Take a look at the walking curve.
You'll notice that the line resembles the letter "U". If you look closer, you'll see the left side of the "U" is a little skewed. Higher than the right side.
Let's begin by taking your finger and putting it on the far left side of the blue dotted line labeled "Slow". Take your finger and trace down. The speed is right around .5 m/s.
Now, move your finger back up to the label "slow " and move left towards the Transport Cost" side. The number corresponds to a 3, reflecting the calories or energy used.
This will begin to make sense once we look at the other labels on the walk curve.
Let's continue our examination by moving towards the right. Look for the label "normal". See it? When you do, start by tracing your finger from the small circle where the label is, and move down again.
The speed corresponds to 1.5 m/s. This makes sense intuitively; this is how you walk most of the time. The speed at which you are consciously using the least effort.
What's interesting is, although you're moving faster, there is something revealing about the energy used.
Repeat the same process we did with the slow walking. Move your finger back up to the circle dubbed "normal" and trace towards the left. Notice the number corresponds to a 2. Compare this to the number for slow walking (3).
Finally, lets continue to slide right towards the label "fast". Here, walking speed is the fastest, at about 2 m/s. But look at the transport cost- The number corresponds to a 2.5.
What does it all mean?
To understand what it means, we have to visualize the movement of walking. We'll rely on biomechanics to help us.
Think of your legs as inverted pendulums. Pendulums that are upside down.
Walking is the most efficient when the energy exchange between swings of the inverted pendulum is maximized. That is, when more energy is transferred than lost.
In slow walking, swings of the pendulum (your legs) are such that more energy is lost, making it less efficient. Thus, requiring more calories /energy to sustain.
Normal walking produces a smoother swing of the inverted pendulum. Making it more efficient for energy to transfer. Therefore requiring less calories / energy.
Fast walking isn't as efficient as normal walking, but more efficient that slow walking.
Make sense?
All of this comes together to tell us: Fast walking burns more calories than normal walking, but slow walking burns more than either of them.
When the speed of walking reaches a certain speed - The body no longer uses an inverted pendulum for movement; but shifts gradually towards something else. That something else is running. This will be covered in my next post.
You'll notice that the line resembles the letter "U". If you look closer, you'll see the left side of the "U" is a little skewed. Higher than the right side.
Let's begin by taking your finger and putting it on the far left side of the blue dotted line labeled "Slow". Take your finger and trace down. The speed is right around .5 m/s.
Now, move your finger back up to the label "slow " and move left towards the Transport Cost" side. The number corresponds to a 3, reflecting the calories or energy used.
This will begin to make sense once we look at the other labels on the walk curve.
Let's continue our examination by moving towards the right. Look for the label "normal". See it? When you do, start by tracing your finger from the small circle where the label is, and move down again.
The speed corresponds to 1.5 m/s. This makes sense intuitively; this is how you walk most of the time. The speed at which you are consciously using the least effort.
What's interesting is, although you're moving faster, there is something revealing about the energy used.
Repeat the same process we did with the slow walking. Move your finger back up to the circle dubbed "normal" and trace towards the left. Notice the number corresponds to a 2. Compare this to the number for slow walking (3).
Finally, lets continue to slide right towards the label "fast". Here, walking speed is the fastest, at about 2 m/s. But look at the transport cost- The number corresponds to a 2.5.
What does it all mean?
To understand what it means, we have to visualize the movement of walking. We'll rely on biomechanics to help us.
Think of your legs as inverted pendulums. Pendulums that are upside down.
Walking is the most efficient when the energy exchange between swings of the inverted pendulum is maximized. That is, when more energy is transferred than lost.
In slow walking, swings of the pendulum (your legs) are such that more energy is lost, making it less efficient. Thus, requiring more calories /energy to sustain.
Normal walking produces a smoother swing of the inverted pendulum. Making it more efficient for energy to transfer. Therefore requiring less calories / energy.
Fast walking isn't as efficient as normal walking, but more efficient that slow walking.
Make sense?
All of this comes together to tell us: Fast walking burns more calories than normal walking, but slow walking burns more than either of them.
When the speed of walking reaches a certain speed - The body no longer uses an inverted pendulum for movement; but shifts gradually towards something else. That something else is running. This will be covered in my next post.
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