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The 3-3-3 walking rule

By Damiano Beducci, developer of the Japanese Walking app · Last updated 14 September 2026

Three minutes fast. Three minutes slow. Five times. That's the whole rule — about 30 minutes of walking — and it's the same thing people mean by “3×3 walking”, “3 minutes fast, 3 minutes slow” and the Japanese walking method. Here's what each number means, how fast “fast” is, and a free timer that tells you when to switch.

What the three 3s stand for

• The first 3 — brisk minutes. A pace where speaking in full sentences gets a little hard: roughly 70 % of your effort (an RPE of 6–7 out of 10), or about 125–135 steps a minute for most adults. Not a jog.
• The second 3 — easy minutes. A genuine recovery: a pace you could chat at (RPE 3–4), around 105–115 steps a minute. This is what makes the next brisk block possible.
• The third 3 is the one people argue about. Some say it means three rounds (18 minutes), some say three times a week. The method as it was studied is five rounds, about four days a week — so “3-3-3” is a memorable name, not the exact prescription. Start with three rounds if five is too much; build to five.

Where the rule comes from

It's the popular name for interval walking training, developed by researchers at Shinshu University in Japan. In the five-month trial that made the method famous (Nemoto et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2007), adults in their sixties who alternated brisk and easy walking raised their peak aerobic capacity by about 10 %, increased thigh strength by 13–17 %, and lowered resting systolic blood pressure by about 9 mmHg — while the steady-pace walkers changed little. 95 % of the interval group completed the program. The contrast is the point; the walk never stops feeling like a walk. Full background in the guide to Japanese walking.

How to do it

1. Warm up with a minute or two of easy walking (or use the timer's “start easy” option).
2. Three minutes brisk — lift the pace until talking gets a little hard.
3. Three minutes easy — drop right back to a comfortable pace. Don't half-do the easy block; the recovery is what lets you push again.
4. Repeat the pair five times. Cool down easy.
5. About four days a week. The weekly schedule has a four-week ramp if you're starting from zero.

The only hard part is the clock: glancing at a watch every three minutes pulls you out of the walk. Use the free browser timer (chime and coach voice at every switch) or the Japanese Walking app, which coaches the switches from your pocket, keeps your podcast playing, and shows the current interval on the lock screen. It also works on a treadmill.

Common variations

• 3-3-3 (three rounds) — an 18-minute starter version. Fine for week one.
• 3-3 × 5 — the studied protocol. 30 minutes.
• 2-2 or 4-4 — same idea, different block length. Beginners sometimes start with 2-minute blocks; the timer lets you set 1–5 minutes and 3–10 rounds.
• Start easy — the same five rounds run easy → brisk, so the first block is a warm-up and the walk ends brisk.

Frequently asked questions