The Japanese Interval Walk

The tours that I tend to write about tend to be about something. That is to say, they have a subject, a route, a way of navigating you along it and something to impart along the way. That's pretty standard. There is, however, another angle I haven't paid so much attention to so far: how to walk. Walking can be understood as an action in its own right and there are a great many people who come at it with different points of interest. Japanese Interval Walking is a case in point. It is enjoying a moment in the spotlight as people are looking into the health benefits it allegedly confers.

It is a form of interval training whereby you mix intensive walking with relaxed walking: you switch between the two every three minutes and keep this up for half an hour. I had recently got myself some new shoes that actually fit me, no mean feat here in Zhuhai, if you pardon the pun. Booted and suited with phone in hand, I tried interval walking in my local neighborhood cutting a course through the park and old town. It was not particularly difficult to do, I practically sped walked a marathon once (OK I ran a bit, too) so this was a much smaller ask. This ease might indeed be part of its appeal: it doesn't place too great a strain on anything. 

What is unique about it is the switching of pace and to do this you need to keep one eye on the clock so you are rarely 100% present in the place itself. The park was simply the container for this activity to happen, chosen mainly for its lack of cars. That makes me wonder about empty spaces and how far the idea of a flat void designed purely for walking could be taken. It might be interesting to go into such a space, if one exists. I tried walking in the desert, once, but that was something else, it turned out to be anything but empty. 

There were a few people out and about when I sped off arms swinging and bum wiggling. I was slightly concerned I might look odd power walking at pace then idling about. They have seen far worse, however, and to be honest I have myself been guilty of far more attention grabbing stunts, so this illogical walk didn't seem to trouble anyone. 

The video that my phone automatically generated clearly shows the changes in pace. It's surprising the amount of detail contained in this and that is a takeaway in itself. I am familiar with people spelling out words and marking shapes through GPS route mapping; this level of animation is the next step. There must be some spin off use for this.

It strikes me that it would be possible to practice interval walking on a treadmill and thus do it on the spot. There must indeed be people who prefer walking on a machine to walking in outdoor space. The interval walk might also be considered a performance in the medical understanding of the term. If I were to have the right equipment to test blood pressure, pulse, weight and so on, I would be able to assess the efficiency of the walk in terms of health criteria such as calories expended or blood pressure change and so on. If I needed to do that, I could see myself doing interval walking regularly but that seems to me an overly narrow frame to place around walking. 

Call me old fashioned but I am happier with finding new reasons, new narratives and new places to walk. New, or should I say, alternative ways of walking might, however, offer ways to achieve some of these so it is still worth paying more attention to how we walk. I remember having come across walking as a means of meditation, of focussing, of letting go or of socializing, for instance. Some research will surely upturn a great many more.