The main concern with increasing the walking speed for exercise remains its association with increased biomechanical loads on the lower extremities even found in healthy subjects. Adopting a walking exercise at PTS or above, increases the risk of chronic musculoskeletal injuries and osterarthritis especially in obese subjects that are naturally exposed to a greater risk of osteoarthritis. Therefore, in order to maintain the physiological benefits of fast walking, a person could consider learning a more adapted technique (e.g., with hip rotation) that minimises mechanical cues on the body by absorbing vertical shocks.

 

A relatively recent study on 56 overweight and obese middle-aged women revealed important benefits of a 16-week exercise consisting of walking close to PTS with a specific technique based on hip rotation. Given the interesting results indicating significant weight loss (mainly fat mass) and changes in body composition, authors recommended walking around PTS with an adated technique as a treatment for obesity. Perhaps another way of exercising at high walking intensities (i.e., >PTS) is by using an intermittent type of exercise, in which brief efforts would reduce the exposure to long periods of mechanical stress.

 

Although debated in the literature, the high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is increasingly showing benefits to health outcomes that can be comparable to those of a traditional moderate-intensity longer-duration exercise. Although HIIT is generally associated with “all-out” efforts or intensities close or higher than 90% of ̇O2max, it has been proposed as a an effective strategy to improve endurance capacity and many other parameters related to the oxidative system.