Walking is the most under-rated form of exercise and the easiest to do in a way that produces very little. Almost all of the difference comes down to intensity and consistency.

The two that matter most

Walking the same flat route at the same pace every day stops producing adaptation within weeks. Adding gradient, or intervals of faster walking, restores it immediately.

The second is counting the walk as licence. A brisk hour is roughly three hundred calories, which a single post-walk pastry cancels precisely.

The remaining eight are posture and footwear details that mostly affect whether you keep doing it, which is, in the end, the only variable that matters.