How Many Minutes of Fast Walking Per Week? What the Research Says
Cover image: AI-generated
In the largest study of Japanese walking, gains in fitness and blood pressure grew with the amount of fast walking up to about 50 minutes a week, then levelled off. Slow walking and total walking time did not predict the gains. Three 30-minute sessions a week contain 45 minutes of fast walking, so the number is closer than it sounds.
The study behind the 50 minutes
Masuki and colleagues followed 679 middle-aged and older adults through five months of interval walking training in Japan (Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2019, PMID 31477320). Each person wore a sensor that recorded how much time they spent walking fast and how much slowly. The researchers then asked which kind of walking time was linked to the improvements.
Fast walking was the one that mattered. Improvements in fitness and in blood pressure rose with the weekly minutes of fast walking up to about 50 minutes, and after that the curve flattened. Time spent walking slowly, and total walking time, did not predict the gains.
What that does and does not mean
- There was no control group. It is a follow-up of people who all did the training, so it shows what went with what, not what caused what.
- It describes this group. The participants were middle-aged and older adults in Japan who volunteered for the programme.
- "Levelled off" is not "stop at 50." It means the extra fast minutes added little to the measured gains in that study. Other benefits of walking more were not what it was testing.
- It is a pattern, not a prescription. Nobody can promise you a result from a minute count.
Where the 30-minute session fits
A Japanese walking session has five rounds of 3 minutes fast and 3 minutes slow. That is 15 minutes of fast walking and 15 of slow. The original randomized trial asked people to do at least five such rounds on four or more days a week for five months (Nemoto et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2007, PMID 17605959).
- One session a week: 15 minutes of fast walking.
- Two sessions: 30 minutes.
- Three sessions: 45 minutes, just under the 50-minute mark.
- Four sessions (the research protocol): 60 minutes.
So the long-running advice of "three or four days a week" lines up well with what the 2019 data suggest. If three days is what your week allows, you are close to where the extra fast minutes stopped adding much in that study.
How this fits with general walking advice
The World Health Organization recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week for adults. That is a broader target and counts all moderate activity, not only the fast phases. The two numbers answer different questions: the WHO figure is about overall activity, the 50 minutes is about how much of the fast part was linked to gains in one interval walking study.
If you have never walked much, the pattern in our post on walking once a week is worth a look: much of the benefit in the large observational studies appears between doing nothing and doing something. For a comparison with steady walking, see Japanese walking vs brisk walking.
How to count your fast minutes
Only the fast phases count towards the 50. The slow phases are your recovery and you can enjoy them without keeping score. "Fast" means a pace where you can talk, but not sing, and you feel it in your legs and breathing; the guide to Japanese walking explains how to find that pace.
Ayumi tells you with a vibration and a voice cue when to switch between fast and slow, and counts the rounds, so you do not have to watch the clock. Try Ayumi on the App Store.
The honest summary
One study with no control group suggests that about 50 minutes of fast walking a week captured most of the measured gains, and a standard 30-minute Japanese walking session has 15 of them. Three or four sessions a week get you there. The plan you keep doing is worth more than the number. For every study we draw on, with its limits, see our Japanese walking research page.
Studies: Masuki et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2019 (PMID 31477320; 679 people, 5 months, no control group); Nemoto et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2007 (PMID 17605959; randomized, 246 people). Cover image: AI-generated. General information, not medical advice; talk to your doctor before starting a new exercise routine.