Japanese Walking: How to Do the 3-Minute Interval Method

What is Japanese walking?

Japanese walking is the social media name for interval walking training (IWT), a method developed by Hiroshi Nose and Shizue Masuki and their team at Shinshu University in Japan. You alternate 3 minutes of slow, easy walking with 3 minutes of fast walking, and repeat the pair 5 times for a 30-minute session. The research programs asked for 4 or more sessions a week.

The appeal is that it is free, needs no equipment and takes half the time of a long daily walk. The fast minutes do the heavy lifting, and the slow minutes let you recover so you can push again. Try it with the walking workout timer on the Japanese walking preset: a rising chime tells you to speed up and a falling chime to slow down.

How do you do Japanese walking, step by step?

1. Choose a route or a treadmill. A flat loop or a quiet street works best, so you can change pace without stopping.
2. Walk slowly for 3 minutes. An easy pace you could keep while chatting. This first slow part doubles as your warm-up.
3. Walk fast for 3 minutes. Speed up until it feels somewhat hard: quick steps, arms swinging, breathing deep. You can say a short phrase but not hold a conversation.
4. Repeat 5 times. Slow, fast, slow, fast, until you have done 5 of each: 30 minutes.
5. Ease off. Finish with a minute or two of easy walking if your last part was fast.
6. Aim for 4 days a week. Spread them out, such as Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

How fast is "fast" in Japanese walking?

In the Shinshu University studies, fast walking was set at about 70% or more of each person's peak aerobic capacity, and slow walking at about 40%. Most people do not know their peak aerobic capacity, so use how it feels. The CDC talk test helps: at a moderate pace you can talk but not sing, and at a vigorous pace you cannot say more than a few words without pausing for breath. The fast part of Japanese walking sits near the top of moderate, heading toward vigorous: short phrases only.

Fast is not a jog. Keep one foot on the ground at all times, take quicker steps and let your arms swing. As you get fitter, the same effort will carry you faster, so go by feel rather than a fixed speed.

What treadmill speeds should you use?

There is no single right speed, because 70% effort is a different speed for every person. As a starting point, many adults use something like the speeds below, then adjust with the talk test. These are practical examples, not numbers from the studies.

If the fast speed makes you want to run, raise the incline by 1 to 3% instead of the speed. Hold the rails only for balance when changing speed; if you need them during the fast part, slow down.

What did the research find?

The best-known trial was published in 2007 in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Researchers followed 246 adults (60 men and 186 women, average age 63) for about 5 months. They were split into three groups: no walking program, moderate continuous walking (about 50% of peak aerobic capacity, aiming for 8,000 or more steps a day on 4 or more days a week), and interval walking (5 or more sets of 3 minutes at about 40% and 3 minutes at 70% or more, on 4 or more days a week).

Compared with the moderate group, the interval group improved more on every main measure. Knee extension strength rose 13% and knee flexion strength 17%, and peak aerobic capacity rose 8% on a cycle test and 9% on a walking test. Resting systolic blood pressure also fell more in the interval group.

A larger follow-up in 2019, also in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, looked at 679 adults (average age 65) who did 5 months of interval walking. Their peak aerobic capacity rose 14% and a score of lifestyle-related disease risk fell 17%. The minutes spent walking fast, not the slow or total minutes, predicted the gains, and the benefit leveled off above about 50 fast minutes a week.

What the studies do not show

• They were done in middle-aged and older Japanese adults in a supported program, so results may differ for younger people or for people training alone.
• The 2019 study had no comparison group, so some of the change may come from simply joining a program.
• Neither was a weight-loss trial. Claims that Japanese walking melts away a set number of pounds go beyond the evidence.
• Some participants dropped out, and completion rates differed between groups.

Even so, the core idea is well supported: short bouts of harder walking, repeated, build fitness more than the same time at an easy pace.

A weekly plan for Japanese walking

Five sets on four days is about 60 fast minutes a week, just above the roughly 50 fast minutes where gains leveled off in the 2019 study. The walking workout timer prints this plan on one page with a box for every walk, and it lets you start with fast instead of slow or set 3 to 10 sets.

Who should take it easy?

Interval walking is gentler than running, but the fast parts work the heart harder than a steady stroll. If you have a heart or lung condition, high blood pressure, joint problems or balance problems, are pregnant or have not been active in a long time, check with your doctor before you start, and begin with fewer sets. Stop if you feel chest pain, dizziness or unusual shortness of breath.

Japanese walking vs 6-6-6 and 12-3-30

Japanese walking takes 30 minutes and changes pace every 3 minutes. The 6-6-6 walking rule is a steady 60-minute brisk walk with a warm-up and cool-down, 6 days a week. The 12-3-30 workout is 30 minutes at a steep 12% treadmill incline. If you are short on time, Japanese walking gives the most structure per minute, and it is the only one of the three tested as a program in trials.

To make it a lasting habit, pair it with the 30-day walking habit plan or build a plan around your day. For the bigger picture, read is walking enough exercise and browse the exercise guides.