@becsbuddy I didn’t manage to walk yesterday but I plan to today. Yesterday I rode my recumbent bike for 8 miles, easier on my legs due to no impact, and some balance exercises.
This got me thinking about whether other exercises are equivalent to “10,000 steps” so I did some googling. 10,000 steps is definitely beneficial but that number was actually a Japanese marketing tool!
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/05/10000-steps-rule/590785/
This all being said, I believe that other exercises are just as beneficial, particularly if your walking does not raise your BPM making walking definite cardio. There are a number of tools online if you google to determine the BPM you should be looking to achieve.
This is one, but there others that I like more but couldn’t find them!.
https://healthiack.com/heart-rate-zone-calculator.
Here’s another, but still not the one I’ve used in the past. Gender should be part of the equation.
https://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/heartrate
I got this from my daughter-in-law who under normal circumstances is a nurse working with stress testing.
“220- your age is max predicted HR. We try to get our patients to 85% of that during our stress test.”,
So from what I have read between 70% and 85% is a good BPM to strive for. I rarely get to that 85% number. The only time I can is on the elliptical.
Bottom line, it seems as if other exercise that raises your heart rate is just as good as walking, plus strength training and exercises for balance are very important.
JK