ACCORDING TO A RECENT BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL ARTICLE, walking inefficiently for just a few minutes daily may help you achieve your physical activity goals. Walk Inefficiently to health
I should have titled this piece “Walk Teabag Style to Gain Health,” but that might have been a bit over the top. Or perhaps not, as the title of the article, we’ll review today is “Quantifying the Benefits of Inefficient Walking: Monty Python Inspired Laboratory Based Experimental Study.”
Let’s look at the Monty Python “silly walk:”
You now have some context for our topic today, the inefficient walking styles of Mr. Teabag and Mr. Putey (acted by John Cleese and Michael Palin) in the 1971 Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks sketch.
Walking inefficiently style
We begin with this weird research thought: Mr. Teabag’s and Mr. Putey’s inefficient walking styles are more variable than typical walking, but their energy expenditure has never been measured.
Until now. Enter researchers from Arizona State University, Kansas State University, and the University of Virginia (all in the USA) to answer a question you never had.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ministry_of_Silly_Walks
The researchers compared the energy expenditure of low-efficiency with high-efficiency walking. For this small study, they analyzed 13 healthy adults, including six women and seven men. The participants ranged in age from 22 to 71 and had no cardiorespiratory or known gait problems.
The subjects had height and body weight measurements. The researchers then showed each participant a video of the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch before performing three walking trials (each for five minutes) around an indoor 30-meter course.
For the first trial, each subject walked their typical way at a self-chosen pace. For the next two trials, researchers asked the participants to recreate (as much as possible) Mr. Teabag and Mr. Putey walking that they had seen in the video recording.
The researchers used the distance covered during the five-minute walks to calculate the average speed. They also measured participants’ oxygen uptake, energy expenditure, and exercise intensity — the number of calories expended per minute of physical activity. Here are the study results:
Only the Mr. Teabag walk resulted in a greater expenditure of energy — about 2.5 times that of typical walking. Exchanging just one minute of the typical walking style with one minute of Mr. Teabag walking appeared linked to higher energy use (eight kcal/min for men and five kcal/min for women).
It sounds unreal, but the researchers assert that adults could achieve 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week by walking in Teabag style — rather than their usual style — for about 11 minutes each day.
Moreover, substituting the usual style of stepping with the Mr. Teabag approach of 12 to 19 minutes daily would increase energy expenditure by approximately 100 kcal.
Walking inefficiently to health — My take
First, I need to check my calendar, as I need to make sure that it is not April 1st. Second, the study sample is remarkably small. In addition, the approach seems foolhardy for someone with a gait disorder or other disability, joint disease, or other conditions that interfere with the ability to perform the Teabag walk.
The study reminds us of the joys of Monty Python. More relevant to health is the observation that bursts of physical activity as short as a minute or two can, over time, be associated with potential cardiovascular benefits.
If you try this particular form of inefficient walking, please let all of us know. With video, please (and joy).
The information I provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you seek medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. I am not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information in this blog.
Thank you for joining me in this look at how you can walk inefficiently to health.
