The Definitive Guide to Walkingby
Mark Sisson Recently by Mark Sisson: How to Take Care of Your Teeth (Hint: There’s More to It Than Brushing)
At first glance, this title probably threw you off. I mean, a guide to walking? Are we moderns really that dysfunctional that we can't even walk correctly? C'mon, Sisson – you must be out of ideas. Bear with me, here. It may seem silly to need a definitive guide to walking, but I think we do. First off, walking is no longer necessary for basic everyday survival. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part, the average person reading this blog can get by just fine without walking more than a couple hundred yards each day. Whether via buses, trains, cars, bikes, or delivery services, you're not going to starve or die of thirst just because you don't or can't walk. I'll argue that walking is an essential human activity that we ignore to our ultimate detriment, but millions of people do exactly that and think nothing of it. Progress? In a wider societal sense, sure. But on an individual level, people still need to walk. Second, because walking is no longer "necessary," we – the general, inclusive "we," not necessarily the Vibram-clad elite – have forgotten how, when, where, and why to walk. Our technique is shot, we lack proper scope (a mile sounds daunting), we don't even think to make time for regular walking for walking's sake, and walking is seen as the last resort to be employed only when the tire's busted, the train isn't running, or the bus is late. Kids don't walk home from school anymore (what, with all the lurking pedophiles?), people hop in the car to run down to the corner market.
I don't always like to pull the "Grok logic" card, because it doesn't always apply to our current situation. Here, though? Yeah. It makes sense, so pull it I shall. Walking is our birthright. The weird way we humans do it – obligatorily upright, hands free to wield tools and weapons, harsh sunlight coming at us from an angle instead of head on, relatively generous glutes making the whole production go – gives us a survival advantage. Well, it gave us enough of one to help us blanket the globe with funny shaped footprints. And our feet aren't exclusive to homo sapiens: a 1.5 million-years old homo ergaster footprint preserved in Kenyan mud reveals that hominids have been using essentially the same feet and the same stride for hundreds of thousands of years. That means that before our big complex brains hit the scene, the same feet you enjoy today were stomping mud and carrying our distant ancestors around. These feet are millions of years in the making. I'd say that's a pretty good track record, and I think it'd be a shame if you didn't utilize them. Grok walked a lot. Heck, he walked everywhere. Riding animals didn't appear until after the agricultural revolution, so unless you buy into the ancient aliens theory, you accept that our paleolithic ancestors relied on self-ambulation to get around. It seems pretty plausible to suggest that we're probably well-adapted to walking on a regular basis. I'd even go so far as to posit that walking might even be highly beneficial to our health and well-being. Given our extensive history with the activity, you might even say our genes "expect" us to walk.
What does the evidence show? Surprise, surprise: walking is good for you and enacts multiple beneficial changes in our bodies. To name a few:
I could go on but I won't. Suffice it to say, walking is overall a healthy activity. I don't think there's any disputing that. Besides, droning on about the physiological benefits of walking detracts from the real reason I want you to walk so much: it's an enjoyable way to get out, move, be active, and experience the world. Despite it being our birthright and really healthy and all that jazz, many of us would be well served with some walking technique tips. Note that I don't condone the usage of bulky, heel-centric shoes, so all technique tips given assume that you are barefoot or in minimalist shoes with minimal to zero heel drop. Sorry, but that's just how I roll. June 10, 2011 Copyright © 2011 Mark's Daily Apple
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