We all know it’s great exercise, but how many calories does walking burn? Read on to learn more about walking calories from your friends at Jack City Fitness — we’re experts!

Are Calories Burned by Walking?

For most of us, walking is a daily activity, whether it’s around the house, around town, or as a form of exercise. If you are interested in fitness, you might wonder about calories burned from walking and whether walking itself has any benefits. 

We have great news for you: walking is a fantastic way to get your blood flowing and even clear your head. It’s also a great way to promote joint health and leg strength. And while it’s less intensive than some forms of exercise (like running or HIIT), it’s a bonafide calorie burner! 

That said, walking is not a “one size fits all” type of workout. The number of calories you burn on a walk will depend on many factors, like your own body weight, the pace or speed you maintain, and the amount of time or distance spent moving. Specific stats, like calories burned per mile walking, will depend on these factors.

Time and Activity: How Many Calories Do You Burn Walking?

As we mentioned above, there is not just one answer to the question. Everybody has different paces and circumstances that affect their calorie-burning rate while walking. However, you can find a ballpark number if you crunch a few numbers; there are lots of apps and athletic calculators that show how many calories you burn on a miles-per-hour basis. Your fitness coach will also be able to help you figure this out. 

In the meantime, consider the following example as a guideline:

Let’s say you weigh 140 pounds. You go for a three-mile walk to your friend’s house and it takes you an hour. You’ll burn four calories a minute during this stroll, or 224 in an hour. However, that same walk would burn more calories if you weighed 200 pounds. In that case, at five calories per minute, you’d burn upwards of 300 by the time you got to your friend’s place. 

How Many Calories Do You Burn Walking a Mile?

So, how many calories can you burn walking a mile? 

As with determining your walking calories per hour, the rate at which you burn while walking will depend on your weight and pace. It’s also important to remember that outdoor walks vary greatly in terms of terrain and weather! An hour’s walk through the hilly streets of San Francisco will use far more calories than a level stroll through downtown Denver, just like trekking upwind through the snow against a heavy wind is going to be a much more physical experience than an hour at the mall. All of these elements make an enormous difference to calories burned by walking a mile. 

Curious about how to learn your exact number? If you downloaded an app to calculate your overall calorie-burning rate, you can use that to determine a general rate per mile. And remember, if you have any questions, we’re here to help!

Does Walking in Place Burn Calories?

With all this talk of mileage, it makes sense that many athletes wonder whether they can burn calories while walking in place, like on a treadmill or elliptical machine. After all, not everybody loves the unpredictable nature of outdoor exercise—especially during the height of a humid summer or icy winter! 

Fear not—while outdoor walks are great tools for calorie burning, they aren’t the only ways. Plenty of athletes prefer to do their walking indoors on a piece of equipment or utilize a combination of the two.

A few reasons why so many athletes prefer indoor walking (or a hybrid):

Several external elements affect calories burned from walking. By walking on a piece of fitness equipment rather than outdoors, you are giving yourself a more controlled environment to work out and burn calories. Things like wind and weather, incline, or type of terrain won’t play into the experience, making it easier for you to create a solid routine with results you can count on. 

An enormous plus of workout machines: they’re machines! Unlike rugged outdoor terrain, workout machines were designed to suit thousands of different athletic abilities and needs. Most walking machines, like the treadmill or elliptical, allow athletes to enter their weight, choose a difficulty level, or even input their heart rate using sensors. These options allow athletes to create a workout experience that suits their own unique needs. 

Indoor exercise is weatherproof—and that suits most athletes. Sure, some diehard runners or walkers will happily hit the road during a thunderstorm, heatwave, or blizzard. However, many of us don’t feel that way—and that’s okay! Inclement weather is a perfectly valid reason for not wanting to take a walk outside. Indoor walking machines like treadmills give athletes another option, even if their go-to is generally outside.  

how many calories does walking burn

What’s The Most Effective Piece of Equipment for Peak Walking Calories?

While much of this still comes down to specific circumstances, we can’t write a whole article about walking calories without mentioning our personal favorite: the Woodway treadmill. Benefits of this particular machine, known for its unique curved shape, are tenfold: 

How many calories can you burn walking on a Woodway treadmill? According to its creators, a lot! They report that their treadmill helps athletes burn up to 30% more calories than they would on similar pieces of equipment. This is due to the intense, full-body workout its curved bottom offers. 

As we mentioned above, the Woodway features a special curved design. This unique shape both encourages proper form for walking and running too. In fact, some physical therapy centers use these machines for rehabilitation. 

One of the coolest things about the Woodway treadmill is that you don’t need to press any buttons or choose any complicated programs. Instead, the machine works with the athlete; the belt will slow down if your pace does, and it will ramp up if you go faster. That means it grows with you as your athletic prowess soars!

If you’re hoping to burn some extra calories, High-Intensity Interval Training activities, or HIIT, might be a way to reach your goals. The Woodway can help with this! Its ability to match athletic speed makes it a great choice for the short, intense bursts of exercise that define HIIT. 

Just because you want to work out inside doesn’t mean you don’t love nature. If you care about keeping green, the Woodway is a great piece of equipment to use. After all, it doesn’t require any electricity!

Are There Any Boise Gyms With Woodway Treadmills?

You bet! At Jack City Fitness, Woodway treadmills are among the many innovative and popular pieces of workout equipment on offer. We know our athletes deserve the very best. 

Will I Lose Weight from Walking?

Sure. However, for healthy and long lasting weight loss, it’s important to think of things on a “long-term” scale. The best way to do this? By developing and keeping healthy changes to your lifestyle: exercise, nutrition, the whole shebang! We recommend working with a dedicated fitness coach and/or nutritional counselor to find the appropriate tools for your unique goals, fitness level, and background. A professional will help you stay accountable, safe, and confident as you move forward with your fitness journey. 

Ready to start that fitness journey? We’re waiting for you at Jack City Fitness! We’d love to have you over for a FREE fitness consultation—and we’re more than happy to let you jump onto one of our Woodways to see what the fuss is all about. While you’re here, you’re also welcome to peek into one of our classes, chat with our coaches, and ask us any questions. We have everything that a Boise athlete needs to succeed and meet their goals, whether it’s more calories burned from walking, a new outlook on nutrition, accountability buddies, or first-class equipment!

To get started, call us at (208) 999-1111. We can’t wait to show you our gym and help you smash those goals!

When the weather freezes do you freeze your workouts too?

If you’re reading this from Boise, Idaho, you may be thinking it’s too cold to leave the couch. But we’re here to tell you that just because you may have lost motivation, miss your Boise outdoor workouts, or just don’t want to leave the house, there’s still reasons and easy ways to keep your fitness at its peak throughout the winter months.

Read on to hear some helpful tips from our Jack City Fitness Founder and Fitness Coach, Marshall Weber.

He insists, “Continued and consistent exercise is something that can be completed no matter what the season or the weather outside.”

So you’re a runner? You like to run outdoors in the beautiful weather. Marshall would argue that if your view of “exercise” is a single track modality like Cardio (cardiovascular) exercise, then you’re truly not exercising at all.  He says, “I would argue that if the weather and season determines your capability to exercise then you’re missing over half of the pie right off the start.” And who doesn’t want the whole pie?

But don’t take it from us.

Science has proven again and again through study after study that nearly double the benefits are available through weight training (resistance training) in comparison to cardio. This is good news for you because gyms don’t close just due to inclement weather conditions. Gyms always have weights (at least we think they should), and they’re just waiting to be picked up. Within that realm, we’re not aware of any health and fitness facilities that place the resistance tools outside (except Venice beach).

To make this seasonal question of “how do I workout throughout the winter months” more applicable, we’ll run with the idea that your resistance training is being completed outside during the winter months. So, if you find yourself lifting weights outside during the winter months, Marshall’s only question to you would be, “Are you waterproof?!”. (Hint: you are. We all are.)

The biggest benefits of a scientific exercise prescription from a multi-certified strength and conditioning coach come from consistency and being capable of making yourself comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Rain, snow, wind, or all of the above would be optimal scenarios to increase your mental and physical state of well-being by conducting a proper warm-up and then exhausting all types of energy systems in a methodical exercise prescription.

Can we get to the point? Weather doesn’t matter. That’s just an excuse. You’re waterproof. So get to work!

If you’re searching for gyms in Boise, please trek your way through the weather and into our properly heated gym to warm up your body and cool down your holiday stress. We have several well-educated fitness coaches ready to put you to work. Come give us a try!

You’re sitting at your work desk, feeling sluggish, wishing you wouldn’t have skipped your gym workout yesterday. You’re planning to hit the weights after work today, but you’re in the slumps. You took too much time off so how can you return? What if there’s more to do throughout the day to get you prepared for the gym? What if working out at the gym will help you remember to fit more activity into your day? What if the two work together, improving your fitness efforts?!

Ways to Get more Fitness and Activity into your Day

An info-graphic detailing ways to get more physical fitness and activity into your day.

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Ways to Get More Fitness & Activity Into Your Day

Everyone struggles to find the time to be active, and fit fun, healthy exercises into their schedule.  While it may seem like a burden to exercise, we assure you that there are small routine changes you can make to be more active throughout the day. Take the first step by following some these tips, and you are well on your way to a better tomorrow!

 

Minor Adjustments

Olympic weightlifting may not be in your immediate future, and that’s perfectly fine, but breaking out of a sedentary lifestyle should be. Here are some tips to escape your desk or couch and get a better grip on your nutrition during a typical day:

 

 

Finding the Time to Workout

It’s important to fit in weightlifting time at the gym. The benefits of lifting weights are two-fold: you get to be more active and you’re less likely to get injured. Weights help you maximize your time at the gym. When you’re efficient with your gym time, you have more time to enjoy life. Outside of the gym you can improve your health in the followings ways:

 

 

 

Make the Most Efficient Use of Your Workout

By recognizing and making an effort to utilize your time wisely during workouts, positive results will follow.  Dedicating enough focus to crush a short 30 minutes of exercise per work day, a total of 150 minutes per week, could revolutionize your health.

 

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