Walking is one of the most effective, yet underrated forms of physical activity available for everyone.
In this article, I will clarify what are the best peloton walking classes, and which one should you choose to match your current goals.
What are peloton walking classes like?
Peloton walking classes are one of the most effective weight loss and recovery classes available on the app. It’s like guided walking, where instructors explain the benefits of daily walks and keep you entertained.
The peloton has over 1,000 walking classes for the treadmill, as well as for outdoor workouts. The classes range between 10 to 60 minutes and vary in difficulty level.
Some classes are a combination of uphill walking, power walking, as well as intermittent running.
Related article: Click here to learn more about how I lost weight by “walking 10km a day“
Is the peloton walking class effective?
I’ve tried a few walking classes on the app, as well as a peloton in-person walking workout in their NYC studio. (It was busy.)
For me, walking is effective because it not only helps to maintain your overall health but also increases cardiovascular fitness and helps to reduce muscle soreness after strenuous workouts.
Peloton walking is also a great tool to down-regulate and reduces stress levels.
What are the benefits?
There are several benefits you can get from doing regular peloton walking classes.
Reduce stress
Walking exercise is a powerful tool to reduce stress.
For example, if your weekly workout plan includes many peloton HIIT classes, the levels of stress and lactate buildup will be higher because of the increase in cortisol levels.
Walking increases your blood flow, without causing the cortisol hormone to raise.
In fact, low-intensity exercise actually results in a reduction of circulating cortisol levels, according to Hill et al. 2008.
Helps with muscle soreness
As a whole, the peloton walking classes are worth it because they can be done by themselves as regular cardio, or can be used in addition to other strength training.
They can also be used for active recovery days, where you want to keep the intensity low and improve muscle perfusion.
Increasing muscle perfusion (blood flow) helps to flush the lactate buildup and other inflammatory compounds.
This helps to reduce muscle pain after long-distance endurance runs or cycling sessions.
They work like regular brisk walk workouts with the addition of extra challenges that include sidewalks, incline on the treadmill, speed modifications, and more.
Walking classes can be done as a warmup, active recovery workout, or even the main workout of the day.
Burns more calories
Walking classes are low-intensity classes, which means they are great for weight loss workouts.
They are an excellent tool to burn more calories from fat instead of sugar.
For best results, you can add walking wokrouts to your daily strength training classes, as well as to more strenuous climb rides.
Stimulates the brain
Another thing I like about the peloton walking workouts is they not only help to burn more calories but also keep my brain sharp.
In fact, multiple studies have shown that regular walking helps to stimulate neuroplasticity, increase synapse activity, and promote neurogenesis (Shimada et al. 2017).
This means that walking, as a low-intensity cardio exercise, has the capability to not only slows down cognitive decline and atrophy in the brain but also increase the number of new brain cells (Best et al. 2017).
If you want to learn more about the methods to enhance neurogenesis and stimulate brain function, I highly recommend reading a book called Keep Sharp written by Sanjay Gupta, MD., the American neurosurgeon and chief medical correspondent for CNN.
Here are more details.
In his book, Sanjay Gupta says.
“Fitness could very well be the most important ingredient to living as long as possible, despite all the other risk factors you bear—age and genetics included.“
Dr. Gupta continues.
“And while it may seem hard to believe, exercise is the only behavioral activity scientifically proven to trigger biological effects that can help the brain.”
Build a Better Brain at Any Age, Sanjay Gupta
Best Peloton Walking Classes
Some of the best peloton walking classes include hikes, power walks, walk + run and interval walks.
I always find that walking while listening to peloton instructors helps me to clear my head and energize me for the day ahead.
Here is the list.
1. Power Walk
A peloton power walk is one of the best walking workouts out there because it can be done by anyone and anywhere.
What is a power walk peloton?
As a whole, the power walk peloton is a series of classes that are done either on the treadmill or outdoors. The class duration range from 20 to 45 minutes.
Why power walk peloton is good?
In general, the power walk peloton is good because it progressively increases your heart rate throughout the class, while still keeping the effort in the low-intensity zone.
The effort is increased by the combination of adding more cadence, tread elevation, and arm swing work.
What I like about power walks is they implement a lot of upper body motion to their walking workouts. On the surface, adding an arm swing may not seem like a big difference.
However, if you look at the science, studies have shown that walking with dynamic arm swinging increases the metabolic rate by 26% (Collins et al. 2009). Let that sink in for a moment.
Going further, if you add arm swings together with elevation and speed, all of a sudden you have transformed your typical walking into a fat-burning tool.
2. Peloton Hike
Peloton hike mimics the climbing environment. I personally prefer to do it outdoors because I find it very therapeutic to walk in nature.
I also like to choose different paths to stimulate my frontal cortex. In neuroscience, this is called “novelty processing”.
Here is the sample walking hike workout with peloton instructor, Rebecca Kennedy.
This means the brain is more likely to be stimulated by a familiar event that occurs in an unpredicted situation, or when the unfamiliar stimulus appears against expectations (Matsumoto et al. 2007).
What is a peloton hike?
Peloton hike is a walking class collection where you progressively add incline on the treadmill.
This helps to engage different muscle groups, elevates the heart rate, and increases the metabolic rate. It also helps to increase muscle endurance.
Why peloton hike is good?
As a whole, the peloton hike is good because it allows for increasing the heart rate and intensity of the walking workouts, without increasing the speed.
Increasing the intensity without adding more speed helps to reduce excess weight, without adding more pressure on the joints.
Walking uphill is effective, especially for individuals who need to lose a significant amount of weight and are looking for a cardio modality that won’t pressure their knees, hips, and ankles.
Fast walking or running is great for cardio and can burn a lot of calories.
However, with a higher cadence, there is more impact on the joints.
Derek J Haight, Ph.D., an expert on pain management, says “slow, uphill walking may be an appropriate exercise for obese individuals at risk for musculoskeletal pathology or pain.”
“If you’re getting started, and you feel discomfort from walking faster (or running), adding more incline is a good alternative to keep the heart rate high, without causing too much impact on the joints,” says Dr. Haight.
3. Walk + Run
The combination of walking and running is been widely used in many long-distance training programs.
In fact, the combined run/walk strategy has been shown to allow non-elite runners to achieve similar finish times with less (muscle) discomfort (Hottenrott et al. 2016).
What is a walk + run peloton?
As a whole, the peloton walk + run is a series of walking classes where you combine slow pace walking, together with running intervals.
The class duration range between 20 to 60 minutes.
The difficulty level is predicated by the duration of running time and walking period.
Why walk + run peloton is good?
In general, this class is good because it helps to train the body in transitioning between walking to running workouts.
People who are getting started may find it difficult to start running on day one. Mixing the routine between walk and running helps to slowly build strength and muscle endurance.
In other words, it helps to gradually prepare the body to be able to handle longer distances without getting injured.
The difference between trained individuals and people who are new to exercise is in their ability to recover from workouts.
Below you can see the graph that illustrates the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) that happens after the workout in trained versus untrained people.
See the graph below.
As you can see, people who are experienced in physical activity develop muscle adaptations that allow them to remove lactate and other pro-inflammatory compounds more quickly.
This means people who are new to physical activity will find it more difficult to start running right out of the gate.
Peloton walk + run is a hybrid approach where you introduce elements of higher intensity, without developing too much lactate and DOMS.
Learn more: Click here to learn more about “how often should you use peloton“.
Peloton Walking Without Treadmill
This is my favorite topic. (Yes, you can do peloton walking outside.)
In general, you can do peloton walking outdoors, as long as you have your phone with the peloton app.
All of the walking workouts have verbal instructions, which don’t require looking at the screen but only listening to the teacher.
You can use the app directly from your phone with or without the headphones.
The walking workouts are usually modified with an incline, which is hard to perform without a treadmill.
However, if you plan to walk outside, you can substitute incline with adding more speed.
Do you need a treadmill for Peloton walking?
In general, you do need a treadmill for peloton walking because most of the classes are done on the tread, which includes multiple modifications of speed and elevation.
However, you can still do some peloton walking workouts outside, without the treadmill.
You can also try to choose the terrain that has more hills and steep pavements. Even small changes in the walking pace can significantly increase calorie expenditure.
Peloton walking calories burned
Look at the table below where I compared calories burned from walking at different speeds and elevations in 60 minutes for people who weigh 130 pounds, 160 pounds, and 200 pounds (source).
| Walking | 130 LBS | 160 LBS | 200 LBS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 2.0 mph, very slow | 124 | 153 | 191 |
| Carrying a child or a 15-pound load, slow walking | 143 | 176 | 220 |
| 2.0 mph, slow pace | 174 | 214 | 267 |
| Walking a dog | 186 | 229 | 286 |
| 2.5 mph, moderate pace | 186 | 229 | 286 |
| 2.5 mph, downhill | 205 | 252 | 315 |
| 2.8 to 3.2 mph, moderate pace | 217 | 267 | 334 |
| 3.5 mph, brisk walk | 267 | 328 | 410 |
| 4.0 mph, very brisk pace | 310 | 382 | 477 |
| 2.9 to 3.5 mph, uphill, 1% to 5% incline | 329 | 405 | 506 |
| Walking backward, 3.5 mph | 372 | 458 | 573 |
| 4.5 mph, very, very brisk | 434 | 535 | 668 |
| 2.9 to 3.5 mph, uphill, 6% to 15% incline | 496 | 611 | 764 |
| 5.0 mph, level, high pace | 515 | 634 | 792 |
As you can see, a small change in walking speed (or incline) can make a big difference. Choosing the terrain that has hills can transform your regular walk into a power walk.
Is the Peloton treadmill good for walkers?
As a whole, the peloton treadmill is good for walkers because it has hundreds of walking workouts including hiking, walk + run, power walking, and music theme walks.
It also has short warm-up and cooldown sessions to be implemented into your existing training routine.
You can walk on the peloton treadmill
In general, you can walk on the peloton treadmill because the treadmill has the “just run” feature where you can set up your own cadence and incline.
This means you don’t need to join any of the classes to be able to use it.
You can track your walks on the peloton app
As a general rule, to track your walk on the peloton app all you need is to join the class. The app automatically registers each class you do.
If you’re using the peloton heart rate monitor, the app will also register your heart rate and calories burned.
There are no Scenic Walks on Peloton
As a whole, the peloton app doesn’t have scenic walks. (Although, they do have scenic rides.)
The only walking workouts on the peloton are tread walking and outdoor walking.
However, the app does have scenic runs and just run features for all-access membership users.
Peloton Cycling vs Walking
As a whole, peloton cycling is better than walking because it burns more calories.
However, walking can be modified by adding the pace and elevation to increase the metabolic rate that is comparable to cycling.
It is also good for people who just get started and don’t feel comfortable on the bike.
Which is better for losing weight walking or peloton?
In general, the peloton is better for losing weight because it increases calorie expenditure more than walking.
One hour of walking at a regular pace can burn around 200 to 300 calories, whereas 60 minutes of cycling on the peloton bike can burn around 400 to 600 calories.
Does Peloton Have a Walking Program?
As a whole, the peloton doesn’t have a walking program.
The only programs that are on the peloton include yoga, strength, sleep, core, and cycling.
I take it back. Some of the peloton running programs do include certain classes where you walk or mix walking with runs.
Those type of programs helps to build up endurance and strength for beginners who want to get started with running.
I always recommend to my own clients who want to get started with running to try the peloton 5k program.
I have a curriculum where you start with walking workouts and progressively transition into more runs.
Does peloton have step classes?
In general, the peloton doesn’t have step or aerobic classes.
The only class that is done with music choreography is cardio dance, which is more like Zumba or dance cardio aerobics.
What about the peloton walking meditation?
As a whole, the peloton does have a walking meditation series called “Meditation Anywhere”.
This is a series of short 5 to 10 minutes meditation sessions that help you energize, relax and recalibrate your focus, regardless of where you’re now.
You can choose to start the class while you’re commuting, walking outdoors, in the office, or while you’re waiting in line.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are several ways to add walking to your regular fitness routine. I love walking because it can be done almost at any time of the day and it doesn’t require any special gear.
If you’re the type of person who likes to walk anyway, I recommend taking some of the peloton walking classes because the instructors not only keep you engaged but also share some valuable information and inspiring stories.