A Beginner's Walking Plan: Your First 4 Weeks

How the plan works

• Three core walks a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Move them to any days that suit you; just keep a day between them at first.
• One optional extra walk on Friday, for weeks when you have the energy. Skip it without guilt.
• Time grows slowly: from 35 minutes of walking in week 1 to 55 in week 4, plus your optional walks.
• Every walk starts and ends easily. A few relaxed minutes at each end let your heart rate rise and settle gradually.³

Easy and brisk: how they should feel

Brisk walking is about 3 miles (5 km) an hour for most adults, but how it feels matters more than the speed.^4,5

The 4-week plan, day by day

“Easy 10 min” means a 10-minute walk at an easy pace the whole way. The brisk walks are shown minute by minute below. If a walk in week 1 already feels easy, you can start at week 2.

Week by week

• Week 1, get going: short, easy walks. The goal is simply to do all three.
• Week 2, a little longer: two of your walks grow to 15 minutes.
• Week 3, first brisk minutes: two short brisk bursts on Wednesday, and your first 20-minute walk on Saturday.
• Week 4, bringing it together: longer brisk bursts, and a 20-minute walk with 5 brisk minutes in the middle to finish the month.

Your first brisk minutes

Make it fit your week

If it feels too hard

• Repeat a week before moving on. There’s no deadline.
• Keep everything at an easy pace and leave the brisk minutes for later.
• Split a walk in two: two 10-minute walks count as much as one 20-minute walk.⁶

If it feels too easy

• Make the optional Friday walk part of your plan.
• Add 5 minutes to your Saturday walk.
• Walk more of each walk briskly, building toward the 30 minutes of brisk walking the Mayo Clinic’s 12-week schedule works up to.²

If you miss a walk

Just carry on with the next one; don’t double up. Missing the odd day doesn’t undo the habit you’re building.⁸ Walking at the same time and in the same place each time helps it become automatic.⁷ See how to build a walking habit.

If the weather is bad

Swap in an indoor walk or a treadmill walk of the same length.

After week 4

You’re walking about an hour a week across three walks. From here, the long-term aim from health guidelines is 150 minutes of moderate activity, such as brisk walking, each week.^10,6 Ways to get there:

• Add about 2 minutes of brisk walking to each walk each week, the way the Mayo Clinic schedule builds.²
• Add a fourth, then a fifth walking day.
• Try something new: a 30-minute walking workout, interval walking or Japanese walking.

Before you start

Mova is for adults. It isn't medical advice. If you have a health condition, check with your doctor before you start. A short questionnaire such as the PAR-Q+ can help you decide whether to talk to a doctor first.⁹ The Mayo Clinic also suggests checking with your doctor if you have a serious health condition, or if you’re over 40 and have been inactive recently.²