Japanese Walking vs Brisk Walking: What's the Difference?
Brisk walking means holding one steady, quick pace for the whole walk. Japanese walking (interval walking) alternates 3 minutes of fast walking with 3 minutes of slow walking, five times. Both count as exercise; the difference is that the intervals give you short hard efforts with a recovery in between, and one study found some extra gains from that.
What brisk walking is
Brisk walking is the everyday recommendation: walk quickly enough that your breathing picks up and you feel warm, but you can still talk. You choose a pace and keep it. There is nothing to count and nothing to switch, which is exactly why it is so easy to start.
The World Health Organization recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week for adults, and brisk walking is the classic way to get there. That is about 30 minutes on five days.
What Japanese walking is
Japanese walking is a structured version: 3 minutes at a fast pace, then 3 minutes slow, repeated five times for 30 minutes. It was developed in Japan at Shinshu University, where researchers set the fast phase at about 70% of a person's peak aerobic capacity and the slow phase at about 40%. Our guide to Japanese walking explains the method from scratch.
In practice the fast phase feels "somewhat hard", a bit more than the steady pace you would use for a brisk walk, and the slow phase is an easy recovery. If you are unsure how fast that is, how fast you should walk explains the talk test.
The main differences at a glance
- Pace: brisk walking is one steady moderate pace; Japanese walking swings between harder and easier.
- Structure: brisk walking is open-ended. Japanese walking has a fixed plan: 5 rounds, 30 minutes.
- Effort: the fast phase asks a little more of you than a steady brisk pace, but you get a slow phase to recover.
- Attention: brisk walking can be done on autopilot. Japanese walking needs an app that cues the switches, because checking your watch every few minutes spoils the walk.
What the research found
The key study compared the two directly. In a randomized trial, Nemoto and colleagues followed 246 middle-aged and older people, average age 63, for five months (Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2007, PMID 17605959). One group did interval walking: at least five sets of 3 minutes at a higher intensity and 3 minutes at a lower one, on four or more days a week. Another group did continuous moderate walking, aiming for 8,000 steps a day on four or more days a week.
In the interval group, peak aerobic capacity rose by about 9%, thigh muscle strength improved (knee extension about 13%, knee flexion about 17%), and the drop in resting systolic blood pressure was larger than in the continuous group. These are results from one study of this age group, not a promise for everyone.
A follow-up of 679 people over five months found fitness up 14% and a lifestyle-disease score down 17%, but it had no control group, so it shows what happened, not what caused it (Masuki et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2019, PMID 31477320).
It is also fair to say that steady walking works. A Cochrane review of 73 randomized trials found that walking lowered systolic blood pressure by about 4 mmHg on average compared with not walking (Lee et al., 2021, PMID 33630309). Brisk, regular walking is not the lesser option; it is simply the less structured one.
Which one should you choose?
You do not have to choose forever. Some ways to think about it:
- If you are starting from very little, begin with easy, steady walking and build up. Our post on your first week shows a gentle start.
- If you get bored on long walks, the intervals give each half minute a purpose. Many people find 30 minutes passes faster in six blocks than in one.
- If you are short on time, the intervals ask you to work a little harder in the fast phases, which is useful when 30 minutes is all you have.
- If you like to switch off and chat, a brisk walk with a friend is a great use of the same half hour.
- Mix them. Japanese walking on some days, a relaxed brisk walk on others. The best plan is the one you keep doing.
If you would like to try the interval version, Ayumi times the 3-minute blocks for you, with a vibration and a voice cue at every switch, so you can just walk. Try Ayumi on the App Store.
A note of caution
Most of the evidence on interval walking comes from Japanese studies of middle-aged and older adults, and many of the trials are small. Nobody has shown that it beats brisk walking for everyone, or for weight, mood or sleep. For more on what is known, see our post on sleep and the guide to the benefits of Japanese walking.
Sources: Nemoto et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2007 (PMID 17605959; 246 adults, mean age 63, 5 months, interval vs continuous walking); Masuki et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2019 (PMID 31477320; 679 people, 5 months, no control group); Lee et al., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2021 (PMID 33630309); World Health Organization, Physical activity fact sheet. Cover image: AI-generated. General information, not medical advice. If you have a heart condition or any health concern, ask your doctor before starting a new exercise routine.