The Primal Workout Week 2 - Walk More

Recently I fell off the wagon.

The walking wagon.

I knew that 10k steps was the baseline thrown around these days, but I wasn’t making it happen.

After an attempt at 75 Hard a few years back, I had this false notion stuck in my head that I had to knock out a 45 minute walk in one go, otherwise it wasn’t worth it. Then after reading some of my favorite books again and just using own my brain, I realized that humans, and all animals for that matter, have their movement spread out evenly through the day. It didn’t make sense to have just one big walking or even exercise bout.

You had to move often.

If you currently live on a college campus or a city where everything is within walking distance, you know this to be true.

There were a few instances where I was walking a lot and I got lean (or at least I didn’t let myself go) on accident. College was an obvious one. The first time I went to college I was eating whatever I wanted, but in the central Florida heat it was hard to get too thick. (After I graduated, I got thick.)

Next was the second time I went to college. When I started, I was breathing heavy just walking around the campus. Then walking got easier. I was also lifting hard and started following a low-carb diet and got the lightest I had been as an adult.

A few years later was when I discovered 75 Hard. After self experimentation, my two workouts were lifting Monday, Wednesday Friday with a bodyweight and kettlebell day in between and the second, outdoor workouts were just walking. Again, I got lean.

How can we apply this to our lives?

First, a history lesson.

Walking Through History

I talk about movement a lot, specifically the human developmental sequence. If you don’t know, it’s what babies go through to gain the strength to be able to walk and sprint: breathing, head control, rolling, rocking and then…crawling.

But what are we supposed to do after that?

Walking.

A lot.

The sedentary life as we know it is a relatively new thing. Just think, before cars, we had to walk everywhere. That’s not even including manual labor work.

So if the human developmental sequence is what got us to be able to walk, then walking continues to strengthen and maintain the human developmental sequence. You should be walking with your head up, swinging your arms (just like you need 4 limbs to crawl) so it just makes sense. (I’m writing this article on my phone as I walk so I’m going against the rule. Oops.)

Sprinting can be thought of as the ultimate gait pattern movement (opposite arm, opposite leg), but you can only do that for so long and so many reps. It’s also brutal if you haven’t done that in a while. Walking is meant to be done a lot.

So after accepting my fate and understanding that humans are meant to walk more, I started to walk more.

The beauty of the 10k step rule is that the frequency and duration of each walk are up to you.

I think 75 Hard is great (one of the rules being that you have to do two workouts for 45 minutes each, one being outside), but if you walk 10k steps that comes to about 100 minutes of work. Two 45 minute workouts/walks is 90 minutes. It’s the same thing but you’re able to fit it in as you’re able.

One big walk?

Great.

Work in a restaurant or in construction?

Also great.

Going on a vacation?

Your steps are a given.

Then if you apply a step range, you can scale it to your current ability level. For my fellow strength trainees (which pairs very well with this walking “workout” plan), it adds some easy cardio without interfering too much with training. I did Squatober by Sorinex last year (where you have to squat 5 days per week) and it was recommended to fit in a 30 minute walk per day for recovery, even on the weekends. Hm. It’s almost like movement and extra blood flow are good for you.

The Steps to Getting More Steps

Before we begin,

Strength trainees: If your training is brutal, don’t beat yourself up if you can’t get in a 30 minute walk for the day. Especially if your time is short. By strength trainees I mean everyone. You should want muscle mass if you want longevity and to look good too.

But if you're a competitive athlete, or weightlifter, or CrossFitter, or something that requires a lot of training time but you're not getting a lot of steps, don't sacrifice recovery with a lot of walking. Take the Stan Efferding approach and just do a 10 minute walk after a couple meals. It will help with recovery for the next training session.

The Walking Game

I hope you've accepted the fact that getting steps is great and not getting enough will make you sluggish. The way to win this game is to give yourself a daily minimum. Just like you were to play an online RPG game, and you'd have tasks through the day towards a goal, you need to give yourself a standard to aim for each day. Get a step counter, watch or even use your phone so you can really play.

Here are some recommendations:

Low on steps?

• Start with a 10-20 minute walk every day.

• If you have an average number try to double it.

• Go for a 10 minute walk after 2-3 of your meals in the day. It will help with digestion and tack on an easy 2-3k steps in your day.

Decent steps already?

• Aim for 7-10k steps per day.

Good steps already?

• Aim for 10k and beyond.

Finer Details

Focus on your strength training. More muscle will help you burn more fat for free while you're sitting around the house. Plus it will make you look good. With that said, focus on blocking that into your schedule before all the walking.

You can use walking as a general warmup (5-15 minutes), use it as a cool down, or do it another time during the day to keep the blood flow going so you can recover.

Does walking feel boring?

You might need to use it as meditation time, or time to walk with someone and talk, or get an educational podcast or audiobook going so you’re knocking out two birds with one stone.

Maybe you just need to get up and move every 50 minutes while you're at work.

Maybe you just need to tidy up the house every day if you've been cooped up inside.

Maybe you need to let your kids ride their bike while you walk/run behind them.

If you want to amplify your steps, get a ruck backpack or even a regular backpack and put weights in it.

You can even do carries for time. Pick something up like a kettlebell, weight, sandbag, dog, small child, walk a set distance, put the object down, turn around, pick it back up, walk back, repeat. Do this for 10-20 minutes and it's a nice little workout plus you're getting steps.

One Small Step for Man…

This plan should fit into your life. You don't have to make it your life. If you don't have the time to walk 45 minutes to 2 hours every morning, then don't worry about it.

Just focus on hitting your step goal for the day and live your life. You'll be amazed at how creative you can be to hit your target if you look for it.

Now I know walking isn't exciting. There is no high score or competition (unless you join a rucking group or sign up for one of those distance medals you can find online).

It's just you and walking.

It's not flashy.

It won't get a ton of views on an Instagram reel.

It's almost too simple.

But….it works.

We're also talking about health here. This is something that you should do as a maintenance plan for your body, not an end result. It should just be part of your life. It's part of the infinite fitness game. You take care of your body as long as you own a body, which is forever.

So go forth and walk.

Thanks for reading!

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