The short answer: "power walking" has no formal definition, but the research gives it a useful one: walking fast enough to reach roughly 120 to 130 steps a minute, which is brisk to vigorous intensity. Faster walking uses more energy per minute, and interval walking has good trial evidence for fitness and blood pressure. Many other claims, including that it rivals jogging with half the joint impact, or that arm pumping adds 5 to 10%, we couldn't source.
A measurable definition: cadence
The CADENCE-Adults research (Tudor-Locke and colleagues) measured the energy cost of treadmill walking across adults aged 21 to 85. It found that about 100 steps a minute corresponded with moderate intensity, 3 METs, and about 130 steps a minute with vigorous intensity, 6 METs, with each extra 10 steps a minute adding roughly 1 MET. That fits the earlier page's idea that power walking sits around 120 to 140 steps a minute against 100 to 110 for ordinary walking. Individuals vary, so treat the numbers as a guide. You can count your steps for 15 seconds and multiply by four, or read cadence from a step counter. The usual rule of thumb for moderate intensity is that you can talk but not sing.
What it costs
Using the standard formula (calories = METs times body weight in kilograms times hours), here is the energy cost of 30 minutes at each cadence for a 75 kg person. The extra column subtracts what you'd burn sitting for the same time. These are our estimates from published ratings, and they vary between people.
| Steps per minute | METs (approx.) | Intensity | Total calories in 30 min (75 kg) | Extra calories in 30 min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 3 | Moderate | 112 | 75 |
| 110 | 4 | Moderate, brisk | 150 | 112 |
| 120 | 5 | Brisk to vigorous | 188 | 150 |
| 130 | 6 | Vigorous | 225 | 188 |
So walking at 120 steps a minute uses about two-thirds more total energy per minute than walking at 100 (188 against 112 calories in half an hour), and twice the extra. The earlier page said power walking burns 30 to 50% more than casual walking, which is roughly right per minute against an ordinary walk (a rating of 5.0 METs against 3.5 is about 43% more). Per mile, the gain is smaller, since you finish sooner: by the Compendium ratings, walking at 4 mph uses about 20% more energy above resting per mile than walking at 3 mph, as in how many calories walking burns. We removed the old table's comparisons with jogging, its claim that a fast power walk matches a slow jog "with roughly half the joint impact," and its estimate of 250 to 300 calories for the treadmill session, because we couldn't source them. Walking vs running covers what is known about injuries.
Intervals
This is the best-supported part of the topic. In a controlled trial in middle-aged and older adults, with a mean age of 63 (Nemoto and colleagues, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2007), people did interval walking training, at least five cycles of 3 minutes of fast walking at 70% or more of their peak aerobic capacity and 3 minutes of slow walking at about 40%. Compared with moderate continuous walking, interval walking improved thigh muscle strength and peak aerobic capacity and reduced resting systolic blood pressure more. The fast intervals were set relative to each person's fitness, so "fast" means hard for you. The earlier page's schedule of 2-minute bursts every 5 minutes, building over 9 weeks, is not from a trial, so treat it as one reasonable way to ease in.
Technique
Natural arm swing is efficient: in a lab study of 10 people (Collins and colleagues, 2009), holding the arms still cost about 12% more energy. We couldn't find evidence that driving the arms hard adds the "5 to 10 percent" the earlier page claimed, though it will make the walk feel harder. Overstriding is often called the top power-walking error, and shorter, quicker steps are a common coaching cue, but we haven't found trials on injury in walkers, and the thresholds above are about how many steps per minute you take, not how long each step is. For posture, see walking posture and form.
Afterburn and weight
The earlier page said power walking creates a stronger "afterburn" and about an extra 0.5 kg of fat loss a month. A review of post-exercise energy use (Børsheim and Bahr) found the effect is significant only at intensities above roughly 50 to 60% of maximal oxygen uptake and minimal after low-intensity or short exercise, so it is a small bonus at best; see walking and metabolism. The weight estimate used the 3,500-calorie rule, which overstates weight loss; how many steps to lose weight explains why.
A sample session
This is our suggestion, not a studied protocol. After a 5-minute warm-up at your usual pace, try alternating 3 minutes at a pace that feels hard but sustainable with 3 minutes easy, five times, then cool down. On a treadmill you can set the speeds exactly; outdoors, watch your cadence. Add intervals gradually and take extra care if you have heart or joint problems, because intense walking raises the strain; check with your doctor first if you're not used to exercise. Shin splints or hip pain are signs to ease back. For a gentler way to raise intensity, see incline walking and Nordic walking.
Sources
- Tudor-Locke C, et al. Walking cadence (steps/min) and intensity in 21-40 year olds: CADENCE-adults. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2019. PMC
- Tudor-Locke C, et al. Walking cadence (steps/min) and intensity in 41 to 60-year-old adults: the CADENCE-adults study. 2020. PubMed
- Tudor-Locke C, et al. Walking cadence (steps/min) and intensity in 61-85-year-old adults: the CADENCE-Adults study. 2021. PMC
- Nemoto K, Gen-no H, Masuki S, Okazaki K, Nose H. Effects of high-intensity interval walking training on physical fitness and blood pressure in middle-aged and older people. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2007;82(7):803-811. Semantic Scholar
- Collins SH, Adamczyk PG, Kuo AD. Dynamic arm swinging in human walking. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 2009;276:3679-3688. researchgate.net
- Børsheim E, Bahr R. Effect of exercise intensity, duration and mode on post-exercise oxygen consumption. Sports Medicine. 2003;33(14):1037-1060. researchgate.net
- Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Herrmann SD, et al. 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2011;43(8):1575-1581. pacompendium.com
Correction note: an earlier version of this page said power walking burns 30 to 50% more calories than casual walking (right per minute, smaller per mile), gave a calorie table including a jogging comparison, said it matches a slow jog with half the joint impact, said driving the arms adds 5 to 10% more calories, said overstriding is the main injury cause, gave a heart-rate zone of 60 to 75% of maximum, said a treadmill session burns 250 to 300 calories and rivals jogging, and said it creates a stronger afterburn and an extra 0.5 kg of fat loss a month. We could not support most of those, so they were removed or corrected; the calorie table is now rebuilt from cadence data and published MET ratings. We checked the figures above against published abstracts and summaries on October 2, 2026, and did not read the Nemoto trial in full. This article is for informational purposes and does not replace medical advice; check with your doctor before starting intense exercise if you are unused to it. This is general information, not medical advice.