If taking walking more seriously was one of your 2024 goals, then you might not necessarily know how far you walk in 20 minutes, how high your heart rate should be for cardio conditioning or how long it takes you to complete a 5,000 step walk.

That’s where a fitness tracker can come in: “I think pedometers or any step counting app in your phone or a fitness tracker can help you to hit initial goals and to learn about how walking to the shops, taking the dog for an extra walk or parking further away from where you need to go can impact your health, heart rate and step count,” Mutrie says.

However, she stresses that once you are in a rhythm of how much movement you and your body needs, it’s important to detach yourself from the numbers on the screen and only check back every so often to ensure that you are on track. “The whole point of walking is that it should be an enjoyable thing you can integrate into your lifestyle until you’re really not thinking too hard about how to do it,” Mutrie adds.

Walking for health: 8 simple ways to boost the health benefits of your daily walk