Walking is one of the simplest and most accessible things you can do for your health. It costs nothing, requires no equipment and is something most of us can realistically continue for decades. So if you walk regularly — keep walking. But as you move through your 50s, 60s and beyond, there is an increasingly important question to ask.
Before anything else, let’s be clear about what walking does well. It contributes to cardiovascular fitness, helps maintain mobility, supports a healthy body weight, and is associated with improved mood and overall wellbeing. The World Health Organization and Australian guidelines both recognise that walking, cycling, gardening, household activities and other everyday movement all count as physical activity.
All movement counts. You don’t have to be running marathons or spending hours in a gym to benefit from being physically active.
The question isn’t:
“Should I stop walking?”
It’s:
“What should I add to it?”
In March 2026, the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing released updated 24-hour movement guidelines for adults and older adults. The guidelines use a holistic approach that encompasses physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep across the full day.
For adults aged 65 and over, the current guidelines recommend:
That is a broader picture than walking alone covers. The guidelines specifically identify three types of physical movement — aerobic activity, muscle strengthening, and functional balance — as well as sedentary behaviour and sleep. Each addresses a different aspect of healthy ageing.
In the article Losing Muscle After 50: What Actually Helps You Stay Strong, we explored why strength in particular matters so much for functional independence after 50. This article builds on that by placing it in the context of a complete movement picture.
Think about the activities that define physical independence: getting out of a chair without using your hands, lifting a suitcase overhead, carrying groceries from the car, climbing a flight of stairs, getting down onto the floor and being able to get back up again.
These require strength. Australia’s current guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days per week for older adults — activities that specifically challenge the major muscle groups.
That doesn’t mean lifting heavy weights. Resistance can come from weights, resistance bands, gym machines, body-weight exercises or other activities that create an appropriate muscular challenge. The important principle is that muscles need a reason to remain strong — and regular walking, while valuable, doesn’t produce the same stimulus as resistance exercise.
Walking uses your muscles. Strength training challenges them differently.
Balance is something most of us take for granted until it begins to change. Consider how often it is involved in ordinary life: stepping off a curb, navigating uneven ground, walking on a slippery surface, putting on trousers while standing, or recovering when you stumble.
Australia’s updated guidelines recommend functional activities targeting mobility, balance and coordination on three or more days per week for older adults — a specific recommendation that acknowledges how important these capacities are for everyday function.
Balance training doesn’t have to be complex. Depending on your ability and starting point, it might involve controlled single-leg exercises near a stable support, heel-to-toe walking, tai chi, suitable yoga, or other activities that gently challenge your stability. Always work within your current ability, particularly if you have any balance concerns — this is an area where guidance from an appropriate health or exercise professional can be genuinely helpful.
A regular walk is genuinely valuable movement. But depending on your pace and current fitness level, it may not always provide the moderate-to-vigorous cardiovascular stimulus that the guidelines recommend.
Australia’s guidelines recommend 30 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on most days for adults aged 65+. This isn’t a prescription to start running — it’s a recognition that intensity matters, and that the appropriate level varies for each person.
For one person, a brisk walk on a hilly path may provide exactly the right cardiovascular challenge. For someone fitter, the same walk may feel easy, and swimming, cycling or other activities may be needed to produce a similar physiological response. The appropriate intensity is personal.
One of the significant additions in Australia’s March 2026 guidelines is the explicit 24-hour framing. Physical activity alone isn’t the full picture — how much time you spend sitting and how well you sleep also matter.
The guidelines for adults 65+ recommend limiting sedentary time and breaking up prolonged periods of sitting as often as possible, replacing that time with light activity where practical.
For sleep, the guidelines recommend 7–8 hours of good-quality sleep with consistent bed and wake times. Sleep is increasingly recognised as important for physical recovery, cognitive function and overall health — and it’s a dimension of healthy ageing that exercise alone cannot address.
After 50, it can help to shift how we think about exercise entirely. The frame of weight, calories, kilometres and gym performance can make physical activity feel like work — or like something that only matters if you achieve visible results.
There is another way to think about it.
These aren’t just measures of fitness. They’re measures of freedom.
You don’t need to turn your life into an enormous fitness programme. Think instead about building several types of movement into your week — each serving a different purpose.
If you’re currently doing very little, the guidelines above might feel overwhelming. They are not meant to be. The underlying message is straightforward: some activity is better than none, and any increase from a lower baseline is worth making.
Start where you are. One walk becomes a regular walk. One strength session becomes two. A few minutes of balance practice — near a bench or kitchen counter — gradually becomes part of your routine.
The results are not always dramatic from one day to the next. But the principle will be familiar to anyone who has thought carefully about financial habits:
Small actions repeated consistently can produce very different outcomes over time. That principle applies remarkably well to both wealth and health.
The Protein Needs After 50 Calculator and Healthy Steps Calculator at wealthlorraine.com can help you put some practical numbers to two of the most important inputs — what you eat and how much you move.
At Wealth.WithLorraine, we talk a lot about preparing financially for retirement — super, savings, housing decisions, the Age Pension. These are all genuinely important.
But there is another asset we carry into retirement: our physical capacity. And unlike financial assets, it cannot be transferred, purchased second-hand or recovered by making a few extra contributions at age 65.
Having enough money to travel means less if you are no longer capable of travelling. Owning a beautiful home means something different if navigating its stairs has become difficult. A long retirement is most valuable when you retain the ability to participate in it — to be present, capable and engaged in the life you have worked to create.
That is why healthy longevity belongs in the retirement conversation alongside super and savings. We are not simply preparing to fund a longer life. We are preparing ourselves to live it.
What do you currently do most — walking, strength training, balance work, or a mixture of all three?
General educational information only. Individual exercise needs, health status, mobility and physical ability vary. The information in this article is not personal health or exercise advice. People with health conditions, injuries, mobility limitations or any concerns about changing their physical activity should seek appropriate advice from a qualified healthcare professional — such as a GP, physiotherapist or accredited exercise physiologist — before making changes to their exercise routine.
Wealth.WithLorraine
Don’t just plan for a longer life. Build a body that lets you enjoy it.
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