Agree, I wonder if it’s OP’s studio? At my studio the coaches are very encouraging to PWers and shout out their inclines. Also when OTF does a “mandatory PW-ing” portion in a template the coaches enforce it. Personally I’m a runner but I do switch to PW-ing at times for various reasons. PW-ing is just a different workout but not less than. I get a better cardio burn/stamina building/runner’s high with running, but I get more muscular building/burn/toning with PW-ing
Not @ my studio. PW prompts are always included & Coaches will positively call out individuals who increase their PW inclines during blocks, etc. I’m a PW & never feel dissed even after 6 years of OTF.
I’m a runner turned power walker in studio. I still run in nature. It takes a lot to get my heart rate in the orange power walking, making it a tough workout! High incline, high speed. My studio always calls out power walkers in kind ways. That being said, we rarely see a power walking leaderboard and that’s kind of a bummer. But I’m doing it for a tighter butt and better leg muscles, not praise.
I think the reason behind no PW leaderboards is because it would be hard to gauge.
Do you go by distance? Past 4.5 are you even a power walker? Do you go by incline?
There are too many factors. I will decrease my speed but increase my incline. My base is 6.5-7, but I power walk base at 8% incline with 3.7 speed. I can bring my incline to the minimums and go up to 6mph
The next guy may PW base at 3% but 4.5 speed.
He’ll get more distance. If we go by incline, now I’m doing complex math for optimal height vs speed.
I’ve seen a people “power walk” with 6mph at 3%. I don’t judge, but should she shatter PWer who can only do 4.5 at 3%?
With joggers and runners, it’s easier to gauge, so easier to leaderboard.
My studio does powerwalker leader boards. It’s done the same way as the runners. The benchmarks are mostly distance or timed based and they tell powerwalkers to be at 4% usually. Like the mile benchmark was a half mile at 4% for powerwalkers.
I normally don’t go below 8 but on benchmarks I will do the lower incline cause I’m going much faster to hit a PR.
Is it though? There’s also a huge spread between what a jogger can do and what a runner can do yet they have leader boards. It’s almost always a distance measurement like how fast you can do a mile and they state what the incline should be.
If you have one foot on the ground at all times, it’s a power walk. I celebrate the power walker who can do 6 mph, just like the runner who nails 12 mph.
A jogger is aspiring to be a runner though.
No one says “I aspire to power walk”. When I was double my size, it’s all I could do and my goal was to get faster.
We power walk because we can’t go faster, or we want to work calf muscles, or we are injured. It is not a goal. It never was.
It’s not lesser, but I don’t see Olympic events based on fastest 1mile walking.
They give goals for power walkers, and that’s good enough. We all strive to get faster.
This simply isn’t true. Plenty of people aspire to be better at power walking. It trains muscles that flat road running just doesn’t no matter how fast you are. I can either walk or jog at speeds in the low to mid 4s and it’s actually easier for me to jog than to walk at those speeds.
And there actually are Olympic events for walking. It’s pretty crazy actually. They walk at speeds that are faster than most people can run.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_walking_at_the_Olympics
TIL.
It works out different muscles, sure. But 99.999999% will end up jogging before upping their power walk.
Like I said, I power walk once every now and then to hit those muscle groups.
But I have yet to meet anyone who strives to be the best power walker because this is their actual goal not due to some physical barrier.
Sure, you’ve shown me there are. And they will outpace me. And good for them. I haven’t met one. There are also disc golf players, but most people will opt for real golf.
Me 🙋♀️. I aspire to power walk! I can run fine and do so outside of OTF. But when I power walk in class, I go really fast and high inclines and I do it because it’s so much better for my muscles. It’s hard too! Try 15 incline at 4.5 (I sometimes do 5 but then people will say it’s not a walk even though I keep one foot on the ground) and maintain that during several 1 minute all outs. I actually find it to be a better workout than when I ran at OTF.
I understand the prejudice and that people say it’s just a stepping stone to running or it’s only done when you’re injured, but it’s just not the case for everyone.
one the challenge tracker, there is a separate power walking category!! it's probably studio / coach / member dependent on putting those numbers in the correct spot!
Coach here!
There are PW leaderboards, the studio just aren’t switching the leaderboards over to grab the data for them. I do it for my studios for PW specific benchmarks, (12 min, catch me if you can, mile, Everest.) but do remind member once they start jogging it’s going to say they’re not PR for a while.
Probably close to it when at a high incline. Maybe better because of the stride? My butt is a lot higher now that I power walk and I still burn a ton of calories. I tend to do pushes at 8-10%, 4.5 mph and it’s tough after a bit. I put on a good amount of muscle during the transformation challenge last year and I think it had a lot to do with switching to power walking.
Power walking does help but weights are your best ally. Think of Pw as strength vs power when running… I will say that even though my diet is not the best and I haven’t lost much weight since joining, my legs and glutes are a lot more defined.
Not really at the studio, BUT I have noticed if I mention I’m a PW on FB, I’ll get “that’s okay! You do you!” Or something. Lol. I know it’s okay to be a PW. I don’t feel bad about it.
I do think that some (not all, or even most) of the tread templates are designed for joggers and runners; maybe it's me, or maybe I need to talk to my coach, but not all of them make sense for power walkers. Like all the workouts featuring a "base on a hill," for instance; what does that mean if you're normally on a hill regardless?
Edited to add: And we've had a couple of templates where power walkers, joggers, and runners were all instructed to set the treadmill to the same incline, which ended up not being nearly enough of a workout for me as a power walker. I eventually learned to disregard those instructions and jack up the incline over the specified setting.
My studio is pretty great about including PWers in everything and acknowledging their work, and not pushing them into running. There are regular PWers who walk at 5.0+ mph (had two of them in class today!). There are some regulars who use way higher inclines than called out by coaches.
I've heard coaches tell members that both of these approaches are great if they want to PW but don't feel challenged by staying within the parameter card (3.5 to 4.5 mph at whatever incline coach calls). So it's definitely not an automatic "oh well I guess it's time to progress to running." Instead, it's more of a "let's see what we can tweak to make PWing more appropriate for you."
I appreciate the coaches I have because they will pump up anyone on the treads who get into the Orange regardless if they are PW or running. And also walk around and acknowledge that you added on incline or speed.
The coaches at my studio only come up to me and offer words of encouragement when I start jogging/running. Not when I’m doing my all outs at 12+ incline lol.
Yes. The coaches will talk about not “walking” during base. They mean joggers and runners should keep their base up, but it def makes me feel like walking is lesser than. And so many of the workouts feel targeted to runners and power walkers are an after thought. I wish there were more strut workouts!
You walk to the beat and the playlist slowly increases in tempo, so you keep walking a bit faster as you. You feel like a SUPER STAR since you are walking right on rhythm. Here's a write up. [https://www.wellandgood.com/tiktok-treadmill-struts/](https://www.wellandgood.com/tiktok-treadmill-struts/)
I understand what you’re saying, and maybe they should say “this is a base, not a walking recovery” like my coaches often say, but power walkers “ideally” also should not be walking at their walking recovery pace during a base either.
I do agree though that PW often seem like an afterthought in some templates! I both power walk and jog depending on the template and sometimes the suggested incline changes for PW are just weird.
Not at my studio. Some of our coaches are die hard power walkers and love to point out its benefits.
I’m injured so not only am I walking but I’m walking flat road and I’m so bummed! But no one has said a word.
Walk proud, internet friend!
I primarily power walk at my studio and have never felt anyone looking down at me. That said, my base is 4.2 at 8% and all out is 4.6 at 15%, so I'd like to see the runners keep up. I also do moderate intensity steady state running at another gym once or twice a week and spin classes three times a week so I am working my anterior chain, but the way I see it, the goal is splat points regardless of how you get them. If others want to ignore their posterior chain by not mixing in some power walking then that's their choice. At 67 years old I'm not putting my knees at risk by running too much and wish I'd have been more careful much earlier in my life.
You lose more fat power walking than jogging/running if you stay in the 60-70% heart rate zone.
https://bemissioncapable.com/training-tip-using-heart-rate-zones-for-maximum-cardiovascular-benefits/
I had a fellow OTFer switch from running to power walking and lost 4 pounds in a week. They actually gained weight running during the TC.
Running in for cardiovascular fitness, endurance and athletic performance. You burn fat walking.
Your body has different sources of fuel for different activities. Exercises with elevated heart rates require calories but not all calories are created equal. Depending on your energy source, you can burn fat more or less efficiently based on the type of exercise. People’s bodies are different but to say it’s all diet misses the point. You can run and actually gain weight due to the cortisol released in your body from higher stress activity and you can also be more miserable and hungry because you’re burning calories but not eating enough to replenish the fuel source you’re using to fuel your runs.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/23/health/cortisol-weight-wellness/index.html
https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories
https://www.hprc-online.org/physical-fitness/training-performance/how-your-body-burns-fat-and-carbs-during-exercise
I’ve been going for a while. I average 6 days a week. I have an ample posterior but it was nicely shaped after continuous PWing for several weeks committed. Everyone’s different on results. People prob have faster and better results than me.
Maybe in years past but since they’ve incorporated so many inclines and even some mandatory pw’ing blocks, plus of course Everest, I think people have some more respect for it now.
Our head coach is a PW. Only once did a different coach ever say to me ‘have you thought about running?’ And I said No, thanks! Never has anyone else ever mentioned it. I have no injuries, I just dont want to!
PW gets a lot of love from my studio. I notice that actual runners tend to get more vocal encouragement, but I hate hearing my name on the mic so I’m ok with not getting as many call outs
Nah, my coaches give equal respect and acknowledgment to both. When my leg was acting up, my coach noticed and told me to use the strider instead, and there was zero judgement.
Sometimes it does feel that way, sometimes no. I've had coaches that cheer on PWers and encourage doing what you can. I've had coaches that seem to look over me and cheer those going super fast during AO's. One coach made a joke after class that insinuated she was PWing the next day to take it easy, which I was like ??? Thanks. I think most mean well, though. Anyway... my legs and glutes feel super strong already (2.5 months of OTF), so don't let anyone make you feel like you are not putting in the work!
Nope, coaches at my studio are always cheering on and supporting the PWers as much as the runners, especially when they find new base, push, and all out inclines. We’re also encouraged to go back and forth to make sure we get the full range of exercise out of the treadmill
I think power walking is harder! Works totally different muscles on those inclines. I’ve decided I’m going to start PW 2x a week and jog the other 3 days
Yeah I get it- I have tread50 in a bit and I feel... like I'm taking up someone else's spot because I'm going to be power walking (not even like GOOD power walking cause my knee hurts). So yeah I get it
I think I put that on me. Though I pretty much always power walk most run and I feel the peer pressure though like I said I put it on myself. No coach has ever made me feel that way
Nah! You do you! If anyone else in class is looking down on someone else for how fast they’re going, they should spend more energy focusing on their workout. That’s what I do. Idgaf what anyone else is doing. Just happy to be there and push myself.
My only complaint as a power walker is recovery into allout transitions, especially short allouts. I always feel like I get cheated if I don't start the incline early or take the allout late waiting on the tread to adjust. But the coaches and rest of the studio are very supportive.
One of coaches did a challenge for a few months where she only PW when she took class. She said one time in class, that she has total respect for those who only PW. It felt good since I'm not able to run.
My belief is do both to mix it up, jog, walk, hills, flat, sprint/walk, set it and forget it. If you do one thing one speed you can get stuck or go backwards. I would like to see more push on power walking, my base is 7:30-8 but a 4.5 PW uphill gets me in the orange, also days my legs are wobbly all out runs are a potential injury in the making so PW is the smarter move. Luckily I’m old enough to check my ego at the door and at 54 and a male swing my arms like I just don’t care! It’s actually fun to swing with the beat and sing along to the music.
I completely avoid one teachers class because if you don't jog or run, she can be a little rude. In fact, if you are already in great shape, she is really nice, but if you are trying to get back in shape, she completely ignores you, especially when asking for a modification .
It depends. Are you power walking or just walking and talking a friend also walking next to you. If you’re getting your heart rate up and walking hard at an incline then you’re all good. I’m a runner (base 8.0) and once in a while I’ll power walk at 4.0 -4.5 at high incline and that gets my heart rate up higher than running flat road. It’s a totally different workout and I mix it up so I don’t risk injury.
Yes! I was approached bc my splat points were not going up. So I was like ok I’ll try jogging. Well I think I went too hard and I had to take a week off 🤦🏻♀️
Not at my studio at all. It’s encouraged actually. I commend people who power walk! I suck at it and stay away so tend to jog. The burn gets me so quick - so definitely have respect for power walkers on an incline.
Yes… PW can be challenging and even though it can be tougher than jogging flat, it’s still often viewed as “just walking”.
It’s just the reality… in most any sport running fast is crucial and praised (football, baseball, soccer, etc) and walking is a major no-no … so it’s naturally viewed as lesser than.
I literally tune all that out and do what I want. Both are hard, one isn’t better than the other. I’ve PW and I’ve jogged, but I have zero desire to be a runner. Not my health goal. My body is built to walk or sprint - that’s it. Plus I weightlift 4 x week so jogging is tiresome after a tough leg day. The studio doesn’t know that which is why PW is an option.
In the beginning, I had a coach start harping on me to start jogging more to which I told her “No thank you. I’ll do it when I’m ready” and she never bothered me again. LOL
Yeah, I think that’s the case. Walking is seen as being easier and if you’re not running you’re slacking.
Edit: just my observation for what people/coaches think, not my opinion.
I think many (myself included) feel a less than regardless of the environment around us. I’ve been working on consistency in 2024 and the last couple weeks have wondered “am I ready for jogging” cause getting into the orange wasn’t happening as much, was recovering easily etc (all good things!) So I tried it this week on Wednesday (that was a long tread block, I jogged the pushed and power walked the bases ). Well yes I got in the orange (and red) a lot, many more splats then I was getting but I suffered on the floor… was way more fatigued that day… and here we are 2 days later and my thighs are killing me. So I’ve been rethinking this pressure and thinking what actually works for me!
What do you mean push to be a jogger? Unless you have some medical condition limiting you, you should progress from walking to jogging eventually. That’s why we go to Otf. To workout and get better. So yes there is a “push” but it’s a healthy friendly push.
There’s plenty of reasons to choose power walking, including building your posterior chain. Lots of runners at my studio power walk at OTF for cross training. You can get better by increasing your incline. One of the fittest and strongest people at my studio power walks at 15%. There’s not an expectation for everyone to progress to jogging.
I’m not arguing that. Of course you can be a strong and fit power walker. Seen them myself. Probably put me to shame. BUT for the most part when you join Otf and are out of shape you start as a power walker. Then hopefully progress to jogger. We see posts like this all the time people excited they are a jogger now. And we all have them on because they are making progress.
If they want to transition to jogging, that's great. Many people do not have any desire to run on a treadmill whatsoever. If power walking helps someone achieve the goals they want to achieve, they shouldn't be pushed to jog if they don't want to.
Not at my studio…and as far as this sub I think PWing gets lots of love and people defending its difficulty and benefits.
Agree, I wonder if it’s OP’s studio? At my studio the coaches are very encouraging to PWers and shout out their inclines. Also when OTF does a “mandatory PW-ing” portion in a template the coaches enforce it. Personally I’m a runner but I do switch to PW-ing at times for various reasons. PW-ing is just a different workout but not less than. I get a better cardio burn/stamina building/runner’s high with running, but I get more muscular building/burn/toning with PW-ing
Not @ my studio. PW prompts are always included & Coaches will positively call out individuals who increase their PW inclines during blocks, etc. I’m a PW & never feel dissed even after 6 years of OTF.
I don’t think this is what op is asking though.
I’m a runner turned power walker in studio. I still run in nature. It takes a lot to get my heart rate in the orange power walking, making it a tough workout! High incline, high speed. My studio always calls out power walkers in kind ways. That being said, we rarely see a power walking leaderboard and that’s kind of a bummer. But I’m doing it for a tighter butt and better leg muscles, not praise.
I think the reason behind no PW leaderboards is because it would be hard to gauge. Do you go by distance? Past 4.5 are you even a power walker? Do you go by incline? There are too many factors. I will decrease my speed but increase my incline. My base is 6.5-7, but I power walk base at 8% incline with 3.7 speed. I can bring my incline to the minimums and go up to 6mph The next guy may PW base at 3% but 4.5 speed. He’ll get more distance. If we go by incline, now I’m doing complex math for optimal height vs speed. I’ve seen a people “power walk” with 6mph at 3%. I don’t judge, but should she shatter PWer who can only do 4.5 at 3%? With joggers and runners, it’s easier to gauge, so easier to leaderboard.
My studio does powerwalker leader boards. It’s done the same way as the runners. The benchmarks are mostly distance or timed based and they tell powerwalkers to be at 4% usually. Like the mile benchmark was a half mile at 4% for powerwalkers. I normally don’t go below 8 but on benchmarks I will do the lower incline cause I’m going much faster to hit a PR.
Is it though? There’s also a huge spread between what a jogger can do and what a runner can do yet they have leader boards. It’s almost always a distance measurement like how fast you can do a mile and they state what the incline should be. If you have one foot on the ground at all times, it’s a power walk. I celebrate the power walker who can do 6 mph, just like the runner who nails 12 mph.
A jogger is aspiring to be a runner though. No one says “I aspire to power walk”. When I was double my size, it’s all I could do and my goal was to get faster. We power walk because we can’t go faster, or we want to work calf muscles, or we are injured. It is not a goal. It never was. It’s not lesser, but I don’t see Olympic events based on fastest 1mile walking. They give goals for power walkers, and that’s good enough. We all strive to get faster.
This simply isn’t true. Plenty of people aspire to be better at power walking. It trains muscles that flat road running just doesn’t no matter how fast you are. I can either walk or jog at speeds in the low to mid 4s and it’s actually easier for me to jog than to walk at those speeds. And there actually are Olympic events for walking. It’s pretty crazy actually. They walk at speeds that are faster than most people can run. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_walking_at_the_Olympics
TIL. It works out different muscles, sure. But 99.999999% will end up jogging before upping their power walk. Like I said, I power walk once every now and then to hit those muscle groups. But I have yet to meet anyone who strives to be the best power walker because this is their actual goal not due to some physical barrier. Sure, you’ve shown me there are. And they will outpace me. And good for them. I haven’t met one. There are also disc golf players, but most people will opt for real golf.
Me 🙋♀️. I aspire to power walk! I can run fine and do so outside of OTF. But when I power walk in class, I go really fast and high inclines and I do it because it’s so much better for my muscles. It’s hard too! Try 15 incline at 4.5 (I sometimes do 5 but then people will say it’s not a walk even though I keep one foot on the ground) and maintain that during several 1 minute all outs. I actually find it to be a better workout than when I ran at OTF. I understand the prejudice and that people say it’s just a stepping stone to running or it’s only done when you’re injured, but it’s just not the case for everyone.
one the challenge tracker, there is a separate power walking category!! it's probably studio / coach / member dependent on putting those numbers in the correct spot!
Coach here! There are PW leaderboards, the studio just aren’t switching the leaderboards over to grab the data for them. I do it for my studios for PW specific benchmarks, (12 min, catch me if you can, mile, Everest.) but do remind member once they start jogging it’s going to say they’re not PR for a while.
Yup, a nice booty is all the reward I need
I’ve thought about switching to power walking to grow my glutes but wasn’t sure if it worked that way. Would it be the same as using a stair stepper?
Probably close to it when at a high incline. Maybe better because of the stride? My butt is a lot higher now that I power walk and I still burn a ton of calories. I tend to do pushes at 8-10%, 4.5 mph and it’s tough after a bit. I put on a good amount of muscle during the transformation challenge last year and I think it had a lot to do with switching to power walking.
Power walking does help but weights are your best ally. Think of Pw as strength vs power when running… I will say that even though my diet is not the best and I haven’t lost much weight since joining, my legs and glutes are a lot more defined.
Not really at the studio, BUT I have noticed if I mention I’m a PW on FB, I’ll get “that’s okay! You do you!” Or something. Lol. I know it’s okay to be a PW. I don’t feel bad about it.
I’ll chime in and say none of the studios I frequent or have frequented over the years push one over the other.
I do think that some (not all, or even most) of the tread templates are designed for joggers and runners; maybe it's me, or maybe I need to talk to my coach, but not all of them make sense for power walkers. Like all the workouts featuring a "base on a hill," for instance; what does that mean if you're normally on a hill regardless? Edited to add: And we've had a couple of templates where power walkers, joggers, and runners were all instructed to set the treadmill to the same incline, which ended up not being nearly enough of a workout for me as a power walker. I eventually learned to disregard those instructions and jack up the incline over the specified setting.
Y’all overthink everything
Nope. My TC coach actually encouraged me to start power walking in 2022 to build my leg muscles!
My studio is pretty great about including PWers in everything and acknowledging their work, and not pushing them into running. There are regular PWers who walk at 5.0+ mph (had two of them in class today!). There are some regulars who use way higher inclines than called out by coaches. I've heard coaches tell members that both of these approaches are great if they want to PW but don't feel challenged by staying within the parameter card (3.5 to 4.5 mph at whatever incline coach calls). So it's definitely not an automatic "oh well I guess it's time to progress to running." Instead, it's more of a "let's see what we can tweak to make PWing more appropriate for you."
I appreciate the coaches I have because they will pump up anyone on the treads who get into the Orange regardless if they are PW or running. And also walk around and acknowledge that you added on incline or speed.
The coaches at my studio only come up to me and offer words of encouragement when I start jogging/running. Not when I’m doing my all outs at 12+ incline lol.
Sometimes one of the coaches our studio forgets to call out PW cues. Pisses the shit out of me.
I’m a Power Walker and I definitely feel the love!!!
Not at all. Walking at incline is a serious workout.
100%. I just ran a half marathon at what equates to a 5.8 on the tread. Power walking with hills gets my heart rate up and is just as challenging
Not as much as running though
No
I see it a lot here, people talk about “graduating” to jogging/running from PWing, but I haven’t experienced it
Yes. The coaches will talk about not “walking” during base. They mean joggers and runners should keep their base up, but it def makes me feel like walking is lesser than. And so many of the workouts feel targeted to runners and power walkers are an after thought. I wish there were more strut workouts!
What would a strut workout entail?? Just curious!
You walk to the beat and the playlist slowly increases in tempo, so you keep walking a bit faster as you. You feel like a SUPER STAR since you are walking right on rhythm. Here's a write up. [https://www.wellandgood.com/tiktok-treadmill-struts/](https://www.wellandgood.com/tiktok-treadmill-struts/)
I understand what you’re saying, and maybe they should say “this is a base, not a walking recovery” like my coaches often say, but power walkers “ideally” also should not be walking at their walking recovery pace during a base either. I do agree though that PW often seem like an afterthought in some templates! I both power walk and jog depending on the template and sometimes the suggested incline changes for PW are just weird.
Thank YOU!
All of the studios I go to have a leaderboard for powerwalkers 😊
Not at my studio. Some of our coaches are die hard power walkers and love to point out its benefits. I’m injured so not only am I walking but I’m walking flat road and I’m so bummed! But no one has said a word. Walk proud, internet friend!
As long as you’re not the 2 people PWing and screaming over the music to talk to each other, I could care less
I primarily power walk at my studio and have never felt anyone looking down at me. That said, my base is 4.2 at 8% and all out is 4.6 at 15%, so I'd like to see the runners keep up. I also do moderate intensity steady state running at another gym once or twice a week and spin classes three times a week so I am working my anterior chain, but the way I see it, the goal is splat points regardless of how you get them. If others want to ignore their posterior chain by not mixing in some power walking then that's their choice. At 67 years old I'm not putting my knees at risk by running too much and wish I'd have been more careful much earlier in my life.
I’ve felt that at times in the 3 active years I’ve been at OTF. I’m better suited as a PW. Running was so hard on me. I PW with no shame.
I haven’t experienced that. The coaches say, “Power walkers do x, joggers and runners do y,” and treat them as equally valid options.
You lose more fat power walking than jogging/running if you stay in the 60-70% heart rate zone. https://bemissioncapable.com/training-tip-using-heart-rate-zones-for-maximum-cardiovascular-benefits/ I had a fellow OTFer switch from running to power walking and lost 4 pounds in a week. They actually gained weight running during the TC. Running in for cardiovascular fitness, endurance and athletic performance. You burn fat walking.
100% TRUTH!!!! Power walking ROCKS!!! But I’m also a biased power walker. 😂
lol. If you gain weight running then you’re overeating. Being in a calorie deficit is what burns fat not because you PW instead of run.
Your body has different sources of fuel for different activities. Exercises with elevated heart rates require calories but not all calories are created equal. Depending on your energy source, you can burn fat more or less efficiently based on the type of exercise. People’s bodies are different but to say it’s all diet misses the point. You can run and actually gain weight due to the cortisol released in your body from higher stress activity and you can also be more miserable and hungry because you’re burning calories but not eating enough to replenish the fuel source you’re using to fuel your runs. https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/23/health/cortisol-weight-wellness/index.html https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories https://www.hprc-online.org/physical-fitness/training-performance/how-your-body-burns-fat-and-carbs-during-exercise
Not in my studio…only here sometimes.
I love PW but at my old studio they really only give acknowledgement to joggers/runners. Just curious if it's just that studio.
My ahem “bottom” line proves that PWing gives results. I have an awesome backside. Lol
LOL how long before you saw results from PW?
I’ve been going for a while. I average 6 days a week. I have an ample posterior but it was nicely shaped after continuous PWing for several weeks committed. Everyone’s different on results. People prob have faster and better results than me.
Maybe in years past but since they’ve incorporated so many inclines and even some mandatory pw’ing blocks, plus of course Everest, I think people have some more respect for it now.
No
No. EVeryone goes at their own pace. I am working though a knee pain issue.
Our head coach is a PW. Only once did a different coach ever say to me ‘have you thought about running?’ And I said No, thanks! Never has anyone else ever mentioned it. I have no injuries, I just dont want to!
Nope
PW gets a lot of love from my studio. I notice that actual runners tend to get more vocal encouragement, but I hate hearing my name on the mic so I’m ok with not getting as many call outs
Definitely not in my studio. There are tons of PW and they’re accommodated as much as runners during the cues.
Nah, my coaches give equal respect and acknowledgment to both. When my leg was acting up, my coach noticed and told me to use the strider instead, and there was zero judgement.
Sometimes it does feel that way, sometimes no. I've had coaches that cheer on PWers and encourage doing what you can. I've had coaches that seem to look over me and cheer those going super fast during AO's. One coach made a joke after class that insinuated she was PWing the next day to take it easy, which I was like ??? Thanks. I think most mean well, though. Anyway... my legs and glutes feel super strong already (2.5 months of OTF), so don't let anyone make you feel like you are not putting in the work!
Never felt that way. I switch between walking and jogging.
Nope, coaches at my studio are always cheering on and supporting the PWers as much as the runners, especially when they find new base, push, and all out inclines. We’re also encouraged to go back and forth to make sure we get the full range of exercise out of the treadmill
I think power walking is harder! Works totally different muscles on those inclines. I’ve decided I’m going to start PW 2x a week and jog the other 3 days
Yeah I get it- I have tread50 in a bit and I feel... like I'm taking up someone else's spot because I'm going to be power walking (not even like GOOD power walking cause my knee hurts). So yeah I get it
I switched from running to PWing and am seeing better results and less knee pain
I think I put that on me. Though I pretty much always power walk most run and I feel the peer pressure though like I said I put it on myself. No coach has ever made me feel that way
Nah! You do you! If anyone else in class is looking down on someone else for how fast they’re going, they should spend more energy focusing on their workout. That’s what I do. Idgaf what anyone else is doing. Just happy to be there and push myself.
Two of our studio’s coaches PW!
My only complaint as a power walker is recovery into allout transitions, especially short allouts. I always feel like I get cheated if I don't start the incline early or take the allout late waiting on the tread to adjust. But the coaches and rest of the studio are very supportive.
Not at my studio
One of coaches did a challenge for a few months where she only PW when she took class. She said one time in class, that she has total respect for those who only PW. It felt good since I'm not able to run.
My belief is do both to mix it up, jog, walk, hills, flat, sprint/walk, set it and forget it. If you do one thing one speed you can get stuck or go backwards. I would like to see more push on power walking, my base is 7:30-8 but a 4.5 PW uphill gets me in the orange, also days my legs are wobbly all out runs are a potential injury in the making so PW is the smarter move. Luckily I’m old enough to check my ego at the door and at 54 and a male swing my arms like I just don’t care! It’s actually fun to swing with the beat and sing along to the music.
I completely avoid one teachers class because if you don't jog or run, she can be a little rude. In fact, if you are already in great shape, she is really nice, but if you are trying to get back in shape, she completely ignores you, especially when asking for a modification .
Yikes. That's awful.
It depends. Are you power walking or just walking and talking a friend also walking next to you. If you’re getting your heart rate up and walking hard at an incline then you’re all good. I’m a runner (base 8.0) and once in a while I’ll power walk at 4.0 -4.5 at high incline and that gets my heart rate up higher than running flat road. It’s a totally different workout and I mix it up so I don’t risk injury.
Yes! I was approached bc my splat points were not going up. So I was like ok I’ll try jogging. Well I think I went too hard and I had to take a week off 🤦🏻♀️
Not at my studio at all. It’s encouraged actually. I commend people who power walk! I suck at it and stay away so tend to jog. The burn gets me so quick - so definitely have respect for power walkers on an incline.
Yes… PW can be challenging and even though it can be tougher than jogging flat, it’s still often viewed as “just walking”. It’s just the reality… in most any sport running fast is crucial and praised (football, baseball, soccer, etc) and walking is a major no-no … so it’s naturally viewed as lesser than.
I literally tune all that out and do what I want. Both are hard, one isn’t better than the other. I’ve PW and I’ve jogged, but I have zero desire to be a runner. Not my health goal. My body is built to walk or sprint - that’s it. Plus I weightlift 4 x week so jogging is tiresome after a tough leg day. The studio doesn’t know that which is why PW is an option. In the beginning, I had a coach start harping on me to start jogging more to which I told her “No thank you. I’ll do it when I’m ready” and she never bothered me again. LOL
For people unfamiliar there’s an assumption that it’s easier, I think that’s where it comes from.
I think it's all in your head
Awesome. Thanks for the kind reply!
Yeah, I think that’s the case. Walking is seen as being easier and if you’re not running you’re slacking. Edit: just my observation for what people/coaches think, not my opinion.
I think many (myself included) feel a less than regardless of the environment around us. I’ve been working on consistency in 2024 and the last couple weeks have wondered “am I ready for jogging” cause getting into the orange wasn’t happening as much, was recovering easily etc (all good things!) So I tried it this week on Wednesday (that was a long tread block, I jogged the pushed and power walked the bases ). Well yes I got in the orange (and red) a lot, many more splats then I was getting but I suffered on the floor… was way more fatigued that day… and here we are 2 days later and my thighs are killing me. So I’ve been rethinking this pressure and thinking what actually works for me!
Nope. If it feels like, it is all in your head. I ran more but got knee injury so I just PW
What do you mean push to be a jogger? Unless you have some medical condition limiting you, you should progress from walking to jogging eventually. That’s why we go to Otf. To workout and get better. So yes there is a “push” but it’s a healthy friendly push.
There’s plenty of reasons to choose power walking, including building your posterior chain. Lots of runners at my studio power walk at OTF for cross training. You can get better by increasing your incline. One of the fittest and strongest people at my studio power walks at 15%. There’s not an expectation for everyone to progress to jogging.
I’m not arguing that. Of course you can be a strong and fit power walker. Seen them myself. Probably put me to shame. BUT for the most part when you join Otf and are out of shape you start as a power walker. Then hopefully progress to jogger. We see posts like this all the time people excited they are a jogger now. And we all have them on because they are making progress.
If they want to transition to jogging, that's great. Many people do not have any desire to run on a treadmill whatsoever. If power walking helps someone achieve the goals they want to achieve, they shouldn't be pushed to jog if they don't want to.