How can you make it more likely you’ll hit that level? Instead of just stepping out your door without a plan, take on your walks just like you would other structured fitness plans. Think of your walks like your workouts, and you’ll start to see better results.

Walking Workouts to Add to Your Routine

Here are five workouts you can try to bring more structure to your walking plan.

Progression Walk

If you haven’t thought about walking as a workout or are getting back into a routine, start here.

Walk for five to 10 minutes at a comfortable pace, noting how far you go. Next time, walk the same amount of time, but aim to cover more ground. After 10 minutes feels easy, keep progressing until you’re able to walk for longer periods of time.

Steady-State Incline Walk

This treadmill incline walk workout is a type of Zone 2 training—the heart rate range that improves endurance while keeping intensity manageable. You could do this type of exercise most days and feel fully recovered the next day.

First, calculate your max heart rate. The most basic way is with the formula 220 minus your age. During the workout, use a heart rate monitor or fitness tracker to stay in zone 2 range (60 to 70 percent of your max) or rely on rate of perceived exertion (RPE). A two or three on the RPE scale means you can maintain a conversation without pausing to take a breath.

Once you’re on a treadmill, set your speed to a comfortable walking pace—around 3 mph. Adjust the incline to reach your Zone 2 heart rate—for most people, that’s between three and seven percent. “At that minor of an incline, it’s not going to alter your gait— you’re simply gonna have gravity doing the work against you,”says Rusin. “It’s a very simple way to maximize your time investment.”

Walk for at least 10 minutes, but longer is better. The World Health Organization recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, so Rusin says that 45 minutes at a time is a good goal.

As you get fitter, you’ll need to bump up the incline to stay in the right heart rate zone. While the viral 12-3-30 TikTok workout (3 mph, 12 percent incline, 30 minutes) works for some, Rusin notes that it may be too intense for beginners. “You shouldn’t be exceeding 80 percent of your max heart rate. That’s the most important thing,” he says.

Weighted Walk (Rucking)

Rucking—walking with a weighted backpack or vest—adds resistance to your walk, increasing heart rate and calorie burn without the high-impact of running. Rusin recommends this workout to nearly every one of his clients. But you don’t need to load up a backpack with 50 pounds and walk up a hill like you’re in firefighter training (although you can if you want to, once you’ve established a strong baseline of fitness).

Load weight onto your torso with a weighted vest or a backpack to start. “I walk with a 29-pound vest and my wife walks in a 16-pound vest—she’s about half my size,” says Rusin. Milica McDowell, DPT, vice president of operations at Gait Happens, recommends adding no more than 10 percent of bodyweight if you’re new to rucking. Avoid loading your extremities with equipment like ankle or wrist weights, says Rusin, as over longer distances (more than a farmer’s carry in the gym), this can alter your gait and mess with your spine, hips, and shoulders.

It doesn’t matter where you walk—on a treadmill or around the neighborhood with your dog.“Walk up to 30 minutes, and keep your pace equal throughout,” says McDowell. As you progress, increase either your weight or terrain difficult with hills, trails, or stairs.

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Speed Walking Intervals

Want to make walking a bit more intense? Play around with your walking speed. This structured interval workout alternates between two speeds—easy and fast—to improve endurance.

Easy should be “walking at a pace where you can easily hold a conversation—you’re not having to pause talking to catch your breath,” says McDowell. A “fast” speed walk should make you fail the talk test, meaning it would be difficult to carry on a conversation without gasping or pausing.

• Walk easy: 3 minutes
• Walk fast: 2 minutes
• Walk easy: 2 minutes
• Walk fast: 3 minutes
• Walk easy: 1 minute
• Walk fast: 4 minutes

Repeat this cycle twice for a 30-minute workout.

Incline Interval Walk

Incline walking recruits more muscle groups and challenges your cardiovascular system. This workout alternates between forward and backward walking on an incline, adding an extra challenge for stability and coordination when you walk backward.

“Find your local hill or jack up the treadmill incline,” says McDowell. Aim for a steep incline—between 12 and 15 percent, which is the max on most treadmills. Set the pace so it feels comfortable when you’re walking fast, and challenging when you’re walking uphill. A good starting point is 3 mph. Just make sure that you keep your backwards walking to the treadmill, and start with a slower pace than your forward-facing intervals. The movement can be tricky, especially for beginners, so you’ll appreciate the guardrails. (You should also make sure that you’re never walking outside without seeing where you’re going.)

• Walk uphill (forward): 2 minutes
• Walk flat: 2 minutes
• Walk uphill (backward): 2 minutes
• Walk flat: 2 minutes

Repeat these intervals up to five times for a 40-minute workout.

If this feels too easy, double the uphill segments. And if walking backward feels awkward, slow your pace instead of lowering the incline. “Then you’re fiddling with too many variables at once,” says McDowell.