“TL;DR: Exercise, particularly walking, combined with healthy eating, plays a vital role in preventing and reducing cellulite. Walking burns calories during activity and boosts metabolism, increasing calorie burn even at rest. However, dieting is more effective for calorie reduction, while exercise provides essential mechanical stimulation to fibroblasts, adipocytes, and blood and lymphatic vessels. This stimulation, derived from the vibrations of walking, promotes fat release, collagen and elastin production, and efficient circulation, leading to improved skin tone, reduced fat, and less cellulite. Healthy eating supplies nutrients like proteins and polyphenols to support skin and vessel health while limiting fat, sugar, and alcohol to keep fat cells less full. Walking’s benefits are enhanced by duration, speed, incline, or interval methods. Interval walking, often called “Japanese walking,” alternates three minutes of brisk walking with three minutes of slower walking for at least 30 minutes, four times weekly. Uphill interval walking, dubbed “Greek walking,” is even more effective, involving fast uphill walks followed by slower descents. Studies show interval walking significantly improves leg strength and aerobic fitness, particularly in older adults. Compared to static exercises like yoga, movement-based activities like walking are superior for cellulite prevention. For mild or recent cellulite, walking and healthy eating can eliminate it entirely. Severe or long-standing cellulite may require advanced treatments like high-power radiofrequency or ultrasound cavitation, alongside cellulite-specific creams. Regular walking, healthy nutrition, and lifestyle adjustments can prevent cellulite formation for decades, mitigating the impact of age and genetics, promoting firmer, healthier skin.”
Does walking (and especially Japanese walking) help cellulite?
Is walking good for cellulite reduction / prevention?
Walking and mechanical stimulation
How much walking should I do to reduce/prevent cellulite?
Interval walking (aka ‘Japanese walking’) and cellulite
Uphill interval walking (aka ‘Greek walking’): the ultimate anti-cellulite walking training method
If it all sounds too much remember that the most important thing is to have fun and improve your health - not break records
Will I get rid of all my cellulite just by walking - and eating healthily?
Will a lot of walking, in combination with healthy eating, prevent cellulite from forming in the first place?
Effects of high-intensity interval walking training on physical fitness and blood pressure in middle-aged and older people
Interval walking training over 10 years protects against age-associated declines in physical fitness
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Is walking good for cellulite reduction / prevention?
Exercise is essential to prevent and reduce cellulite, even independently of healthy diet. In fact, both healthy nutrition AND exercise are needed to prevent and reduce cellulite.
Exercise, such as walking, does burn calories while you practise it but also increases your metabolic rate, thereby helping you burn even more calories while you rest.
However, it is actually easier and more effective to burn calories by dieting than by exercising. So why do we need exercise, in addition to dieting?
The main reason exercise is needed, in addition to healthy eating, is because it contributes mechanical stimulation to your:
Fibroblasts (collagen and elastin producing cells)
Adipocytes (fat cells)
Blood and lymphatic vessels (whose walls are made of collagen and elastin)
Walking and mechanical stimulation
Mechanical stimulation from exercise derived vibration encourages your:
Fat cells to release fat (lipolysis) or at least not accumulate fat (lipogenesis)
Collagen cells to synthesise collagen, elastin and other skin proteins
Blood/lymphatic vessels to stay toned and efficient
The end result is better skin tone, better circulation and less fat: all in all, less cellulite, more firmness, more health.
Healthy eating is important to contribute the nutrients that keep skin and blood vessels healthy (e.g. protein, polyphenols, carotenoids, vitamins etc), and, if limited in fat, sugar, alcohol and carbs, to keep fat cells relatively empty.
But healthy eating cannot provide mechanical stimulation - only exercise can.
And one of the best exercises to provide mechanical stimulation to your skin, fat and blood vessels is walking. Every time you make a step, some vibration occurs on your tissues, cells get the message via a process called mechanotransduction and this helps keep your skin stay firm and smooth.
How much walking should I do to reduce/prevent cellulite?
Within reason, the more stimulation, the better for your skin:
Walking for longer
Walking faster
Walking uphill
Interval walking (more on that below)
Uphill interval walking (more on that below)
Running, which is the next step up from walking, is even better, but it is not for everyone. Walking, is mild on the joints, more social and more fun for the majority of people.
On the other hand, static exercise types, such as yoga and pilates, good as they may be for other things, they are not nearly as good for the purpose of cellulite prevention and reduction as movement-based types of exercise, such as walking, running and swimming are.
So get some friends or get your headphones and walk - as fast, as long and as high as you can - to keep your skin firm, smooth and healthy.
Interval walking (aka ‘Japanese walking’) and cellulite
Japanese walking is essentially similar to interval walking, which involves alternating between 3 minutes of brisk walking at a higher effort and 3 minutes of slower walking at a lower effort, repeated for at least 30 minutes, ideally 4 times a week.
The higher-effort walking should feel “somewhat challenging,” where speaking is still possible, but carrying on a full conversation would be tough.
The lower-effort walking should feel “easy,” allowing for comfortable talking, though slightly more breathless than a casual chat.
Japanese walking is often compared to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and sometimes called “high-intensity walking,” though it’s less demanding than true HIIT and involves lower intensity levels.
It’s simple to do, requiring just a stopwatch and a place to walk. It demands minimal planning and is less time-intensive than other walking goals, like hitting 10,000 steps daily, making it accessible for most individuals.
Japanese walking was apparently developed a decade ago by “scientists led by Dr. Hiroshi Nose at the Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine in Matsumoto, Japan, started developing walking programs”.
However, there is nothing new to the principle of interval walking, interval running etc - I have been advising clients to perform interval walking, running, swimming, rowing etc for two decades and I am sure other people did so well before me.
Uphill interval walking (aka ‘Greek walking’): the ultimate anti-cellulite walking training method
Japanese walking was found in studies to significantly increase leg muscle strength, aerobic capacity, resting heart rate and other indices in relation to moderate, continuous intensity walking.
For older people (~ 65yo) Japanese walking led to 20% better leg strength and 40% better aerobic fitness than people who did not walk at all after being practised for 10 years all the way to ~75yo. It is an extremely impressive outcome to be 20% and 40% stronger and fitter, respectively at 75 than at 65!
In fact, places like the island of Ikaria in Greece are known for their longevity partially due to the mountainous terrain which forces people to perform Japanese walking for sometimes hours a day throughout their lives. (So the term Greek walking is very apt and might not be that selfish after all!)
Given its higher intensity interval walking would be a far better walking training method than continuous walking.
As an improvement to Japanese walking I would suggest uphill interval walking (which I will selfishly call ‘Greek walking’, from my country of birth), whereby you walk fast for 1-3 minutes uphill and then you slowly walk down to your starting point for however much time it takes to go back down, repeating for 30 minutes - or more if you wish.
Uphill interval walking is less vigorous than uphill interval running or even flat ground interval running but more vigorous than flat ground interval walking and much more vigorous and beneficial than continuous moderate walking or even flat ground fast walking.
So in terms of how efficient - but also how challenging - a training method is, we have:
Uphill interval running: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Flat ground interval running OR Continuous pace, flat ground fast running: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Uphill interval walking OR Continuous pace, flat ground moderate running: 🌟🌟🌟
Flat ground interval walking OR Continuous pace, flat ground fast walking 🌟🌟
Continuous pace, flat ground moderate walking: 🌟
Sinking in the couch and watching tiktok reels about walking: -
Sinking in the couch and watching tiktok reels about baking donuts: --
Sinking in the couch and watching tiktok reels while eating donuts: ---
If it all sounds too much remember that the most important thing is to have fun and improve your health - not break records
Of course, not all people can perform challenging training methods, even walking ones, due to age, low energy levels, joint problems etc.
In those cases ANY exercise is good exercise, even if it lasts 10 minutes and is at low pace - and it is definitely far better than sinking in the couch and endlessly scrolling tiktok or instagram.
With time and practice, and as long as health allows, pace and intensity can increase to what is comfortable and safe for each individual.
No one is trying to break a world record here - it is all about everyone being the best we can personally be safely and without exhausting or stressing ourselves. Exercise should be fun - not a torture or even yet another source of stress in our lives.
Will I get rid of all my cellulite just by walking - and eating healthily?
For recently established and/or mild cellulite, yes, exercise, such as walking (moderate vs fast, short vs long, continuous vs interval, flat vs uphill etc) plus healthy eating can “get rid of” all cellulite.
However, cellulite established over several years and/or progressed cellulite, cannot be eliminated just by exercise (including walking) or healthy eating.
But even severe cellulite can still be reduced to some extent and long / fast / uphill / interval walking is a great way to achieve that.
For further reduction, a good, strong cellulite treatment will be needed, such as deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and high-power ultrasound cavitation, the strongest safe cellulite technologies available today, ideally combined with high-power LED phototherapy, for maximum results.
Furthermore, a real cellulite cream, i.e. one with multiple, high-purity anti-cellulite actives in high concentrations, can help by offering anti-cellulite nutrients directly to the skin.
Will a lot of walking, in combination with healthy eating, prevent cellulite from forming in the first place?
Absolutely.
Lots of exercise (such as walking), healthy nutrition and alcohol/smoking/hormonal contraception avoidance will eliminate 95% of causes of cellulite and will help prevent cellulite formation for decades - and ideally forever.
Age and genetics play an important part in the creation of cellulite but the more we move and the more we eat healthily, the less cellulite, skin ageing and overall whole body ageing will affect us - regardless of genetics.
Effects of high-intensity interval walking training on physical fitness and blood pressure in middle-aged and older people
Research paper link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17605959
Abstract: Objective: To examine whether high-intensity interval walking training increased thigh muscle strength and peak aerobic capacity and reduced blood pressure more than moderate-intensity continuous walking training. Participants and methods: From May 18, 2004, to October 15, 2004 (5-month study period), 60 men and 186 women with a mean +/- SD age of 63 +/- 6 years were randomly divided into 3 groups: no walking training, moderate-intensity continuous walking training, and high-intensity interval walking training. Participants in the moderate-intensity continuous walking training group were instructed to walk at approximately 50% of their peak aerobic capacity for walking, using a pedometer to verify that they took 8000 steps or more per day for 4 or more days per week. Those in the high-intensity interval walking training group, who were monitored by accelerometry, were instructed to repeat 5 or more sets of 3-minute low-intensity walking at 40% of peak aerobic capacity for walking followed by a 3-minute high-intensity walking above 70% of peak aerobic capacity for walking per day for 4 or more days per week. Isometric knee extension and flexion forces, peak aerobic capacity for cycling, and peak aerobic capacity for walking were all measured both before and after training. Results: The targets were met by 9 of 25 men and 37 of 59 women in the no walking training group, by 8 of 16 men and 43 of 59 women in the moderate-intensity continuous walking training group, and by 11 of 19 men and 31 of 68 women in the high-intensity interval walking training group. In the high-intensity interval walking training group, isometric knee extension increased by 13%, isometric knee flexion by 17%, peak aerobic capacity for cycling by 8%, and peak aerobic capacity for walking by 9% (all, P<.001), all of which were significantly greater than the increases observed in the moderate-intensity continuous walking training group (all, P<.01). Moreover, the reduction in resting systolic blood pressure was higher for the high-intensity interval walking training group (P=.01). Conclusion: High-intensity interval walking may protect against age-associated increases in blood pressure and decreases in thigh muscle strength and peak aerobic capacity.
Interval walking training over 10 years protects against age-associated declines in physical fitness
Research paper link: https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.2018.32.1_supplement.588.9
Abstract: Background
Exercise training throughout the lifespan is the most effective strategy to prevent age-associated declines in physical fitness. We assessed the effects of 10-year continuation of interval walking training (IWT) in older people. Methods: One hundred fifty, 30, and 22 men (~68 years) and 333, 112, 85 women (~63 years) started the IWT program in April of 2005, 2006, and 2007, respectively, and thereafter, 36, 13, 7 men and 56, 20, and 16 women had continued the program without intermission until March in 2015, 2016, and 2017, respectively. They were named as the 10-year IWT group while the rest of them as the dropout group. During the periods, we instructed subjects to perform IWT; repeating ≧5 sets of 3-min fast walking at ≧70% of peak aerobic capacity for walking (VO2peak), followed by 3-min slow walking at ~40% VO2peak per day, for ≧4 days/week. We measured VO2peak and isometric knee extension force (FEXT) before they started the program and every 6 months during the IWT. The target intensities for IWT were re-adjusted every 6 month according to the current VO2peak. We confirmed that subjects in the 10-year IWT group accomplished the above target throughout the period. For the control group, we adopted the values for the measurements from 208 men and 554 women before starting the program every year regardless of their continuity of the IWT over the 10 years and averaged them crosssectionally every 2 years of the ages from 67 to 77 years for men and 62 to 72 years for women. For the dropout group, in 2017, we recruited subjects who dropped out on the way of the 10-year IWT to measure the present VO2peak, and 29 men and 97 women agreed to participate in the measurement. Results: We found that in the control group, FEXT decreased linearly along with aging and the decreases were ~30% in men and ~20% in women from the baselines to 10 years later. Similarly, the decreases in VO2peak were ~20% in men and women after 10 years. In contrast, in the 10-year IWT group, FEXT decreased along with the following 9.5 years but maintained the higher level than the control group in men and women (P=0.02 and P<0.001, respectively). Additionally, in the 10-year IWT group, VO2peak increased by ~20% for the first 6 month of the IWT and maintained the level along with the following 9.5 years in men and women. As a result, FEXT and VO2peak in the 10-year IWT group were ≧20% and ≧40% higher than those of age-matched subjects in the control group after 10 years (P=0.04 and P<0.001, respectively). In the dropout group, the profile of VO2peakbefore their dropout was similar to that in the 10-year IWT group, but after the dropout, VO2peak decreased at −1.2±0.4% and −1.0±0.2% per year in men and women, respectively, until 2017, significantly greater decreasing rate than the 10-year IWT group (both, P<0.001), but less than the control group. Conclusions: IWT over 10 years protected against age-associated declines in physical fitness in older people and the effect was partially preserved even if they dropped out on the way.
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