{"id":10571,"date":"2013-05-07T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-07T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/\/\/uncategorized\/walking-the-most-underrated-movement-of-the-21st-century"},"modified":"2021-11-22T01:05:32","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T06:05:32","slug":"walking-the-most-underrated-movement-of-the-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/walking-the-most-underrated-movement-of-the-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking: The Most Underrated Movement of the 21st Century"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNow shall I walk or shall I ride?
\n‘Ride,’ Pleasure said;
\n‘Walk,’ Joy replied.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

-William Henry Davies<\/em><\/p>\n

Originally I titled this article “Walking: The Most Underrated Exercise <\/em>of the 21st Century,” but I changed my mind.<\/strong> True, doctors may prescribe walking as ‘exercise’ and there are many walking programs out there. But as Thoreau wrote in his essay “Walking<\/a>” – his most-read lecture, in fact – walking is different:<\/p>\n

\u2026the walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking exercise, as it is called, as the sick take medicine at stated hours – as the Swinging of dumbbells or chairs; but is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day. If you would get exercise, go in search of the springs of life. Think of a man’s swinging dumbbells for his health, when those springs are bubbling up in far-off pastures unsought by him!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s what I’m talking about. It strikes me that we don’t really do it anymore.<\/p>\n

In a paper entitled “Achieving Hunter-gatherer Fitness in the 21st Century: Back to the Future,”<\/a> Loren Cordain and associates examine the daily activities of hunter-gatherer tribes. Here are a few of the findings that illustrate the stark contrast between our modern walking habits and those of our ancestors:<\/strong><\/p>\n