Why Walking as a Fitness Trend is Stickier Than Most
Do you remember that GOOP Lab miniseries that was released during the Pandemic years? There was one sentence that stuck out to me: “most of the tenets of wellness are free.” I’m not here to knock the source of that, because that sentence speaks the truth.
With the rise of inflation and the increasing cost-of-living, there are two key behaviors we’ve been tracking throughout the pandemic years: walking as a form of fitness and the tendency to do more free fitness in general.
We released a survey once a year called the State of Fitness Survey and we’ve been tracking those behaviors through that.
We care about what you tell us in the State of Fitness for a lot of reasons, but I view pursuing free fitness as a sign of other changes. We saw a huge increase in doing fitness for free during the pandemic, that’s not surprising. Post stay-at-home, we’re seeing spending tick back up. But we’re still seeing a higher rate of respondents doing all of their fitness for free when compared to pre-pandemic numbers.
Percent of respondents doing all fitness for free:
- 2018: 6%
- 2019: 3.87%
- 2020 (just before the pandemic): 8.72%
- Mid-COVID: 38.74%
- 2021: 52.95%
- 2022: 26.23%
- 2023: 16.75%
For me, this signifies a significant shakeup of the wellness economy that we’re still untangling after COVID’s stay-at-home order. In 2021 alone, about 30% of fitness studios closed and fitness behaviors are still changing as a result of the adaptations consumers of fitness had to make in 2020 and 2021.
When it comes to types of fitness, we ask, “What types of workouts are you currently doing?” and allow respondents to select as many as they would like.
Walking was written in as an “other” option starting at the beginning of the pandemic in record numbers. So much so, we released a special COVID edition of the survey in June of 2020 with walking as an official option.
Here’s how that looked once walking became an official option:
- 2020, peak covid 72.65%
- 2021 69.89%
- 2022 65.54%
- 2023 70%
Why? Walking as a form of exercise is as old as, well, feet. But walking as a “trend” has new branding.
And as much as we love the data, the shifts in behavior driving these trends are just as interesting. Here’s where we think the changes are coming from.
More communities are adopting walking:
Walking in groups has been adopted by communities of mostly women – you can find a “Girls Who Walk” community in dozens of cities across the country. We’ve partnered with those groups across the country and – in particular with Chicago Girls Who Walk and have found them to be delightful.
The study, Why women walk? offered a pre-pandemic look at women walking in groups. It showed that women’s participation in walking groups was intimately linked with their life circumstances and often coincided with moments or periods of change within their lives; for many walkers, the walking groups acted as a positive resource or “lifeline” for social, emotional and physical health and wellbeing at these times.
And let’s be clear – women walking in groups is as old as the suburbs themselves, but certain trends around walking are aimed at Gen Z and Milennials – and for good reason.
This free, safe activity provides an active way to make friends and talk about your day. And because today, there are formalized chapters of walking groups in cities across the country, women have come to expect that they can move and make friends through walking.
The language around walking is changing:
We love when something old becomes hot again with just a little updated branding.
Exhibit A: Your TikTok feed in 2020. The 12-3-30 workout was a simple, low-impact workout that saw all of your local gym’s treadmills turned up to an incline of 12 at a speed of 3 miles-per-hour for 30 minutes.
And hot girl walks, which feel like they’ve been with us forever, were popularized by Mia Lind and her use of the term on TikTok in 2021. If you didn’t hear that term at least once this week, we’re living very different lives.
Zone 2 cardio has gone mainstream:
You’ve absolutely heard a fitness expert use the term “zone 2 cardio” to describe the intensity of your cardio workouts. Andrew Huberman – noted neuroscience who spends his time and curiosity on wellness – speaks about Zone 2 Cardio pretty frequently, recommending 30 to 60 minutes, three to four times a week. And zone 2 can be achieved through jogging, rowing, cycling, or swimming or walking at a brisk pace.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Zone 2 cardio focuses on maintaining a specific heart rate zone or intensity level during exercise, typically ranging from 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. This ensures a light to moderate intensity throughout the workout. (Find your zone 2 heart rate here.)
But at its core and for most people, it’s a brisk walk, or a walk with a little weight on your back – what the bros like to call a “ruck.“
Underlying all of this there are two simple facts: walking is great for you and accessible.
Walking has been a piece of the movement culture for as long as humans have been upright and eating food. A walk after dinner has been practiced by Italians for centuries, but as we learn more about its benefits – like blood sugar regulation and improved digestion – it’s being touted as a wellness must-do.
Walking is good for your brain, body, and digestion. I don’t care what we call it – it is free, accessible, and easy to do in a group. This is a trend that won’t leave you with a closet of equipment you’ll never use and it’s a great way to start or supplement your routine.
