Episode #218: Can You Walk for an Hour? The Test That Determines Your Freedom

On this episode of the The Berman Method Podcast, Dr. Jake Berman and physician assistant Jenni Berman dive into the third essential trait shared by people who thrive well into their 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond: the ability to walk for 60 minutes.

But this conversation goes far beyond just putting one foot in front of the other.

They explore why walking endurance is critical for maintaining independence, traveling, and enjoying meaningful life experiences—like keeping up with your grandkids, navigating airports, or exploring the world in retirement. More importantly, they explain the difference between simply walking and walking well, and how poor mechanics, lack of balance, and inactivity quietly increase your risk of injury and limit your future.

You’ll learn:

• Why being able to walk for an hour is a key predictor of longevity and quality of life
• How balance and flexibility lay the foundation for proper walking
• The surprising reason many older adults lose their walking ability—and how to prevent it
• How to test your walking mechanics with a simple video
• Practical strategies to improve endurance, strength, and confidence
• Why questioning conventional health advice and becoming your own advocate is essential

Dr. Berman and Jenni also connect the dots between movement, lifestyle habits, and long-term independence—empowering listeners to take control of their health today to protect their freedom tomorrow.

If your goal is to age without limitations, travel freely, and live life on your terms, this episode gives you actionable steps to start now.

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Email us - 

drberman@bermanpt.com 

jenni@bermanwellness.com 

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www.bermanpt.com 

www.bermanpt.com/wellness

www.bermangolf.com

Transcript

Why Asking Questions Matters

Speaker 0:00

And we're rolling with the Berman Method Podcast. Dr. Jake Berman here with my beautiful co-host.

Speaker 1 0:07

Jenni Berman, physician assistant.

Speaker 0:09

We are treating problems, not symptoms. We're David going against Goliath. Goliath being the corporate medical system, big pharmaceutical companies, the health insurance companies. They do not have your best interest in mind. They'll choose profits over patient outcomes every single time. And we're doing our best to just shed the light that there is another option. You need to become an asshole. Ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask like our two-year-old, almost three-year-old Vera. I want a cookie, Daddy. No. I want a cookie, Daddy, no. Daddy, can I please have a cookie? No. Daddy, I'm dying. Can I please have a cookie? Okay, fine. Just have the cookie.

Speaker 1 0:48

What was her negotiation at breakfast this weekend? You oh, uh, we had some puffs for Walker while we were waiting to eat breakfast because we went kind of late. And so Veera was having a couple of the puffs, and then Jake told her, No more puffs. And she was like, What? I want another puff. And you said, No more puffs. And she was like, I just want one more puff, Daddy. And you said, nope, we gotta save them for Walker. Walker's hungry. We need to save them for Walker. She goes, I will just have one more, and then Walker will have the rest. Okay, Daddy. And was like so confident about it. Okay, Daddy.

Speaker 2 1:26

Like, that's how it's gonna work.

Speaker 1:28

I'm just going, what just happened?

Speaker 2 1:30

He goes, Did she just negotiate with me?

Speaker 1:33

I'm like, you are gonna be taking our first phone calls for all incoming leads starting Monday.

Speaker 2 1:40

Okay, yes, okay. So she did. She got one more, didn't she?

Speaker 1:44

She did get one more. I'm like, I cannot argue with that. I'm I'm not gonna hold strong on this one. That was that was amazing. Good job, Vera.

Speaker 2 1:52

I'll just have one more and Walker can have the rest.

Speaker 1:55

Yeah, so that's what we want to do. We want you guys to ask questions, question your providers, question your primary, definitely question your primary care, question your surgeons, question your us.

Speaker 1 2:08

Yeah, please. And we enjoy that getting asked questions to make us think about other options, or is there another option, or what is this new thing that is out that people are raving about on Facebook? And you're not questioning your providers as a sense of despite, but to learn more and to be more educated and to challenge them on is this the best treatment plan for you?

Food Has Changed And So Must We

Speaker 2:36

Knowledge is crucial. You have to have knowledge. The world is changing so fast. Just in the past 10 years, I mean, and just think about this. 10 years ago, I thought that gluten sensitivities were a joke. I thought it was a fad. I thought that it was bullshit. I thought that it was just people trying to get attention, it was hipsters just trying to get more attention. Fast forward 10 years to today, it absolutely is true. It's 100% true, and that's what this whole thing has been about. That's what completely changed our lives. And one of the hard parts that we have is we we work with the primarily aging demographics, right? So primarily seniors, so primarily 65, 75, 85, even some people in their 90s, and a lot of people struggle to understand what gluten sensitivity means? What does dairy mean? I mean, I've been fine my whole entire life. Why, why does it matter now?

Speaker 1 3:41

That's what we hear the most is I've eaten this way my whole life or I've done this my whole life. Like I'm not gonna change my diet at 80. But then once they start realizing some of the benefits behind it and the fact that we're increasing longevity, it's a game changer. And then they never turn back.

Speaker 4:00

The thing that everybody has to realize is that the food has changed. And it all happened back in the 80s when I mean we don't have to go down this rabbit hole, but it's when the sugar industry started pumping massive, massive amounts of money into the government. And it's like fast forward to today, look at our our freaking food pyramid.

Speaker 1 4:24

Right, right.

Speaker 4:24

Are you kidding me?

Speaker 1 4:26

Yeah. And it's true, the the way the food has changed, the how it's processed and the modifications being made and the additives being added to be able to mass produce and to feed more people and to extend the shelves, shelf lives, and to decrease how expensive it is to make these products since they're having to make more of it. It has really changed how food is developed.

The Longevity Basics: Balance And Flexibility

Speaker 4:54

And that's how we come back to becoming an asshole. You have to ask questions. You cannot just take it for what it is on a surface level because it's very rarely ever true. So you have to ask questions. I think that's a very good segue into our next green light special or blue light special, which is we're on this subject of what are the things that people who are thriving in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s, what do they have in common that other people who are not thriving don't?

Speaker 1 5:30

Right. Right. And we've talked a lot about we're still on the physical component of this. We're gonna do physical and more nutrition wellness side, but right now we've been on the physical journey the last several weeks of this podcast. So if you haven't listened, please go back and listen to those prior episodes.

unknown 5:48

Yeah.

Speaker 5:48

So we started out with number one, which is being able to stand on one leg for 60 seconds, which is ideal. It's essentially just saying, how good is your balance? Because balance is most highly correlated with maintaining a high quality life as you age. Then the second one we did was flexibility. So being able to stand straight up with straight knees, bend over, and touch your toes. Right. It's just a general assessment of your overall flexibility of your neural dural system. And it's a it's just one of those things where so many people say, I've never been able to touch my toes.

Speaker 3 6:24

Right.

Speaker 6:25

Okay. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to. Correct. Just because you've never been able to doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to. Right.

Speaker 1 6:33

And doesn't mean that you can't.

Speaker 6:35

Exactly. And the reality is you are at higher risk for injury if you can't. Right. So do you want to just be ignorant or use an excuse and say, well, I can't touch my toes. I've never touched my toes. Even though you know I'm sitting here telling you you are at a higher risk of injury than somebody that can touch their toes.

Speaker 1 6:56

Right. Right. The save your life stretch. Don't forget it.

Speaker 6:59

Yeah. And now number three. Number three is a a fun one because so many people think they can do it and they actually can't.

Speaker 3 7:08

Kind of like balancing.

Walking For One Hour Without Fear

Speaker 7:09

Yeah, kind of like balancing. Being able to walk for an hour.

Speaker 1 7:14

One hour, 60 minutes. Yeah.

Speaker 7:16

And everybody usually thinks right out of the gate, well, can I get on a treadmill and walk for an hour? It's like, oh that's kind of freaking boring. Like that sucks.

Speaker 1 7:25

Right.

Speaker 7:26

But think about it like this traveling.

Speaker 1 7:29

Right. Through the airports.

Speaker 7:31

Airports.

Speaker 1 7:32

Yes.

Speaker 7:35

Or your kids.

Speaker 1 7:36

Yeah.

Speaker 7:37

Being able to walk for an hour with no restriction.

Speaker 1 7:39

Going to a football game.

Speaker 7:41

Going to a football game is a big one.

Speaker 1 7:43

Yeah.

Speaker 7:44

I think the biggest one is travel. Most people, when they retire, want to travel. Most people do. Most people who don't travel use the excuse of traveling.

Speaker 1 8:00

Flying, airport.

Speaker 8:02

As an excuse. But reality is it's because they can't walk.

Speaker 1 8:06

Right. Right. Yeah. They, you know. Traveling in an airport with or without kids is work. And I said this this year, we went on a trip, just you and I, we went to a mastermind meeting, uh, and just you and I with our bags, and there was one airport that we were in, and we were walking from you had to walk from the plane to the baggage claim, baggage claim out to the Uber. And I said to you, I actually verbalized, I don't know how people who can't carry a bag could go on this trip. Like it was a very long walk with our bags, and it was like got to a point where it was tiring for us. We were like, oh my gosh, how much longer do we have to walk? But if you can't walk 60 minutes, there's no way you would have been able to do that 25-minute walk with a bag.

Speaker 8:57

You're not doing it. It's not happening. And if it doesn't happen, then you're not gonna do it. Right. I'm not gonna go on that trip because I'm concerned, I'm fearful, I'm nervous, I'm embarrassed that I wouldn't be able to make it through the airport. I mean, just think about that for a minute. What the hell's the point of retiring if you can't do something with your time?

Speaker 1 9:18

Right. If you're being limited by what you can do because you can't walk.

Speaker 9:23

Exactly. So we travel a lot. You and I travel a lot. We're in airports a lot. I think one time we should like count it up and see how many airports, how many times, how many planes are we on throughout throughout a year? It's a lot. So being able to walk is crucial. It's absolutely crucial because if you can't walk, then you can't travel. If you can't travel, then you can't do things bigger than what you have at home, which means that you're kind of institutionalizing yourself in a sense.

Speaker 1 9:54

And even if you don't fly, well, driving's so much different. I mean, sitting in a car for hours and hours and hours is just as hard on your body as walking 60 minutes through an airport with your bag. So if you're not gonna fly and travel, you're probably not gonna drive and travel either.

Speaker 10:10

You're not because it's it's exponentially longer to drive. I mean, just in Nashville, right? If we're flying to Nashville, it takes an hour and a half to fly there by plane, but you have to walk from the garage to the the plane, and then you have to go from the plane to the garage, and there's a lot of a lot of travel.

Speaker 3 10:27

Right.

Speaker 10:28

But if you're gonna drive there, it takes 12 hours. Right. You're not gonna do that either. Right. So let's just go ahead and say you're not going to travel. Yeah.

unknown 10:36

Right.

Speaker 10:36

How many people over the I guess I shouldn't ask you, I should ask myself this. I mean, over the course of a year, how many people come to our office with one goal? I've got to be able to go to Disney with my grandkids when they come down for spring break.

Speaker 3 10:53

Yes.

Speaker 10:54

I've got to be able to walk to the beach and enjoy the beach with my grandkids when they come down on spring break.

Speaker 1 11:03

Right. I need to be able to walk in the sand, balance in the sand.

Speaker 11:07

It's a significant portion of the people that come here on a on a yearly basis. It's like that is a number one goal.

Travel, Airports, And Real-World Demands

Speaker 1 11:14

Yes. And yeah, those things, but also going anywhere with their family. We've had clients say, you know, I'm going to uh Italy and I have to be able to walk on the gravel roads, or I have to be able to walk on the, you know, whatever they call. Not gravel, but the brick. Cobblestone. Cobblestone, yeah. Is that what it is? That's what I was trying to think of. But yeah, be able to walk on those types of roads and long distances.

Speaker 11:41

It'll the whole trip of Italy is walking. Like we've never been, but everybody that goes says, all I do is walk.

Speaker 1 11:47

How much walking it is and all the stairs that they've gone on there. Yeah.

Speaker 11:52

One of my other clients was hilarious. He just bought a house over there. This was a couple of years ago, and he was in the process of buying a house at when he told me this. He goes, Italy's great. It's absolutely amazing. I mean, every everything that you do, you have to walk. And what's even better about it, now he starts to get a little sarcastic. What's even better about it is it's uphill both ways. You have to walk uphill to go to dinner. And somehow, I don't know how it happens, but you have to walk uphill to come back to the hotel. Everything is uphill. So being able to walk. And there's a couple of things that play into your ability to do it. The biggest one is frequency, meaning that how many people don't walk extended periods of time until they have to walk an extended period.

Speaker 3 12:41

Right.

Speaker 12:42

That is the people that you see on the golf carts in the airports. How many it's every single time. Every single airport we go to, we get past at least a handful of times with older people on golf carts where I'm I'm constantly judging everybody. Not in a negative way. It's just what what I do. It's my job as a physical therapist. I'm constantly judging everybody.

Speaker 1 13:07

I shouldn't say you shouldn't say judging. Assessing.

Speaker 13:10

Okay, you say assessing. I'm gonna say judging. Assessing.

Speaker 1 13:15

Especially in the Fort Myers airport where you come off the plane, like onto the what's it called? Um the like walkway to the jet walkway to get on the plane, you know? When you're getting off the plane and the amount of wheelchairs lined up when you're getting off in the Fort Myers airport. It's insane.

Speaker 2 13:33

They just have them lined up the jetway, wait waiting for people to get off so they can get their wheelchairs.

Speaker 13:39

Here's the crazy thing though. I'm it's my job to assess, not judge, right? It's my job to assess your physical ability to move. Thank you for correcting me.

Speaker 3 13:49

Yes, of course.

Speaker 13:50

It's my job to do that, and I can tell you with a 90% confidence level that 90% of the people that are in the wheelchairs that are on the golf carts are there because of disuse.

Speaker 3 14:06

Right.

Speaker 1 14:07

Yeah.

Speaker 14:07

I mean I'm looking, I watched you sit down in that wheelchair, I watched you get out of it, I seen you walk to it.

Speaker 1 14:15

Right. The weaknesses.

Speaker 14:17

Yeah. You're just doing it because you haven't done it. Think about that. You're just doing it because you haven't done it. It's very rare that I see somebody in a wheelchair at the airport or on the golf cart who couldn't physically do it.

Speaker 1 14:35

Right. They could do it if they had practiced it or tried it or just got a frequency of repetitions. Had the confidence to do it. Like if they had been practicing and yeah, done it more often, they would have had more confidence to do it.

Speaker 14:50

Yeah, that's all confidence is repetitions, doing the same thing over and over again. That's what gives you confidence. Right. If you haven't done it, then you don't have confidence that you can do it. Yeah. So being able to walk for an hour is really, really important. And it's one of the things that gets vastly overlooked, especially as you get older, is usually as you get older, your life is very routine. I do this in the morning, I do this in the afternoon, I go to this store, I walk down these aisles, I take a nap. I take a nap. Woo, nice little precursor there. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be that way.

Speaker 1 15:30

Correct. We have to schedule time. We have to be committed to time to spend practicing these things, such as balancing on a leg and one leg and stretching and walking for an hour, adding some weights to your walking, putting some wrist weights on and some ankle weights on so that we can increase some strength associated with the walking.

Speaker 15:53

So what you just described right there is a progression.

Speaker 1 15:56

Yes.

Speaker 15:57

Right? How many people walk? Now I'm going to do the counter side to it. How many people walk every single day for an hour or a mile or three miles or five miles, but they do the same thing every single day.

Speaker 1 16:10

Right. There's no change in what they're doing to increase strength or endurance.

Disuse, Confidence, And Practice

Speaker 16:18

Yeah. So putting on a one-pound ankle weight, if you can walk five miles and you do walk five miles every single day, put a one pound ankle weight on both ankles, not just one. Not just one. And see how far you can walk then.

Speaker 3 16:33

Right. Right.

Speaker 16:34

And then you don't have to do that every single day, but do it every other day or every third day or every fourth day. What it does is it just changes the environment so that your muscles continue to evolve.

Speaker 1 16:46

Right. And to add some more weight bearing there, which is good for our bone density, add some strength. And again, put them on your wrist too. Add a little bit of weight to your wrist and swing your arms, of course, when you're walking with speed. And that way it'll help to gain some upper body strength in the process of walking too.

Speaker 17:04

Exactly. So there's a reason why walking was number three and not number one. Number one was balancing on one leg, number two is general flexibility. Number three is being able to walk for an hour. And the reason why walking is number three versus balancing is number one is because you have to have good balance to walk good.

Speaker 1 17:25

Right. The correct way and fearlessly.

Speaker 17:28

Yeah. You have to have good balance to walk good. Notice I'm saying walking good versus walking. There's a lot of people that can walk who have really bad balance.

Speaker 1 17:39

Right. And they're very poor posture with walking, not activating the right muscles. So it's not actually improving their longevity just because they're doing it.

Speaker 17:48

And that's what you have to be careful with is walking just to walk for walking's sake doesn't necessarily mean that you're getting a return on investment for doing it.

Speaker 3 17:56

Right.

Speaker 17:56

Versus being able to walk good, that's when you start to get a return on investment because walking good insinuates that you're using the right muscles at the right time versus walking not good is controlled falling.

Speaker 1 18:12

Right. Which is going to increase pain.

Speaker 18:15

Increase your risk. Yeah, it's just going to increase your um risk, is all it is. Controlled falling. Here's how you know if you're a controlled faller versus a walker is the first thing that moves, if you're standing still, if the first thing that moves forward is your head, then you're a controlled faller.

Speaker 1 18:40

With walking. So if you're standing still and you go to take a step, if you push your head forward first.

Speaker 18:45

If the first thing that moves is your head, then you're a controlled faller. Most of you listening are gonna say, Well, that's not me. I don't do that. I start walking. Okay. Well, test yourself.

Speaker 1 18:58

Video yourself.

Speaker 18:59

Yeah, video yourself. Have somebody standing right beside you and video you from head to toe. Go from standing still to walking and then go into slow motion and see what moves first. Your head or your belt buckle. What I mean by belt buckle is like your hips. Your hips moving forward first, or is it your head leaning forward to initiate the motion?

Speaker 1 19:27

I should video myself walking.

Speaker 19:30

Yes, you really should, especially after me watching you run last weekend.

Speaker 1 19:34

Hey, you said I did a really great job.

Speaker 19:36

After my constructive feedback. In the first minute. My gosh.

Speaker 1 19:43

Yes. I was not running on my toes initially.

Speaker 19:47

Not your toes. Come on, don't balls on my feet. Neutral.

Speaker 1 19:51

Neutral.

Speaker 19:52

You were heel striking, which is the worst thing you could possibly do with running.

Speaker 1 19:57

In the first like 20 steps, as I was getting acclimated to pushing a double stroller while you were pushing a single stroller.

Speaker 20:05

Yeah, well, you're a runner. I'm not.

Speaker 1 20:08

I'm not. I do not classify myself as a runner. Just an athlete. Just kidding.

Walk Well Versus Controlled Falling

Speaker 20:17

That's good. Okay, so that's your test right there. Is take a video of yourself, put the video in slow motion just to make it even easier. Have somebody standing on the side of you, go from standing to walking forward. And you'll see it. The first thing that moves is going to be your head, your nose leaning forward to start walking. Or is it going to be your pelvis, your belt buckle? Are you leading the way with your belt buckle? We're all guilty of this. And the problem is what you and I are doing right now, which is we're sitting. Everybody sits. In first world countries, we have chairs, we sit. And because we sit, it changes the way that our lower body works. And it just changes what activations that we do. So it puts us more in this forward flex position, which prompts different muscles to walk. Right? So after you prove to yourself that you're leaning forward to initiate your motion, try to do the opposite. Try to start moving with your belt buckle moving forward. Think about your belt buckle initiating the way. And what you'll feel, or what you should start to feel, is your feet will get behind you further. Your feet will stay on the ground longer before they come off to take the next step. So there's two little hints right there for you. One of the one or two simple ways that you know that you're walking better is see if you can keep your feet on the ground longer, meaning that you're moving forward and your feet are staying on the ground longer, which is the same as your feet are getting behind you further.

Speaker 1 22:00

So almost like extending the the gate. Extending your steps.

Speaker 22:07

Yeah.

Speaker 1 22:08

Sure. Okay.

Speaker 22:09

If that helps.

Speaker 1 22:10

Okay. Yeah. I think that's what you're explaining. I was just trying to visualize what you're saying for our listeners. So I think in my understanding, it would be almost like extending the gate pattern, the length of your steps, and keeping that back foot on the ground a little longer to keep your hips opened up and then push off that back leg.

Speaker 22:34

Yes, I love what you're saying right there. So for a visual, this I guess this is only this will only resonate with people that were born in the 80s or later. The Roadrunner, right? The Roadrunner, the commercial or the cartoon, the Roadrunner.

Speaker 3 22:50

Yep.

Speaker 22:50

Beep beep. When the Roadrunner was running, his feet are moving so fast, it's like this circular motion. And that circular motion is always in front of his body as he leans forward. You want to do the opposite. You want to get that circular motion behind the body. Right. That's that extension that's getting your feet behind your body. So do the opposite of what the roadrunner does.

Speaker 1 23:18

Okay. And that's going to help with endurance factor, help making sure we're walking the right way so we can walk without pain, getting our muscles to actually activate and utilizing the right muscles when we're walking. And then this is all coming back to we have to be able to accomplish the first two things that we talked about with the balance and the mobility, the flexibility to be able to then have the strength and endurance to do the walking for 60 minutes.

The Belt Buckle Test And Gait Cues

Speaker 23:47

Exactly. So this is all building on itself on each other. So number one is the found fundamental foundational part. Number two, flexibility, another piece of the foundational thing, so that you can get to number three, which is actually move.

Speaker 1 24:02

Got it.

Speaker 24:03

Good.

Speaker 1 24:03

So walking 60 minutes without pain.

Speaker 24:08

We're not even going to pain yet, because the ultimate goal is to be able to do it. Right? Because some people can walk for an hour, but some things might ache. Some things might hurt, but you're still able to do it. Okay. That's the important part is if you can't even do it, if the pain is so great that you can't even do it, then you're not going to do it.

Speaker 1 24:29

Right. Okay. So then we have to address the why. And where it is, it ain't.

Speaker 24:36

Where it is, it ain't. Wherever you feel the pain is, ain't where the problem is. Oh, my knee hurts. Well, that's not where the problem is. It's your ass.

Speaker 1 24:45

That's the end of the problem, but that's not the start of the problem.

Speaker 24:48

Exactly.

Speaker 1 24:49

Got it.

Speaker 24:49

Where it is, it ain't.

Speaker 1 24:50

Okay.

Speaker 24:51

Good?

Speaker 1 24:52

All right. Anything else?

Speaker 24:53

I think that's good. I think it's really good. I think if people will get that video from the side and see which body part moves first, that will give you crucial, crucial evidence on what you should be doing. Keep your foot on the ground longer so you can feel yourself pushing off more.

Speaker 1 25:11

So everybody listening this week before the next podcast is released should go try to walk for 60 minutes and video yourself walking from the side, not for all 60 minutes, but video yourself starting in a a still position and taking 10 steps.

Speaker 25:28

You don't even need 10 steps. It's the first thing that moves. It's before you even take one step.

Speaker 1 25:33

Got it.

Speaker 25:33

It's what moves first.

Speaker 1 25:36

Okay.

Speaker 25:36

Good.

Speaker 1 25:37

Go do it.

Speaker 25:37

All right. Chow for now.