When you go for a walk, speed isn’t the main factor — focus on this instead

Not really, says a Spaulding Rehabilitation expert. When it comes to walking for health, speed is less important than how your body is responding to the effort.

In a Q&A series featuring Harvard experts, Greg Righter, a physical therapist with the Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, explains that two key measures matter more than walking pace: target heart rate and perceived exertion.

“It’s not about the speed of walking because that’s going to be dependent on the person and where they’re walking. It’s really about two things that you can measure — target heart rate and the rate of perceived exertion,” Righter said.

Why a casual walk may not be enough

According to Righter, a slow stroll or casual movement, such as walking around a grocery store, typically does not provide enough stimulus to improve cardiovascular fitness.

To create meaningful physiological change, the heart rate needs to rise into a training zone.

How to calculate your target heart rate

A simple way to estimate maximum heart rate is to subtract your age from 220. From there, exercise intensity is typically set at 65 to 75 percent of that number.

For example, for a 60-year-old:

  • Estimated maximum heart rate: 220 − 60 = 160 beats per minute
  • Target range (65%): approximately 104 beats per minute

This means that during walking exercise, the goal would be to reach roughly 104 beats per minute to achieve a training effect.

Heart rate can be tracked using a smartwatch or fitness tracker. For those without devices, perceived effort can be used instead.

Using perceived exertion instead of devices

The rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is a simple 1-to-10 scale that estimates how hard the body is working.

  • 1 = resting
  • 10 = maximum effort, difficult to breathe

For moderate cardiovascular benefit, Righter recommends aiming for a level between 4 and 6 — a moderate intensity where breathing is elevated but still controlled.

Recommended weekly activity

The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardiovascular activity per week, which can be broken into 30 minutes a day for five days.

For people who are inactive, Righter suggests starting small and gradually building up over time.

“If you’ve been inactive for a long time, that’s going to be a goal to work toward gradually,” he said. “I might start out at five minutes every other day, slowly increasing that amount of exercise.”

Does location matter?

The environment where you walk is largely a matter of preference, but terrain can influence intensity.

Walking outdoors with hills naturally increases effort compared with flat surfaces. For treadmill users, adding or adjusting incline can help elevate heart rate and improve cardiovascular benefit.

The key takeaway: regardless of where you walk, the goal is to reach a level of effort that raises heart rate into a beneficial training zone.

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