Forget 10,000 Steps – This Walking Trick is 3X More Effective!

Why 10,000 Steps Isn't the Answer 0:00

If you have been walking 10,000 steps each and every day, still you are unable to lose weight, you still feel inflamed and your thyroid hormones are still not under control, then you are not alone. In fact, the goal of 10,000 steps is not even science based. It was a marketing campaign from 1960s from a Japanese company. And today I'm going to show you a smarter way to walk, which is backed by science and will give you better results in terms of losing that stubborn belly fat, reducing inflammation in your body, as well as is going to keep you more healthy than walking 10,000 steps.

Hi, I'm Dr. Anshul Gupta, a former Cleveland Clinic functional medicine physician from US. I help people improve their chronic diseases by making personalized functional medicine plans. So walking definitely is a great exercise. It has several health benefits. It improves your metabolic health. It helps you in losing weight. It keeps your heart in good health as well as helps your body in reducing inflammation. But most people have this question, what is the best way of walking and do I really need to hit those 10,000 steps because that takes a lot of time during

Science-Backed Benefits of Smarter Walking 1:12

your own day. This is where researchers from Japan, New Zealand and United States have done independent research studies and they came with this smarter walking trick which takes less amount of time, less effort and interestingly gave better results. People were able to lose more weight, their inflammation markers reduced considerably plus their overall health also improved. First let me share with you this interesting fact. This 10,000 step recommendation was actually a marketing campaign from a Japanese company who launched this speedometer.

It was not science based. Now the new research studies show that even if you walk 4000 to 7000 steps, you can still get better results. But how you walk matters a lot. So let me share with you this smarter way of walking. So this smarter way of walking involves two different steps. First is what we call as interval walking. This interval walking technique was actually researched in Shinshu University in Japan. They did a 12 week study and they compared this interval walking with a steady pace walking and the results were shocking.

Interval Walking for Fat Loss 2:25

people who are doing interval walking lost 18% more visceral fat which is the dangerous fat. Plus these people with interval walking lost more than 2.3% fat as compared to people who were walking at a steady pace. So definitely it is very clear this interval walking works better. Now what is this interval walking means? It is very simple. What it means is that you start walking at a moderate pace for 3 minutes And then you increase your pace and then walk for brisk walking for the next 3 minutes.

And then you repeat this cycle 5 times that takes you total of 30 minutes. Now why does this interval walking trick works? The reason it works is that it keeps your metabolism up for 24 hours. So even though you are doing walking for only 30 minutes but the whole day your body goes into the fat burning mode and that's the reason this walking method works better than only steady state walking. Now before I share with you the next step of walking stay till the end of this video because I am going to give you an exact regimen of how to walk in a day so you can implement easily in your daily routine.

Now the step to walking is what we call as a post meal walking. What that means is that after you have consumed your meal then you need to go for a 5 to 10 minute walk. Research studies have shown a simple 5 to 10 minute walk after your meals reduces the insulin spike as well as the sugar spike by more than 22%. That sugar

Post-Meal Walking to Reduce Sugar Spikes 4:08

spike is the reason you are unable to lose that stubborn belly fat as well as the body fat percentage. So a simple 5 to 10 minute walk after your meals when combined with interval walking will give you massive results. Now let me share with you how to exactly follow this method in your daily routine. So most people are confused. What do you mean by brisk walking? How do I know if I'm walking fast enough or not? So the simple way of knowing the difference between walking at a leisurely pace and a brisk pace is that in your leisurely pace you are able to talk to the next person or over your phone.

But when you are walking briskly then you are not able to talk to the person next to you or over your phone. So that's the easiest and the most crude way of knowing about it. Now let's say you have a smart watch then those smart watches these days can tell you the zones of walking. and you want to be into the zone 2 or higher than that because that zone 2 and zone 3 is the brisk walking zone so let me share with you how do you start this method so for your daily routine the best time to do the walking is early morning as soon as you wake up the first thing you do is that you go outside in the sun and get that sunlight that is going to activate the right hormones for your body and then go out for a 20 to 30 minute walking.

First you do a warm up for 5 minutes. This is where you are doing gentle walking so at least your body is getting ready for what is coming as an exercise for it. Then after that is you start alternating between your moderate pace where you are able to talk to the next person beside you and a brisk walking method

How to Do Brisk Walking Correctly 5:43

where you are increasing the pace and you are unable to talk to the next person who is walking beside you. so you walk for a moderate pace which is a leisurely pace for three minutes and then you increase the pace and then you do that for next three minutes and you alternate this cycle for five times so that will be around 30 minutes for you now when you're starting this method of walking initially you might not be able to do it for 30 minutes that might be too much for your body so you can initially just do it for 15 to 20 minutes whatever works for your body Now the next step is the post meal walking.

This happens after your lunch and after your dinner. In this you can just go for a 10 to 15 minute walk post your lunch and post your dinner. The best time to do it is 30 minutes to 60 minutes after you have completed your meal because that is the time your sugar and your insulin levels are rising. So if you go for this walk, this is going to control this insulin spike so that your inflammation levels do not increase. Now here you do not have to increase your pace because we want a gentle walk that is just going to increase your metabolism so much so it controls your sugar.

Daily Walking Routine and Consistency Tips 6:58

Now the important key to remember over here, consistency is the key. If you do one intense walking once a week, it is not going to show you the results the better thing is to do smaller walks three to four times a week and this is what the research studies show that people who are doing walking for a minimum of three to four times a week do better in research studies and get better results as compared to people who are walking for one or two times in a week so stay consistent whether it is 15 minutes or 30 minutes three to four times a week and then try to gradually increase the time you can start off with 15 minutes and then ultimate goal is to go towards 30 minutes of that interval walking for you and then if you are unable to do that post meal exercise after your lunch it is okay most people are able to do it after their dinner that is the most important meal so if I have to choose between your lunch and dinner I will go for that post meal walk after the dinner because night time your blood sugars keeps on increasing and your insulin also keeps on increasing and you do not want that so specifically post your dinner 30 minutes to 60 minutes after you are done with your dinner go for 5 to 10 minutes gentle walk that is going to help you in reducing inflammation overnight for your body.

So today I shared with you a smarter way of walking that takes less amount of time and research shows it will give you better results in terms of improving

Expected Results and Final Takeaways 8:20

your various health parameters. So start from tomorrow, this kind of walking, give yourself two to three weeks, take a month and you will see amazing results. You will see an improvement in how your mood is going. You will see improvement in your sleep. You will feel less inflammation in your body. Plus, you will also lose a few pounds of your weight that you have been unable to do so. I hope you like this video. If you do, please like and subscribe to my channel as well as share this with others who can benefit from this great information.

Until next time, take care. Bye bye.