Walking This Way Delivers A Similar Burn To Running—Without Harsh Impact On Joints
Have you ever found yourself on a walk, craving a more intense workout but dreading the idea of an all-out run? Enter race walking: a sport that “combines the endurance of the long distance running with the attention to technique of a hurdler or shot putter,” according to USA Track & Field. And just because it's technically a form of walking does not mean it’s a walk in the park.
Quite the opposite, actually. To put it in perspective, Chinese race walker Yang Jiayu won the women’s 20 kilometer race (that’s approximately 12.4 miles) with a time of 1:25:54 at the 2024 Paris Olympics. That means she was walking at about 6 minutes 54 seconds per mile—faster than most people’s mile run time.
Let’s get into this next-level, high-intensity form of walking—and the tips and tricks you can take from it to power up your jaunts (even if you're not an Olympian!)
Meet the experts: Jeff Salvage is a race walking coach, Gold Level World Athletics judge, and founder of Racewalk.com, which promotes the sport and provides free resources to race walkers. Lorraine Ramonczuk is a recreational race walker who has been a member of the Race Walkers’ Club of St. Louis since 2006. Carmen Jackinsky is a race walking coach and owner of Reshod, a walking shoe brand.
So, what exactly is race walking?
Race walking has been around since the late 19th century, when it evolved into a full-fledged sport with competitors walking long distances in packed indoor arenas. The sport officially made its Olympic debut in 1904 in St. Louis as a part of the All-Around Championship (now the decathlon), and as a standalone sport in the 1908 London Games.
Since then, its rules have been codified and now fall into two main components:
You can’t have a visible loss of contact from the ground. Originally, the rule suggested that at least one foot had to be in contact with the ground at all times, but was changed in 1996. “In layman’s terms, that means you’re supposed to appear to have one foot on the ground,” says Jeff Salvage, a race walking coach and judge. Elite walkers do come off the ground for a few milliseconds, but it is not visible to the naked eye, he notes. Beyond that, you generally see race walkers using their arms vigorously, swinging them back to a 90-degree angle, and rotating the hip of the leading leg forward to lengthen their stride, which makes up for not coming off the ground like you would while running.
You must land with a straightened knee that must stay straight until it passes underneath the body. While it may seem arbitrary, this rule actually distinguishes walking from running, says Salvage. “The image of walking that people have is heel-toe walking, and if you land on your heel, you tend to straighten your knee.”
Race walking competitions occur at all levels and distances, both on the track and the road. “The races pretty much go the way running races do. The only difference is that you’re judged,” says Lorraine Ramonczuk, a recreational race walker of more than 20 years, who explains that judges are stationed along various points and they carry flags to indicate when someone is breaking a rule. “You get warnings as you go by the judges, they take notes, and at the end of the race the judges get together and make a decision if someone is going to be disqualified or not,” she says. If an athlete gets three red flags from different judges, they’ll be disqualified.
Is power walking and race walking the same thing? Nope! A power walk is a general term that means walking at your maximum pace—but there are no specific "rules" associated with power walking. Race walking, on the other hand, is a recognized sport and has official regulations for proper race walking technique.
All that aside, don’t be scared to try out amateur race walking just because it’s a judged event. “I do it just because it’s fun—I’m not legal half the time,” says Ramonczuk. “I get warnings all the time, but [our club] don’t disqualify unless you’re blatantly running.”
You don’t need to enter a race to reap the benefits of this unique sport.
Regular walking is a great way to move, but it can’t really get the heart pumping in the same way that more intense forms of cardio can (and as we age, many of us struggle with running or HIIT workouts). “[Race walking] has all the aerobic benefits of running without breaking your body down as quickly,” says Ramonczuk. It’s rigorous enough to allow you to get your heart rate elevated, but without inflicting as much impact on the joints as running.
And, unlike swimming or cycling, there is a weight-bearing component, which is important for strengthening bones and reducing your risk of osteopenia, osteoporosis, and osteoarthritis. “It is super beneficial for your health and fitness in ways that really almost no other sport can match because you’ve got weight-bearing without the impact,” says Salvage.
Race walking also engages a lot of muscle groups that might not be targeted on your regular stroll. Race walkers use their arms more vigorously than you would while running or walking, and rotate their hips forward to give them a longer stride length. “You use your calves to push off. You use your quads, hamstrings. You engage your hips and core, and then your arms,” says Salvage. “You're talking about a full-body workout.”
While the dramatic physical movements of race walking may look intimidating, it's easy on the joints. “People look at how fast [race] walkers go and think that it must be hard on the hips and the knees, but really it’s not,” says Carmen Jackinsky, a race walking coach. “It actually strengthens those areas of your body if you do it correctly.”
Benefits Of Race Walking
Low-impact and joint-friendly
Builds lower-body strength
Trains cardiovascular endurance
Promotes healthy, strong bones
Strengthens posture and core
Burns calories efficiently
Accessible and budget-friendly (all you need is a pair of walking shoes to get started)
How To Bring Race Walking Into Your Daily Walks
You also don’t necessarily need to fully commit to race walking (and its official rules) to try it out. “If you don’t want to be a race walker, but you want to get a better workout from walking, you can do a lot of race walking things and just ignore the straight knee rule,” says Salvage, “You can learn to engage your hips. You can learn to use your arms more efficiently and you probably can get down to an 11-minute mile without any problem.”
One of the most common mistakes Jackinsky sees beginner race walkers make is that they bend at the hips or waist. “Those are things that are going to impede your breathing. They’re going to slow you down, and your head will drop so it tends to create more dysfunction in your walk,” she says. To fix the issue, she recommends standing with your back flat against the wall (from your head to your heels) to feel the correct posture.
Also, look ahead and note where your gaze falls. When you walk, your head should be in that same position, not looking down at the pavement. Power walking, which doesn’t have specific rules like race walking, is still beneficial for your health, says Jackinsky. “They say the best exercise is the one you’ll do…If you want to do power walking, that works too.”
While race walking doesn’t require a ton of equipment, you should be sure you are wearing the right shoes to get started safely. Ramonczuk recommends low- drop or zero-drop shoes, meaning the heel is relatively level with the toe, since race walking requires a heel-to-toe stride. Plus, you’ll want a shoe with a wide toe box and flexible sole to allow your foot to properly articulate through each step.
If you want to try out legitimate race walking yourself, there are a wealth of tutorials online, including Salvage’s on Racewalk.com. Through this site, you can even find in-person workshops and classes across the country.
Once you get comfortable with the technique, you can try increasing your pace or distance. Like any exercise program, you want to make sure you are starting and progressing with care. Salvage recommends following the 10 percent rule: Increase your weekly mileage no more than 10 percent each week.
“Race walking is harder than it looks. You really get your heart rate going pretty quickly so just do intervals to start,” says Ramonczuk, who recommends the following workout for newbies:
Try This Beginner Race Walking Workout
5-minute warm-up: Start at your average walking pace, increasing speed by at least 10 percent every minute.
5 minute race walking interval: Increase speed to your fastest comfortable walking pace and maintain for the entire interval. (Note: The average pace for a race walker is around seven to nine miles per hour, which is super fast! Most beginners may start somewhere around four to five miles per hour.)
1-2 minute active recovery interval: Slow speed back down to your average walking pace to recover.
Repeat intervals two to four times.
5-minute cooldown: Gradually lower speed down from your average walking pace every 1 minute until your heart rate comes down.
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