If your regular walking regimen is more like a relaxing stroll than serious exercise, you’ll reap more health benefits if you rev up your routine.

Walking is one of the simplest, most effective exercises you can do. However, for the most payoff in terms of fitness and health perks—such as a reduced risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis, and a productivity and mood boost—don’t go too easy on yourself.

“You’ll get more from your walking workout if you walk faster and farther, and go up and down hills,” says Mark Fenton, author of The Complete Guide to Walking, New and Revised, and a former member and coach of the U.S. National Racewalking Team.

By increasing the intensity of your walking program, you’ll get more accomplished in less time and burn more calories, too.

In fact, according to the U.S. Government’s 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, adults should accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderately intense aerobic activity, such as walking, each week. But if you walk at a vigorously intense level, you’ll need only 75 minutes each week to accomplish the same goals.

With this in mind, Fenton suggests mixing up your walking routine so you walk for 30 minutes two days a week at a leisurely pace, one day a week for 90 minutes to improve your endurance, and two more days a week at a vigorous pace for 30 minutes. Your vigorous walking days, which shouldn’t be done back to back, are especially important because they boost your heart rate, which is the gold standard for aerobic exercise.

How can you push yourself out of your comfort zone? Fenton offers these steps for revving up your walking program.

To Go Faster, Count Steps
To get your heart pounding, walk faster by taking more steps per minute. To gauge your speed, use your watch to count the steps you take, left and right, in one minute. You also can use a pedometer to measure your steps per minute.

“In general, for a person of average height, if you take 120 steps per minute, which translates to roughly 3 mph, you’re at a healthy pace, but it’s not going to build a lot of aerobic fitness,” says Fenton. If you’re at 135 steps per minutes, or 4 mph, you’re walking at a moderate pace; and if you walk 150 steps per minute or more (4.5 mph), you’re at a vigorous pace.

To maintain a quick tempo, check your steps per minute every 15 minutes to see where you’re at, then speed up if you need to.

Use Walking Poles
Besides walking faster, you can intensify your walking routine by using poles. This new style of walking, called Nordic or pole walking, uses specially designed lightweight poles that help incorporate your upper body into your walking program.

Pole walking reduces impact on your ankles, knees, and hips because you’re distributing the load onto the poles, and you’re engaging the muscles in the upper body, which otherwise don’t get much of a workout during walking.

“If you walk at the same speed you normally would, with poles you’ll increase your calorie burn by 20 to 40 percent just from activating your upper-body muscles as you push off the ground with them to propel yourself forward,” says Fenton.

Change the Terrain
Going up and down hills is another effective way to boost your heart rate and increase your calorie expenditure.

“Even walking downhill burns more calories than walking on the level because you’re decelerating yourself and using muscles to control your descent,” says Fenton. “So incorporate a hilly route into your routine, but if you’re new to exercise, don’t work up to steep inclines until you’re in better condition.”

Sandra Gordon spoke with Mark Fenton, a former member and coach of the U.S. National Racewalking Team and author of The Complete Guide to Walking, New and Revised, Lyons Press, 2008, $24.95.

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