking stress off your ankle, knee, and hip joints, strengthens your core, arms, chest, back, buttocks, and legs, and improves posture and flexibility,” Svensson notes. And the motion, with or without the poles, improves resting heart rate, blood pressure, maximal oxygen consumption, and more, according to one review.

TRY IT: SYNCING YOUR ARMS AND LEGS IS KEY TO OPTIMIZING MILES, BUT IT MAY TAKE A BIT OF PRACTICE UNTIL IT FEELS RHYTHMIC.

While maintaining a natural opposing-arm-and-leg rhythm, plant your pole at a slight backward angle and push off with each step, making the triceps burn and engaging multiple upper-body muscles. “Keep your arm in a handshake position,” Svensson says, with slightly bent elbows that aren’t too tight to the body.

IF YOU WANT A SCALABLE CHALLENGE: HOT GIRL HIKES

What started as hot girl walks (to the tune of over 1 billion views) on TikTok evolved into hot girl hikes. The latter simply include an extra bit of planning, a lot more nature, and more rigor. You don’t have to set out on your own Wild adventure or hit a new summit—a few trail miles will count.

Hiking also brings in some added benefits that walking alone doesn’t offer. “Naturally, you will find more incline, hills, and uneven terrain, and that can increase the workload and challenge you from a fitness perspective more so than a flat road walk,” says Rachelle Reed, PhD, an exercise scientist and American College of Sports Medicine ambassador. Also expect a balance workout from uneven surfaces, as well as an emotional lift from being in nature. Exercising in green spaces has been linked to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and blood pressure, per a review in Extreme Physiology & Medicine.

TRY IT: TAKE IT EASY WITH A FEW MILES ON A FLAT PATH TO START.

Focus on pushing through your heels to engage glutes and release pressure on knees in steep pitches, says Bradee Felton, CPT, host of the Fit for Hiking podcast and founder and CEO of the site Ponytail on a Trail. If you’re wearing a pack, maintain proper posture by squeezing shoulder blades together.

IF YOU WANT A MENTAL HEALTH BOOST: SILENT WALKING

While it might sound more like a spa experience than a workout, a jaunt free of distractions comes with profound mental health benefits. Made famous on social media, silent walking is all about strolling without tech. Leaving music, podcasts, audiobooks, and phone calls behind ideally leads to mindfulness and connection during your journey. (But feel free to bring Fido if you want company!)

Think of it as a walking meditation and a physical activity that gives you a break from the business of your life, says Reed. As such, the quiet goes deeper than popping out the earbuds; it includes muting the mental chatter, with the goal of engaging with your senses, your surroundings, and the present.

It also opens the opportunity to experience awe, which comes with a host of mind perks unique to this emotion, such as greater kindness and feelings of social connection and community. Feeling daily moments of awe was predictive of better general wellbeing, too, according to multiple recent studies.

TRY IT: EMBRACE THE RHYTHM OF IT ALL.

Pay attention to details such as “how your legs are moving, your breathing rate, or how your body feels when you walk faster or slower, to refocus into the here and now,” says Reed. “Remember that this walking takes practice—and that mindful meditation is more about acknowledging your thoughts without judgment, rather than trying to think about nothing at all.” Mind magic!