Walking gets pushed aside in fitness conversations, but it is a very good, low-impact, medium-cardio, and completely maligned exercise that is very sustainable and can go a long way for many people.
(People like doing higher-impact activity to feel like they put in the work. Which they did! But many of those health benefits could be realized with daily long walks, daily stretching, and better dietary choices, and I say this as someone who literally wrote this while eating cheesecake LOL. It was a small size though! And I track calories!)
Here's why I think walking is completely maligned.
First reason: Suburbs.
The biggest issues that I have with American suburbs is that there is nothing interesting to walk to, most of the jobs can only be reached by car and walking infrastructure outside of housing enclaves is nonexistent. So you're either walking at work (good luck if you have an office job) or making time to walk at home.
Given that the cheapest housing in most of the US is in the suburbs, this problem will only accelerate.
Second reason: HOKAs.
Walking is further compromised by massively popular footwear that is terrible for the kinetic chain.
A lot of people wear running shoes for walking. These are plushier at the expense of unwanted shock compensation at the ankles, knees, and hips.
However, minimalist footwear that exploded in popularity after Born to Run and xero on Shark Tank wasn't good either, as runners got injured like crazy trying to heel strike with shoes that are designed to prevent exactly that.
Sneakers in the 70s and 80s were low-drop and low stack. I prefer zero drop with barefoot stack (soles less than 6mm thick) but I wish we could return to those, as those are so much safer.
Third reason: Fucking flip flops.
I also wish we could completely ditch flip flops for proper sandals with heel support. Flip flops are unsafe (no support if you slip) and are a huge contributor to plantar fasciitis (imagine your toes trying to grab onto something for support...on every step...for MONTHS at a time!). They're fine for extremely short distances, like walking from the beach to somewhere inside, but they are a huge problem for everyday footwear!
(People like doing higher-impact activity to feel like they put in the work. Which they did! But many of those health benefits could be realized with daily long walks, daily stretching, and better dietary choices, and I say this as someone who literally wrote this while eating cheesecake LOL. It was a small size though! And I track calories!)
Here's why I think walking is completely maligned.
First reason: Suburbs.
The biggest issues that I have with American suburbs is that there is nothing interesting to walk to, most of the jobs can only be reached by car and walking infrastructure outside of housing enclaves is nonexistent. So you're either walking at work (good luck if you have an office job) or making time to walk at home.
Given that the cheapest housing in most of the US is in the suburbs, this problem will only accelerate.
Second reason: HOKAs.
Walking is further compromised by massively popular footwear that is terrible for the kinetic chain.
A lot of people wear running shoes for walking. These are plushier at the expense of unwanted shock compensation at the ankles, knees, and hips.
However, minimalist footwear that exploded in popularity after Born to Run and xero on Shark Tank wasn't good either, as runners got injured like crazy trying to heel strike with shoes that are designed to prevent exactly that.
Sneakers in the 70s and 80s were low-drop and low stack. I prefer zero drop with barefoot stack (soles less than 6mm thick) but I wish we could return to those, as those are so much safer.
Third reason: Fucking flip flops.
I also wish we could completely ditch flip flops for proper sandals with heel support. Flip flops are unsafe (no support if you slip) and are a huge contributor to plantar fasciitis (imagine your toes trying to grab onto something for support...on every step...for MONTHS at a time!). They're fine for extremely short distances, like walking from the beach to somewhere inside, but they are a huge problem for everyday footwear!