Does Japanese interval walking work better than ordinary walking?
Interval walking demonstrably delivers more than ordinary walking: better fitness, stronger legs and lower blood pressure, and in diabetes also better blood sugar control. People also find it more enjoyable, which helps them keep it up.
Japanese interval walking alternates three minutes of brisk walking (at roughly 70% of your maximum effort) with three minutes of easy walking. After five months of training, people around the age of 63 showed clearly better results than a comparable group who only walked at a moderate pace: strength in the knee-straightening muscles rose 13% more, in the knee-bending muscles 17% more, and aerobic fitness improved an additional 8 to 9%. Resting blood pressure also fell further in the interval group.
For people with type 2 diabetes the outcomes are also positive, although the studies there are smaller. After a single interval walking session, blood sugar after a meal rose less sharply than after walking at a comparable pace for the same length of time. After two weeks of training, blood sugar fluctuations dropped by a clear and meaningful amount in the interval group, while ordinary walking had no measurable effect. The extra calorie burning that continues after interval walking was more than twice as large as after ordinary walking, although the difference in fat burning during the session itself was negligible.
Interval walking also burns around 25 kcal more in 30 minutes than ordinary walking at the same average pace, and three out of four participants in a small study found it more enjoyable. That last point is not unimportant: if something feels more pleasant, you are more likely to stick with it.
The downside: how it plays out over the very long term for people with a chronic condition or excess weight is still unclear. Whether it leads to fewer heart attacks or a longer life has not yet been studied. If you have questions about applying this with an existing condition, discuss it with your doctor or physiotherapist.
The evidence for the benefits over ordinary walking comes primarily from studies in which participants were divided into groups by chance, including a larger study with 246 participants over five months and several smaller studies in people with type 2 diabetes (10 to 14 participants). The findings on fitness, muscle strength and blood pressure are the most solidly supported. The outcomes in diabetes are promising but based on very small groups. One review article notes that long-term data and clear real-world results, such as fewer heart attacks or deaths, are still missing.