Simple Japanese fitness trend could add 7 years to life expectancy, experts say
Recent fitness trends, like "Zone 2" training and hitting 10,000 steps a day, are driving the conversation around the "best" method of exercise, and what it means to stay fit without intense workouts.
Japanese walking is one of the latest of these trends, although this form of exercise is not exactly new.
Decades ago, researchers from Japan compared the benefits of interval walking (switching between fast and slow paces) to keeping the same speed the entire time.
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Their findings indicated that moderate-intensity interval walking could protect against certain "age-associated" effects, including increases in blood pressure, weakening of thigh muscles and a reduced ability to exercise in the first place.
"You may be familiar with HIIT (high-intensity interval training) as a means to get an intense workout in a shorter period of time," Dr. Alexa Mieses Malchuk, a primary care physician based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, told Fox News Digital.
"For some, HIIT is too intense; it can be hard on the joints, make people feel hungry and even trigger a physiologic stress response," she cautioned. "It can be completely unfeasible for people with low endurance or mobility issues."
Japanese walking alternates between three minutes of fast walking and three minutes of a slower "recovery" walk over the course of 30 minutes.
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Jillian Michaels, a Miami-based fitness expert, previously told Fox News Digital that 150 minutes of walking a week has been shown to extend lifespan by up to seven years.
"Something simple like that goes such a long way," she said.
In theory, performing Japanese walking for 30 minutes, five days a week, would meet the 150-minute goal.
This approach is similar to Zone 2 training, which involves working at about 60% to 70% of someone’s maximum heart rate, Carmine Ciliento, a fitness manager at Crunch Fitness in New York, previously told Fox News Digital about the method.
Zone-based training measures how hard the body is working and how it's using energy — much like Japanese walking.
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Japanese walking is also sometimes called interval walking training (IWT).
A 2024 review published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism found that IWT has benefits for middle- and older-aged healthy adults, including those with metabolic diseases.
"Health benefits in populations with other diseases may also exist, but have been less investigated," noted the study.
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While regular physical activity is one of the most important health habits, Malchuk pointed out that "exercise you enjoy is exercise you’ll continue."
"It doesn’t matter if you prefer HIIT, Japanese walking or something else — choose exercise that is appropriate for your level of fitness, and is comfortable and safe."