Whether it’s to help boost your cardiovascular health, improve energy levels, or reduce stress, there are endless reasons to lace up your sneakers and go for a stroll. But even if you’re already on a walking kick, you could be getting so much more out of every walk with just a few simple tweaks. Taken to the next level, walking can help you build muscle, improve bone density, and torch a bunch of calories.
That’s why we tapped Equinox trainer and certified walking and running coach Elizabeth Corkum (a.k.a. Coach Corky) to design the Women’s Health 4-Week Walking Plan: Burn Fat, Build Muscle.
In this 28-day plan that you can adapt and tweak to fit your schedule, you’ll get three to five science-backed walking workouts per week. Expect to do hills, intervals, and endurance walks—that can all be done on a treadmill (rain or shine!)—to keep your routine fresh and fun. You in?
Get the full Women’s Health 4-Week Walking Plan: Burn Fat, Build Muscle here.
Why You’ll Love This Plan
The 4-Week Walking Plan takes out all the guesswork. With this 28-day program, you’ll get engaging, varied workouts (so that your walks never get boring or repetitive) that maximize your calorie-burning and muscle-building potential.
Interval walks will get you alternating speed to increase your cardio capacity and keep you mentally engaged, while hills will make sure you hit the muscles you’d otherwise miss on flat ground. Resistance workouts—meaning you’ll be strapping on a weighted vest or rucking pack—will up the ante of any walk and give benefits like activating your core and challenging the rest of your muscles just that much more.
The plan gradually builds up from three walks per week to five to help you sustainably build up a habit and challenge your joints and muscles. Plus, we’ve built in rest and recovery days because even the most dedicated walkers need a break.
The best part? By following this program, you’ll learn all the skills you need to keep your walks working for you and your health and fitness goals, well after the plan wraps up.
Workouts in the plan are specifically designed to:
- Burn more calories
- Improve cardiovascular fitness
- Increase bone density
- Help posture
- Boost endurance
Meet your coach: Coach Corky, CPT, is a New York City-based walking and running coach and personal trainer with certifications from USA Track & Field (USTAF) and Road Runners Club of America (RRCA).
What do I get when I sign up?
- The exclusive 4-Week Walking Plan PDF, created by Coach Corky
- 16 science-backed walking routines that incorporate hills, intervals, resistance, and music that range from 30 to 60 minutes
- Access to all WH+ membership benefits, including 450+ streaming workouts, more exclusive fitness plans and challenges, and healthy eating guides and recipes.
4-Week Walking Plan Sample Workout
Total time: 30 minutes
Instructions: Use music as your guide in this walking workout to help vary your paces. Create a playlist using songs of varying beats per minute (fast songs for your “work” period push pace, slower songs for your recovery period pace, and the slowest songs for your warm-up and cooldown). Or, use the sample playlist below.
- 5-minute warm-up on flat ground at a 1 to 3 RPE (or 2 to 3 mph).
- 3 to 4 minutes at a 7 to 8 RPE (or 3.5 to 4.5 mph). This is your work pace.
- 3 to 4 minutes at a 3 to 5 RPE (or 2.5 to 3 mph). This is your recovery pace.
- Continue alternating between your work pace and recovery pace until you’ve completed four work intervals and three recovery intervals.
- 3- to 4-minute cooldown at a 1 to 3 RPE (or 2 to 3 mph).
Move To The Music Playlist
Warm-Up: “….Ready for It?” —Taylor Swift
Work 1: “Get the Party Started” —P!nk
Recovery 1: “Espresso” —Sabrina Carpenter
Work 2: “Holiday” —Green Day
Recovery 2: “YA YA” —Beyoncé
Work 3: “Wasted (Yellow Claw Remix)” —Tiësto
Recovery 3: “Not Like Us” —Kendrick Lamar
Work 4: “Work Bitch” —Britney Spears
Cooldown: “Unstoppable” —Sia
Editor-Approved Walking Gear You’ll Need
Empower Weighted Vest for Women
You’re going to need a weighted vest to do some of these walks—so can we recommend one that’s designed specifically with women in mind? This one from Empower is our fave and even earned a 2025 WH Fitness Award.
The Hoka Mach 6 is also a WH 2025 Fitness Award-winner. These super cushioned shoes will give you a spring in your step as you take on these workouts.
Amazfit Active 2 Smart Watch
Ever since I got the Active 2 from Amazfit, I’ve been hooked (and ditched my other tracking watch that’s more than double the price). The Active 2 is easy to use, syncs with third party apps, and with its heart rate and time features, you’ll have no problem following along with the workouts in this plan.
NordicTrack Commercial 1750 Treadmill
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WH’s top overall treadmill pick is more lightweight than other options, and it can even be folded and rolled away for better storage. Not only is it a lot of bang for your buck, but it’s got all the features you need to change incline and speed with ease.
Join WH+ today for unlimited access to our exclusive fitness and nutrition guides.
Olivia Luppino is an editorial assistant at Women’s Health. She spends most of her time interviewing expert sources about the latest fitness trends, nutrition tips, and practical advice for living a healthier life. Olivia previously wrote for New York Magazine’s The Cut, PS (formerly POPSUGAR), and Salon, where she also did on-camera interviews with celebrity guests. She’s currently training for her first half marathon, inspired by her many colleagues at WH who have run one.
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