Every January, millions of people sign up for a gym membership with the best of intentions. By February, many of those memberships are quietly sitting unused. Not from a lack of motivation, but because consistently fitting the gym into a weekly routine requires planning: a commute, a bag, a schedule, and the willingness to still go after a long day at work or when the alarm goes off early on a Saturday. The friction wins.

Photographer Chase Jarvis has a saying: “The best camera is the one that’s with you.” His point is simple, a $5,000 camera sitting at home takes worse photos than the phone in your pocket. The most advanced equipment in the world is useless if it’s not accessible when the moment arrives. Consistency beats perfection. Availability beats capability.

I’ve been thinking about that principle in the context of exercise. We live in an era of incredible fitness options, including boutique studios, personal trainers, high-tech home gyms, tracking devices, structured workout programs. And yet chronic disease rates tied to physical inactivity continue to climb. The problem isn’t access to sophisticated fitness options. It’s that the best workout, like the best camera, is the one you’ll actually do. Consistently. Without friction. For the rest of your life.

That workout already exists. You’ve been doing it since you were about a year old.

I’m not anti-gym. Full disclosure, I have a gym membership. Because of this, I know the challenges of adding it to the day, and the reasons to ‘just skip the gym today’. That’s not a character flaw. That’s friction. And friction, compounded over months and years, is exactly what this issue is about.

I have personally found that intentionally adding steps into my daily routine takes much less planning and friction than going to the gym. Parking a little further from the office, taking the stairs, and taking a walk on breaks are just a few ways I have been able to incorporate more walking into my day that doesn’t require me to reconstruct my whole schedule.

Walking is so ordinary that we don’t think of it as exercise. We think of it as what you do to get to your car. But the research tells a different story, one that should make even dedicated gym-goers reconsider what’s actually driving their long-term health outcomes.

Before we get to the numbers, it’s worth knowing where the most famous one came from. The 10,000 steps goal wasn’t derived from a research study. Interestingly, it came from a Japanese marketing campaign for a pedometer launched ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The number stuck — and the fitness industry ran with it for sixty years. The actual science tells a more nuanced and, honestly, more encouraging story.

A 2025 systematic review published in The Lancet Public Health found that 7,000 steps per day is associated with clinically meaningful improvements in health outcomes, and that benefits begin accumulating well below that threshold. The message from the research isn’t “hit 10,000 or it doesn’t count.” It’s that more steps than you’re currently taking matters, and the returns start almost immediately. That’s a very different standard, and a far more achievable one.

The research makes a compelling case across the board. Studies published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that reaching 7,000–10,000 steps per day is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some forms of cancer. A 2024 study found that each additional 1,000 steps per day is associated with a 2% reduction in diabetes risk — and those with pre-diabetes who reached higher daily step counts had a 26% lower risk of developing full diabetes compared to those taking only 3,400 steps. Studies have also linked regular walking to reduced dementia risk, improved mental health, lower anxiety and depression scores, and better weight management.

None of this requires a gym membership, a trainer, or special equipment. It requires putting one foot in front of the other, which brings us back to Chase Jarvis and the best camera. For some, the gym can be a great supplement to walking, Chase undoubtedly has state of the art camera equipment. But a consistent regimen of walking will lead to lasting change.

This doesn’t mean formal exercise isn’t valuable — it absolutely is. Strength training, Zone 2 cardio, mobility work all have their place. But for the majority of Americans who are sedentary and looking for a starting point, walking is the evidence-backed answer that requires the least friction and delivers the most consistent results. It’s the camera that’s always with you.

Three questions worth sitting with this week:

Three things worth your time this week:

📚  Read

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia — the most rigorous and readable book on longevity available. Attia’s Zone 2 cardio framework — low-intensity sustained movement as the foundation of long-term health — is directly relevant here. Brisk walking qualifies as Zone 2 for most people. The activity you’ve been dismissing as ‘not a real workout’ may be the most important one you take.

🧠  Concept worth knowing

Zone 2 cardio — low-intensity exercise sustained for 20+ minutes at a conversational pace. Research shows it builds mitochondrial efficiency, improves metabolic health, and forms the aerobic base that supports all other physical activity. For most untrained or moderately active adults, a brisk walk is Zone 2. You don’t need a heart rate monitor or a coach — if you can hold a conversation but feel slightly breathless, you’re there.

📊  Stat worth sharing

NEAT — Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. The energy your body burns through all the movement that isn’t structured exercise — walking to your car, taking the stairs, pacing during a phone call, doing household chores. Research from the Mayo Clinic found that NEAT can vary by up to 2,000 calories per day between people of similar size. That gap explains a lot about why two people who “don’t exercise” can have dramatically different health outcomes. Every delivery you skip, every flight of stairs you take, every parking spot farther from the door — it all counts.

Zoom out. See what’s possible.

— Chuck

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SOURCES

NEAT and calorie variance — Mayo Clinic / Dr. James Levine research; Harvard Health: health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/use-the-neat-factor-nonexercise-activity-thermogenesis-to-burn-calories
Daily steps and health outcomes — The Lancet Public Health (2025): thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(25)00164-1/fulltext
Walking and steps — JAMA / British Journal of Sports Medicine: kumc.edu/about/news/news-archive/jama-study-ten-thousand-steps.html
Walking and diabetes prevention: journals.viamedica.pl/clinical_diabetology/article/view/101566
Walking as CVD prevention — CDC: cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2019/18_0690.htm
10,000 steps marketing origin: inc.com/jessica-stillman/health-exercise-fitness-walking-study.html
Outlive by Peter Attia: amazon.com/Outlive-Longevity-Peter-Attia-MD/dp/0593236599