Indoor Walking Exercises With Workouts For Anyone, Any Weather, and Any Place

Indoor walking exercises can offer you the key to physical fitness on a busy schedule, at home, in colder months, or when choosing exercise with limited mobility. Let’s take a couple of minutes to look over some indoor walking exercises anyone can do to regain a healthy lifestyle. 

How Can I Do a Walking Exercise at Home?

Indoor walking exercises start by doing the following:

• Start by wearing comfortable shoes to prevent joint injuries and reduce pain (11)
• Do 5 x 30-minute sessions weekly or 3 x 10-minute sessions on workout days (5)
• Add compound movements to burn more calories, like arm swings (12)
• March rapidly in place to increase the intensity and calories burned (7)
• Add intervals and pace changes to keep your heart rate up with indoor walking (9) 

With that in mind, let’s consider whether or not indoor walking exercises are good for you and look over different fitness level workouts you can try at home. 

Are Indoor Walking Workouts Effective?

The indoor walking challenge is all the rave, but does it work? Let’s look at some quick facts about the efficacy of indoor walking and spot walking before the incredible workouts below for seniors, beginners, and the intermediate trainers who have busy schedules.

Is Walking Inside a Home Good?

Indoor walking gets you physically active, which is promising for individuals who don’t have enough time or workout inspiration. A small Swedish review found that even low-level physical activity could improve heart health and prevent readmissions (10). 

A small study in Tennessee found that spot walking could burn 258 calories per hour (4). In addition, walking in place during the commercials of an hour-long show helped individuals get over 2,000 steps, which is toward the CDC’s daily recommendation of 10,000 (8). 

More research on the extent of potential benefits is certainly in the works. However, getting active after being sedentary for a time can only benefit your life and health. With that in mind, you could start now to burn a few calories or shed a few pounds by using indoor walking challenges or workouts. 

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Does the 28-Day Indoor Walking Challenge Really Work?

The indoor walking challenge works by causing one to be active and burn calories. WebMD recommends creating a 500-calorie deficit daily to lose an average of a pound weekly (1). 

Eating smaller portions is necessary to create the calorie deficit that supports your indoor walking routine as the physical activity of choice (1). It is recommended to eat a diet with plenty of vegetables, whole grains, fruits, lean proteins, nuts and seeds, as these energy sources are rich with micronutrients and will help to keep you feeling full. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26394262/

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (5). Five 30-minute indoor walking sessions weekly will do, or split them into three 10-minute sessions on the days you work out if you’re too busy for 30-minute sessions. 

In addition, adding resistance training has been shown to burn more calories (2). Two resistance training days weekly is the minimum recommendation (5). Finally, your heart rate determines how many calories you burn. You need intense indoor walking to elevate your heart rate.

Maintaining a heart rate percentage 60.2-80% of your maximum heart rate during indoor walking or other exercises has been shown to sustain calorie burn (9). In summary, you must create a calorie deficit, complete the recommended exercise amounts, and keep an elevated heart rate with more intense indoor walking to lose weight with the challenge. 

Read more: The 28-Day Indoor Walking Weight Loss Challenge Explained

3 Indoor Walking Workout Plans

Here are three indoor walking plans suited for beginners, seniors, and intermediate trainers Each one is slightly adaptable to help you start an indoor walking routine with ease.  

Indoor Walking Workout for Beginners

An indoor walking workout for beginners targets anyone who needs to become active because minimal physical activity is better than nothing, according to research (10). Let’s start you with a simple indoor walking workout for anyone who was previously inactive:

1. Put your comfortable and well-fitting shoes on before you begin (11),
2. Grab your pedometer or fitness tracker to monitor your heart rate (9),
3. Start with three 10-minute sessions of brisk indoor walking daily (5),
4. Set a timer for a minute at a time to walk at a slower pace,
5. Adopt a faster pace every second minute and go back to a slower pace every other minute,
6. Swing your arms to the front and back or do arm circles during your faster pace (12),
7. Start with a rapid march to bring your feet closer to your buttocks during the faster pace (7),
8. Follow the same routine for the first week you use the workout,
9. Increase your fast-paced indoor walking times to 2 minutes in the second week,
10. Increase your fast-paced indoor walking to 2.5 minutes in the third week,
11. March with a faster indoor ruck with swinging arms for 3 minutes in the fourth week.

Don’t change the slower-pace 1-minute sessions. You can also adapt this workout to a 30-minute session by keeping the fast intervals to no longer than 2 minutes at a time or do moderate walking for 10 minutes, exercises for another 10, and marching for 10 minutes. 

Which exercises can complement indoor walking for your workout during a 10-minute window in the middle of a 30-minute session? Turn sessions into some fun with disco, ballroom, or square dancing for 10 minutes to (3). 

Alternatively, do moderate calisthenics during the 10 minutes in the exercise window (3). Some good beginner’s calisthenics exercises without equipment include push-ups, jumping jacks, squats, lunges, burpees, leg raises, or crunches. 

Best Indoor Walking for Seniors

Indoor walking exercises and workouts for seniors are different because of the risks of falling and injuries. The Institute of Medicine says the decline in muscle, joint, bone, and connective tissues places your joints at a greater risk for injury and falling during the senior years (6). 

Fortunately, indoor walking is a low-level and low-impact exercise, safe enough to improve muscle strength and reflexes (6). Our best indoor walking workout for seniors is gentler on your joints and avoids compound movements or sudden jolts. Here’s how to do it:

1. Put your comfortable and well-fitting shoes on before you begin (11),
2. Grab your pedometer or fitness tracker to monitor your heart rate (9),
3. Start with three 10-minute sessions of brisk indoor walking daily (5),
4. Set a timer for a minute at a time to walk at a slower pace,
5. Increase the pace to maintain a higher heart rate every second minute,
6. Add some stretching exercises after your indoor walk to burn more calories. 

Hatha yoga can burn around 144 calories in 30 minutes if you weigh 155 pounds (3). Stretching can gently help you burn more calories, so consider doing some calf raises or stretches, forward folds, quad stretches, or lunging hip flexor stretches post-workout. 

Also, you could aim to do a full 30-minute indoor walking workout with a 10-minute moderate pace to start before doing each stretch and ending it with another 10-minute faster spot walk. Alternatively, switch to low-impact step-ups for 10 minutes to burn 70-98 calories (3). 

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Indoor Walking Workout Intermediate Challenge

Indoor walking workouts for intermediate trainers should offer you a greater challenge. Add some resistance training to at least two of your 30-minute indoor walking workouts weekly to benefit from the added calorie-burning effects and higher heart rate (2, 5). Follow the steps:

1. Hold weights in both hands to add more resistance and swing your arms (12),
2. Switch to doing vigorous calisthenics for the second 10-minute interval,
3. Switch back to indoor walking for the last 10 minutes and up your pace,
4. Keep your weights in your hands, swing your arms, and ruck your legs higher (12, 7).

Vigorous calisthenics during your exercise window can help you burn calories (3). Challenge yourself during the exercise window with push-ups, pull-ups, squats, dips, lunges, burpees, crunches, side bends, chin-ups, or a 10-second plank to maximize calorie burns. 

For more indoor exercise tips:

• Indoor Activities for Seniors
• Indoor Walking Routine
• Indoor Walking Workout

FAQs

• Is Walking 30 Minutes a Day Enough Exercise?

The Mayo Clinic confirms that 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, five days a week, is enough  (5). You need at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio weekly to stay fit and healthy. Doing 30 minutes of cardio five days a week will meet the recommendations. 

• Is Morning Walk Better Than Gym?

A morning walk beats the gym in cold weather, especially if you’re inside the warmth of your home. However, indoor walking could burn around 129 calories in 30 minutes (4). On the other hand, a 150-pound person burns 108 calories with weightlifting or 278 calories with cycling in 30 minutes at the gym (3). This means, it depends on what you’d do at a gym.  

• Can I Lose Weight Walking Indoors?

Yes, you can lose weight with our indoor walking challenge. You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. A 500-calorie deficit daily is enough to lose a pound weekly (1). A small study by the University of Tennessee found that indoor walking burns an average of 258 calories per hour  (4). You may need to add more intensity to burn more calories, but you can lose weight with indoor walking if in an overall calorie deficit  (12, 7). 

• Does Walking Burn Belly Fat?

A small University of St Thomas study found this occurred when individuals sustained 60.2-80% of their maximum heart rate during exercise (9). More research is necessary, but increasing your heart rate during exercise burns fat.

The Bottom Line

Indoor walking exercises, workouts, and challenges offer you potential benefits, even as a beginner or senior. Follow the tips to engage at a higher intensity and increase your heart rate for a greater calorie burn