Book Review - Born to Walk

Walking with intention is better for you than running.

This is the thesis of Mark Sisson's new book, Born to Walk, The Broken Promises of the Running Boom. In it, he argues that "most people (except highly conditioned and genetically gifted front-of-the-pack athletes) lack the baseline metabolic, musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health to attempt an activity as strenuous as running." The result is injury, physiological stress, and burnout.

Sisson posits that when Nike developed the revolutionary waffle-cushioned running shoe in 1972, it introduced a generation to jogging, a sport they were ill-equipped to handle. The shoe allowed novices with poor technique and insufficiently developed muscle and tissue systems to hit the road. Jim Fixx’s 1977 book, The Complete Book of Running, further fueled the running boom with promises of the runners' high, fat loss, and cardiovascular excellence—promises that have not been kept.

The better approach, according to Sisson: Walk intentionally at a pace and for a distance that builds your aerobic base. Then, augment walking with short bouts of sprinting. This combination respects our evolutionary adaptations and supports our health in a safe, accessible, and effective manner.

Mark Sisson is no stranger to running, having competed at the highest levels. Sisson is best known for popularizing the ancestral health movement through his blog, his books and his food company, Primal Kitchen. Sisson has been a leading voice in functional fitness and longevity for many years. After suffering injuries and burnout from running, Mark embraced a fitness routine built around active walking, which he credits with his health and longevity at 71 years old.

Born to Walk begins with a history of running’s popularity and outlines “the deception, false pretenses, flawed assumptions and misguided good intentions that buoyed the running boom but led to decades of frustration and disappointment among devoted runners”. Sisson argues that “running does not help you lose excess body fat: elevated, cushioned shoes don’t prevent injury but rather cause injury; and the prevailing approach of endurance training - what I call chronic cardio - leads to depletion, exhaustion, recurring overuse injuries, suppressed immune, hormonal and metabolic function, and even mild-to-serious heart problems among the fittest runners”. Sisson contrasts this with the many benefits of taking it slower, what he calls our “genetic imperative to walk.”

In the second part of the book, Sisson outlines his preferred approach to fitness, with walking as the centerpiece. His protocol includes strength training, sprinting short distances and incorporating movement and play into our daily routines - but only after the all-important aerobic conditioning base has been built. Sisson provides detailed directions on how to identify and build your aerobic base. This is the Zone 2 training you may have heard about.

When it comes to shoes, Sisson is a big proponent of minimalist footwear. He derides restrictive, cushioned shoes and high heels and spends a full chapter on the importance of foot functionality in fostering musculoskeletal health. He gives examples of how to maintain foot health and build strength to avoid injury.

Born to Walk covers a lot of ground: physiology, metabolic processes, cell and mitochondrial function, training the aerobic and non-aerobic energy systems to maximize VO2, muscle fiber composition, the role of serotonin and dopamine in exertion and the psychology of extreme sports. He covers gate mechanics and proper foot strike in walking and running along with a slew of other topics.

There may be more detail on all of this than interests you, and more history of running than you require to buy into his message. At more than 350 pages, there’s a lot of information here. But it's well organized and the research is presented in an informal and accessible manner.

And, if you’re a devoted runner, and you like to run, and your body supports it – go for it! Sisson has no issue with happy, healthy and committed runners. He clearly respects and admires the physical accomplishments of the great running champions, which he highlights throughout the book. His goal is to offer another path to fitness for the majority of the population for whom running is not appropriate.

My takeaways:

• The health benefits of walking are available to a wide audience, without the risk of overuse injury and burnout associated with distance running. For an older demographic, like SecondFiftiers, and folks getting back into fitness, or for those who have chronic injuries or limitations, walking provides a solid foundation from which to build. And, you don’t need special equipment or a gym.

• Walking is a safe and effective path to building the aerobic base, which is the foundation of health and longevity. Cardiovascular fitness sustains physical exertion in all its forms. Simply moving from “low” to “below average” in cardiorespiratory fitness reduces all cause mortality by 50%! I detail the research in this SecondFifty Newsletter.

• Your biggest challenge will be accepting the counterintuitive reality that less exertion can lead to more health benefits!

• Sisson makes a strong case, but he makes an extreme case - that running for more than short sprints is bad. A more nuanced position might be that distance running is ill advised for all but a few, and running without proper preparation leads to injury. Fun runs and jogs and short races can foster community and introduce people to the joys and benefits of exercise, as long as they’re not extreme. And any movement is better than none. For an example of this, see the link below to an article from the Wall Street Journal last week about popular DJ inspired fun-run gatherings which promote a healthy lifestyle.

• I believe that many of the injuries in running stem from insufficiently warming up, poor mobility and flexibility and generally poor preparation. Too many enthusiasts rush out the door to run several miles without stretching, and then come home and jump in the shower without a cool-down and go to the office to sit all day. This inevitably leads to pulled muscles, strained connective tissue and bruised joints. As we get older, preparation and mobility focus becomes even more important.

There is good, practical advice in this book. You may not agree with all of it, but you will learn something. I have adhered to the slow cardio/fast sprint approach for many years. It works well for me. I’m not someone who enjoys long distance running. I recently purchased a pair of minimalist shoes from Xero Shoes, and I’m experimenting with them at the gym now. The difference in feedback from the ground is dramatic. So far so good, but I don’t think I’m ready to go completely minimalist or barefoot this summer!

Here’s a link to a PDF from the Born to Walk book website called 40 Mind Blowing Assertions to Recalibrate Modern Fitness Philosophy. The title is bit of marketing hype, but it gives you concise bullet points on Sisson’s philosophy.

To my point about building community and encouraging exercise with fun-runs…From the Wall Street Journal earlier this week:
First Celebrities Wanted Us To Read. Now They Want Us to Run

In upcoming newsletters…

• Guided mobility routines and stretches

• Additional exercise snacks

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Who Sent this Newsletter:

I’m George Harrop, founder of SecondFifty — an online resource for people who want to prioritize their health and fitness by taking a common-sense approach to living a vital and fulfilling second fifty years.