How to walk properly (yes, really)

I’ve walked about 20 steps from the private gym where Luke Worthington works with some of his seriously stellar clients (he’s trained Robert Pattinson, Naomi Campbell and Dakota Johnson to name a few). We’re heading towards the park where we are going to take the photos for this feature – and he’s already spotted the issue with my gait.

What is “reciprocal rotation” and why is it so important?

“See how your right foot is turning out towards me?” he says. “That means your right hip isn’t rotating towards the left as you take a step, so you aren’t getting the benefit of the reciprocal rotation.”

I have no idea what this means (I can’t even spell it) and I can’t see the foot thing at first, but then I get it. With every step, my foot turns out to the right a little bit. “Consciously twist your right hip very slightly to the left as you take each step with that leg,” says Worthington. “Not your foot, that should be straight. Your hip.”

I obey (trust me, you would too, Worthington is six-foot-something of physical power, as befits the man one newspaper named “London’s best trainer”). I’m not exaggeratedly turning my foot in to the left, but making a tiny adjustment of the right hip in that direction with each step as I lift my right foot from the ground. 

Immediately I see that my rogue foot is now hitting the ground facing front, parallel to the left one: train-track feet.

“That’s better,” said Worthington. “As your feet strike the ground and they roll forward, they should be the same on both sides and pointing forwards.”

As I take a few more steps I can also feel it, with a mild sensation of difference in my right hip – not a warning pain of injury, but a slight discomfort which feels like it’s doing me good. Feel the burn, not call the chiropractor.

The secret to boosting the health benefits of walking

It seems a tiny adjustment, but making this correction part of your normal walking style so you achieve that “reciprocal rotation” of the hips is – Worthington assures me – the secret to boosting the health benefits of walking to enhance your entire system, physical and emotional.  

“If the hips are reciprocally rotating,” says Worthington, “with each hip turning in a little towards the other leg with every step, the brain will do all it can to keep the head straight, to keep you balanced. 

“The upper torso will then swing the opposite way to counteract the turning of the hip. This helps everything, driving airflow through the full capacity of your lungs.

“This sends oxygen into the lower lungs, creating a better exchange of gases – getting out all the carbon monoxide, which is acidic. If that hangs around, your brain can become acidic, which may lead to teeth grinding, neck tension, migraines and headaches, and even panic attacks.

“Walking correctly gives you proper diaphragm breathing,” explains Worthington, “which many of us don’t do.”

The mistake most people make

So that’s a huge bonus from a very subtle change, and Worthington says most people are missing out on these benefits because of one, or sometimes both, feet turning out when they walk.

“It’s very common,” he says. “Almost everybody will not be reciprocally rotating in some way, and that’s the same goal for all bi-pedal people. The principles are the same for everybody. You want the hip rotating inwards over the stance leg” – that’s the one you are standing on – “and then the torso has to counter rotate the other way.”

How you can self-diagnose your walking issues

Now, I had a guru to analyse my walking issue, but even without such elite help, it is possible to diagnose yourself.

“Observe your foot strike as you walk along,” says Worthington, “and you should be able to see it. Or, if you want to be really fancy, look at your footprint, with a wet foot on a tiled floor. Another telltale thing is to look at your shoes. See if your heels are wearing down unevenly.”

Experimenting at home, I would advise doing this: walk about eight normal steps, watching your own feet. Can you see one or both of them turning out? 

If you spot the flaw, walk the same distance slowly, still watching your feet, but consciously adjusting your hip, or hips, with each step, so your feet hit the ground pointing forwards, symmetrically. Do it again at your normal speed, concentrating on keeping the feet straight and the hips turning in slightly, head up. Can you feel it?

To really understand the difference, try walking along like a duck, or a ballerina, with both feet turned out exaggeratedly and a hand resting on the front of each hip. 

Then compare that to your new, reciprocally rotating style (reci-rota as I call it), with your hands in the same place.

In duck feet mode, your hips are completely rigid as you walk, compared to full reci-rota, where you will feel them roll magnificently. You will feel slinky…

What to do with your arms

Once you’ve got that down – and from then on, try to do it consciously every time you walk so it becomes your default gait – you need to get your arms involved.

“Another important thing is to swing your arms from your shoulders,” says Worthington. “Most people swing their arms from the elbow, so instead do it in an exaggerated way until it settles and becomes a normal habit.”

Trying to keep up my new walking regime in the days after seeing Worthington, I find combining the hip adjustment with the arm swinging make me feel rather super – like I’m changing the guard at Buckingham Palace and about six inches taller. But it only works if I’m carrying a small cross-body bag. With a shoulder bag, I can’t swing both arms.

Surprisingly, this isn’t a bad thing, says Worthington. “The bag will be giving you an external cue to rotate the torso the other way, especially if the bag is on your right hip. It will actually be helping to fold the torso the way it’s harder to fold it. I often give people this as homework because it helps them.”

What are the benefits of walking?

So now I’ve learned how to walk properly, what are the benefits? According to Worthington, they are legion.

“Walking is a form of exercise that’s accessible to all of us lucky enough to have working legs,” he says. “And the recent meta-analysis of all the research has shown a connection between step count and longevity that is beyond just the benefits of associated weight loss. 

“Walking protects against all the main medical causes of mortality: cardiovascular disease, cancer, mental health and dementia.”

How walking protects against dementia

I wonder how it protects against the last of these, specifically?

“Walking outside stimulates ‘optical flow’,” says Worthington. “As you are walking towards an object, say a tree – and not looking at your phone – it will be out of focus, then come into focus, then go out again, with the dynamic flow of movement.

“The eyes are constantly adjusting in a way that stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system.” The PSNS is the network of nerves that relaxes your body and runs life-sustaining processes like digestion. It also lowers your blood pressure and slows heart and breathing rates. The more time we spend in a PSNS state, the healthier we are.

Racking up your steps on a treadmill looking at a console in a gym does not bring that benefit, Worthington explains. In fact, it stimulates the sympathetic nervous system – the fight or flight bit we do need, but that can boost excess cortisol production if overstimulated, which can do serious harm. 

Walking outside with our heads up, looking around us – the way our ancestors used to, before there was an inside (or addictive phones) – also brings other benefits.

“Boosting the PSNS gives you a serotonin hit that stimulates creativity and cognitive thought,” he says, which certainly sits with my own experience. 

Stuck with anything from finishing a tax return to finding the last sentence for an article, if I go out for a walk my head is cleared before I get to the end of my street.

How many steps do you really need to walk each day?

The really great thing is you can reap all these benefits through any kind of walking, and you don’t even have to do the famed 10,000 steps a day. The meta-analysis of many scientific studies showed that 7,500 steps a day is enough. 

Add in your hip moves and your guard’s arm swings and the results will be epic.

Find out more on Luke Worthington’s website, where there is lots to read and videos on hip mechanics; lukeworthington.com