5 Ways to Get a Great Workout Without Running

My Not-a-Runner people, I see you! The Unstill Life is NOT all about running. We welcome all manners of movement: walking, skipping, galavanting, traipsing, rolling. Yes, there are plenty among us that do run, so you’ll hear me reference running a lot. But there is plenty you can do as a non-runner to advance your fitness.

People who mostly walk—it’s fantastic for you, AND if you already walk regularly, then walking is not advancing your cardio fitness. You need to introduce exercise that pushes your heart rate and breathing into a new level to get the training adaptations to improve cardio fitness. Running is a simple answer for many, so is cycling, swimming and other sports/activities. You can get a great cardio workout in the Unstill Life Strength & Stamina classes, for example. And there are ways you can boost heart and lung function as a walker.

Before we get into how you can get a great workout without running, let’s look at some reasons why you might be seeking this.

You might just not be a runner YET. You aspire to run, but you aren’t there yet. I applaud you for taking it gradually. More on that in other blog posts.

You might think you can’t run. Some reasons I’ve heard: I’m too big, I’m too old, it hurts my knees. Well, body size, age and joint pain don’t have to keep you from running. It’s entirely possible you might need to go about it differently than you have before. A coach can help 😉 More on that in other blog posts.

You might not be able to handle the impact part of running, but other mechanics are fine.

Impact aside, you might have some other injury that doesn’t do well with running.

And finally, you might have no interest in running, ever. And that’s totally fine.

Given all the above POVs, here are some suggestions for different workouts that might suit non-runners seeking cardio fitness.

Uplevel Your Walking

The first way to boost fitness is simply to play with increasing your pace on and off throughout a walking workout. It helps to explore 3-4 different “gears” with your walking. First gear is a stroll or easy walk. Second gear is a moderate walk. Third gear is a brisk walk, like if you are worried the bus might be coming. Fourth gear is a power walk–they have this in the Olympics. 

After about 5 minutes of easy to moderate pace walk, go into a brisk walk—moving legs faster and pumping your arms—for about 2:00 minutes. Then return to a moderate/easier pace for 3:00. If you’re ready for more, you can flip that and do the harder pace for 3:00, then easier for 2:00. Or you can play with 1:00 hard effort, 1:00 easy. If just getting to brisk walking doesn’t feel that challenging, try pushing into your fourth gear with the power walk. Pump your arms, quicken your pace even more. If you still feel like you need more of a challenge, we move on to the next idea…

Use Your Environment

Your next cardio-without-running workout is going to use your environment, namely in the form of stairs and hills. This requires you to craft a route that includes these things, rather than avoid them. Here in Seattle, people sometimes come to walk along the lake, and that is a very level route. Now, you need to leave that route and head into the neighborhood and seek out those hills and stairs. After about 5 minutes of moderate walk warm up, look for hills and go briskly up them. You can either pause and rest at the top of that hill/block, or you can go back down and repeat that same hill. Same deal with stairs—charge up them!

Add Weight

While I wouldn’t recommend doing a long walk carrying dumbbells, wearing a weighted pack that fits you well is a fantastic way to up your cardio effort. Add to that some hills and stairs and you have a primo workout. Welcome to Rucking! Longevity guru Peter Attia loves this activity. It’s one of his favorite ways to get in steady Zone 2 (endurance) cardio, and build bone density as well as hip and core strength. A great all-in-one workout. Start with 5-10 lbs and increase after that becomes easy. Wrap a dumbbell in a towel and put that in your pack. Go ruck yourself!

Other Cardio

Unstill Life classes introduce members to myriad alternatives to running that will get your heart rate right up. Some of my favorites:

• Skating
• Climbing the Ladder
• Sidekicks
• Tap Downs
• Side Shuffle
• Mountain Climbers, and so, so many more.

Brisk Walk Intervals + Strength Options

In this workout, you will incorporate walk/hill/stair segments with four excellent strength exercises.

First do a 5 minute moderate walk warm up.

Then, 2:00-3:00 brisk walk or a hard effort up a hill followed by 1:00 easy pace walk.

Now you will alternate a strength exercise with the brisk cardio segments.

• 10 Push Ups (on ground or ledge as needed to go low)

2:00-3:00 brisk walk or hard effort uphill/stairs. 1:00 easy walk.

• 10 Bodyweight squats – brisk pace or squat jumps

2:00-3:00 brisk walk or hard effort uphill/stairs. 1:00 easy walk

• 10 Standing Bicycles – hands behind your head, twist to bring elbow and opposite knee together

2:00-3:00 brisk walk or hard effort uphill/stairs. 1:00 easy walk

• 10 alternating lunges

2:00-3:00 brisk walk or hard effort uphill/stairs. 1:00 easy walk

I hope these ideas give you a good start. You can mix and match them to suit your needs. Let your creativity steer you to other ways to explore your environment and get your heart rate up.

I’m glad to meet up and share other ways to move. Let’s talk!

Check out Unstill Life on Heylo, a fitness community app. You’ll see our classes and runs listed, see photos, and chat us up.