How fast is "brisk"? Finding your Japanese walking pace
Almost everything Japanese walking promises depends on one thing: the fast phases being genuinely fast for you. In the original Shinshu University research, the group that alternated brisk and slow walking improved their fitness, leg strength and blood pressure. The group that walked at a steady moderate pace, for more total time, barely changed at all. The difference was intensity.
So "how fast should I walk?" is the right question. Here is the honest answer: there is no universal speed. Brisk is defined by effort, not by kilometres per hour. A pace that has a fit 45-year-old chatting comfortably might have a 70-year-old returning to exercise working hard. Both can do Japanese walking properly. They will just be moving at different speeds.
The three ways to check your pace
1. The talk test (works for everyone, needs nothing)
During the brisk 3 minutes you should be able to speak in short sentences, but not hold a relaxed conversation. If you could happily chat about your weekend, speed up. If you cannot get a sentence out, ease off slightly.
During the slow 3 minutes you should be able to talk comfortably. That is the point. The slow phases are recovery, not wasted time.
2. Effort out of 10 (RPE)
The researchers behind the method describe the brisk phase as roughly a 6 or 7 out of 10 effort, and the slow phase as around a 4.
- 6 to 7 out of 10: breathing clearly quicker, you notice your legs, you would rather not answer a long question.
- 4 out of 10: easy movement, breathing settled, you could keep this up all day.
3. Heart rate (if you wear a watch)
In the research, brisk means working at about 70 per cent or more of your peak aerobic capacity, and slow means around 40 per cent. You do not need lab numbers to use this. Two practical checks:
- Your heart rate during brisk phases should be meaningfully higher than during slow phases. If there is a clear gap, typically 15 to 25+ beats per minute for most people, your intervals are real. If both phases sit within a few beats of each other, you are doing one long moderate walk, which the research suggests does far less.
- Across a walk, brisk phases should feel like effort building each round. The fifth brisk phase should take some resolve.
A rough rule of thumb some people use is brisk feeling like around 70 to 80 per cent of your maximum heart rate, but the talk test is more reliable than formulas, especially if you take any medication that affects heart rate.
The mistake nearly everyone makes
Both phases drift toward the middle. The brisk phase softens because brisk is uncomfortable, and the slow phase creeps up because slow feels lazy. After a few weeks you are doing 30 minutes of pleasant moderate walking and wondering why the results have not shown up.
The fix is to make the contrast bigger, not smaller. Exaggerate it. Walk the slow phases slower than feels natural, so you can push the brisk phases properly.
How to verify without guessing
If you use an Apple Watch, you can check the gap directly. A disclosure first: we make Japanese Walking: Step Counter, a free iPhone and Apple Watch app for this method, so we are biased. Its brisk-vs-slow comparison shows your average heart rate and pace in the fast phases against the slow phases, which turns "I think I walked briskly" into a number you can see. Any heart rate app can do a rough version of this if you note the readings yourself mid-walk.
No watch? The talk test genuinely is enough. It is what most participants in the original studies used day to day.
Quick reference
| Phase | Effort /10 | Talking | Feels like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brisk (3 min) | 6 to 7 | Short sentences only | Late for something |
| Slow (3 min) | 4 | Comfortable chat | A stroll with a friend |
If you want this as a printable card to take on your first few walks, there is one on the brisk pace cheat sheet page. And if the full 3 minutes of brisk walking is currently out of reach, that is common and fixable: see what to do when 3 minutes is too hard.
About the app
Japanese Walking: Step Counter is a free iPhone and Apple Watch app made by Red Kite 9, a one-person studio in the UK. The full guided 3x3 walk is free, including the complete Apple Watch app with real-time heart rate, haptic phase cues and voice guidance. No subscription needed for any of that.