Walking in short bursts found to consume 20% to 60% more energy than walking continuously for same distance

phys.org

Super interesting and makes a lot of sense in retrospect.

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So pokemon go was actually very good exercise? People are always asking my secret and now I know what it is!
So, HIIT?
- But without the high intensity part. Just starting and stopping something as simple as a walk can increase energy consumption by over 50%, I found that neat. The comparison to a car really resonated with me; I hate coming to a stop because I know it kills my gas mileage, but now I want to try to emulate that in my daily physical activities
  
  LIIT?
  
  I saw an interview with some exercise scientists talking about studies done on people who lived in rural less developed environments, think shepherds in developing countries. The studies indicated that while they may do 30,000 steps a day their body physiologically adapts and changes their movement paterns very quickly to use the absolute minimum amount of energy possible to move around. So their energy expenditure was more like what someone who walks 15,000 steps a day of stop start a day.
- Short High Intensity Interval Training. SHIIT…
I've always heard the opposite, but this makes sense. It also means walking my dog - with all his sniffing and peeing - is better exercise than I thought.
- Also working on OpenStreetMap with StreetComplete
Seems pretty obvious and in-line with Physics 101.
Momentum is a bitch, after all.
My take from this: Use the stairs.
This is fascinating. I hate the treadmill due to the monotony of doing that for 20-20 minutes. If I could break that up into 5-minute chunks over the course of the day, it's less monotonous, for sure.
- The paper behind this meagre article talks about 10-240 second bouts. The 20-60% figure is for 30sec bouts.
  
  Like going to the toilet
I was talking to my wife about them and thought to my old backpacking trips. I'd get really tired and want to take a break, but I know that if I sit down starting up again will be worse, so I'd just do a little pacing.
I wonder what the participants did in between cycles and how much that impacts. Sit, lay down, stand, levitate? Does the start and stop degree change the result? Like if I go from laying down to sprinting for 30 seconds and repeat.

16 comments