A Brief History
On April 3, 2024, Americans celebrate National Walking Day, a day celebrated only since 2007 in spite of being an activity people have been doing since proto-humans came down from the trees.
Digging Deeper
People seem to walk as little as possible to travel from point A to point B, and yet all sorts of walking machines, treadmills, and elliptical machines, are sold every year. In honor of those blessed with the ability to perambulate, stroll, trudge, hike, amble, plod, march, tramp, stride, and tread, here are a few facts about walking.
You burn about 5 calories per minute walking at 3 mph on level ground, more if you are walking faster or uphill.
No matter how fast you walk, you burn the same number of calories over a given distance!
Napoleon’s Grande Armée marched to Moscow from Poland, a trek of about 600 miles, and then had to walk back! Only 10,000 of the half million men that started made it back alive.
Note: If you take the distance from Paris to Moscow, the total march by the French army was over 1500 miles each way! The author has walked more than 20 miles in a day on a few occasions, while carrying a combat load. The thought of hiking/marching 600 miles and back in combat conditions is mind numbing!
Question for students (and subscribers): What is the farthest you have ever walked in a day? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Birch, Ian. The Power of Walking: The 30 Day Plan that shows you how to get moving again. Kindle, 2023.
Meyers, Casey. Walking: A Complete Guide to the Complete Exercise. Ballantine Books, 2007.
The featured image in this article, a frame from a video by Coverr-Free-Footage, is licensed under the Pixabay Content License.
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