You lace up at 7am, take the same route around the park, and home in 30 minutes. Your tracker logs the steps. Your body barely notices. Forward walking is one of the most practised movement patterns on Earth. By adulthood, your nervous system runs it on autopilot. The walk maintains baseline fitness without improving it. Reversing direction on the same path breaks the autopilot and raises metabolic cost without adding time, equipment, or complexity.
Sources: Ainsworth et al. Compendium of Physical Activities 2011 update. Ordway et al. J Strength Cond Res 2016 (PMID 26332781). Menezes et al. Top Stroke Rehabil 2024 (PMID 39582194).
Why backward walking costs more
The Compendium of Physical Activities, the standardised database used by exercise physiologists, lists brisk forward walking at 3.5 mph as 4.3 METs and backward walking at the same speed as 6.0 METs. One MET equals the energy your body uses at rest. The jump represents roughly 40 percent more energy expenditure per minute of movement. The reason is mechanical. Walking backward forces your nervous system out of its optimised pattern. Quadriceps, calves, and hip flexors fire in an unfamiliar sequence. More motor units fire. Heart rate rises. Balance demand climbs.
Source: Ainsworth BE et al. 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities update. Met values for walking at standard pace.
What the training studies show
Ordway and colleagues at the University of Dayton trained 8 male runners with backward running on a treadmill at 161 m/min for 5 weeks. Forward running economy improved by 2.54 percent (p=0.032). VO2max and body composition did not change. The gain came from neuromuscular adaptation alone. A 2024 systematic review with meta-analysis in Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation by Menezes and colleagues found backward walking training improved walking speed by 0.16 m/s more than forward walking training in stroke survivors, with moderate-quality evidence.
The 4-week starter protocol
Safety notes for London routes
- Flat, obstacle-free surface only. Running tracks (Battersea Park track, Highbury Fields) are ideal.
- No headphones. Cyclists, dogs, and other pedestrians need to be heard.
- A walking partner who faces forward beside you and calls out obstacles is the safest setup.
- Hold a wall or railing at first if balance is a concern.
What to expect
Your quadriceps will feel the difference within two minutes of session one. Balance improves within the first week. By week four, 10 to 15 minutes feels natural and the forward portion of your walk feels easier by comparison. The total time added to your week: zero. You are converting the last 10 minutes of an existing walk into something the body cannot phone in.
For a complete weekly plan that pairs walking variations with strength work, book a consultation at www.dushyantatomar.com.
Dushyanta Tomar, MSc Applied Sports and Exercise Physiology, CIMSPA Accredited Personal Trainer.
Sources
- Ordway JD, Laubach LL, Vanderburgh PM, Jackson KJ. The Effects of Backwards Running Training on Forward Running Economy in Trained Males. J Strength Cond Res. 2016, vol 30, issue 3, pages 763 to 767. PMID 26332781. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26332781
- Menezes KK, Avelino PR, Ada L, Nascimento LR. Backward walking training is as effective as or better than forward walking training for improving walking speed after stroke: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Top Stroke Rehabil. 2024, vol 32, issue 5, pages 531 to 543. PMID 39582194. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39582194
- Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Herrmann SD, et al. 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2011, vol 43, issue 8, pages 1575 to 1581.