The Walk and Talk: Everything We Know | Hacker News Reader

The Walk and Talk: Everything We Know

craigmod.com

71 pointsandyjohnson020 comments

I would also recommend people try adding a weighted backpack to some of their social walks! On days when I don't want to hit the gym or am recovering from a workout, I join my wife in a walk where she walks normally and I carry 35-45 pounds on my backpack.

This can turn a 150-250 calorie an hour walk to a 300 - 600 calorie an hour walk while you're walking the same speed / socializing. It's definitely uncomfortable but doesn't interfere with socializing and thinking IMO (and of course, I'd start with 10 lbs first)

You can use sand or dumbbells but I did it often enough that I got a generic ruck plate and a high quality rucking backpack (GoRuck isn't cheap but I like their quality and the fact that they're made in America).

Hello, I wonder if carrying a heavy backpack for a long time will cause obvious damage to the shoulders. Otherwise, it seems very tempting to significantly increase the calories burned in the same period of time. After all, we are always short of time.

hiking recommendations suggest 20% of your bodyweight for the weight of your backpack. that suggests that carrying more for exercise should be possible. consider that hiking can mean several hours of walking during the whole day, while an exercise walk is usually more limited and you don't have any other challenging activities like pitching a tent, chopping wood, etc that you might have on a hike.

if you are inexperienced, i'd start smaller and increase the weight over a few weeks as long as you feel comfortable. i think it is also important to choose a good backpack that evenly distributes your weight and doesn't pull on your shoulders.

i have never tried this myself however. i have done a lot of hiking in my youth, but i doubt my backpacks ever reached those 20%. so don't take my word for it, but double check with an expert, doctor, gym trainer, etc.

thank your advise

As with anything physical, start small and slowly increase! 10 or 20 lbs is enough to feel some pain, try it for an hour. Then 1.5 hours. Then increase the weight, and so on.

Humans have evolved to carry and run long distances and the world's militaries all ruck with 50 - 80 pounds regularly. So we're definitely "built" for this activity but of course you need to train for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd-3z5_2M0Q

I started doing rucking in Venice, Italy. (a ton of fun)

My worry for rucking is the potential issue of back problems. I haven't seen a serious study on how weight should be properly distributed.

I see the huge value of this experience. Combining walking with talking is something I often experienced to be very effective for deep conversations. You don't keep eye contact but nevertheless you are very close. For some topics it helps to just talk without having to look someone in the eye. Long pauses are not a problem because there is the landscape passing by that removes the awkwardness.

Also walking in a slow pace occupies a part of your mind and gives you the opportunity to communicate and think even better. I don't remember the reason for it but I think it was related to subconsciousness.

I also made the experience that biking and talking also works very well as long as the road you are taking is broad and empty enough. Traveling by bike also makes it more simple to carry on some luggage and to cover more distance between stays.

Walking and talking one on one is fine and good but this sort of formalized group activity with strangers sounds like a form of torture. I'm surprised this is appealing to anyone except the very lonely or very extroverted. All this organization and these rules are only necessary because of the group. Someone please explain the appeal???

I'm an introvert. I would enjoy this for a bit, but I think after a full day of walking and talking and taking in the sights, a dinner conversation with 9 other people mught feel a bit too much - especially for a full week.

But it does seem significantly more fun and easier to have a long talk while walking. I strongly dislike going to dinner with a large group, or just sitting and talking with nothing else involved. I wonder if there's some evolutionary aspect to this - our ancestors probably sat together working on tools, clothes, and food while chatting around a fire.

I'd like to try a smaller version of this for maybe three days.

1-3 companions on a long walk with campfire conversations sounds like backpacking to me, aka good way to spend time with friends. Strangers? Not so much.

it depends on your character.

i have been travelling the world by myself and met people along the way that i went hiking with, and i found it a great way to make new friends.

if the group is self selected from a community that you are generally familiar with (even if you don't know the people participating themselves) then this should work just fine with strangers, just like you meed these strangers at conferences and meetups.

This sort of interaction is hugely superior to any sort of internet forum, because you can always push the moderator down a ravine.

Related, from two weeks ago: Walk and Talk – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38613170

I much prefer meeting someone for a walk and talk as opposed to meeting at a restaurant.

in recent months i have been participating in a business walk and talk meetup.

like any other meetup, except instead of being in a restaurant we met in a park somewhere and walked around for one or two hours, while having conversations.

the nice thing is that it makes switching conversation partners easier, as you are not stuck on your seat at the table, and breaks in the conversation with a few minutes of silence are less awkward.

I would not have the patience to spend years organizing “walk and talks” and experimenting with the format. But I’m glad that somebody does —- it sounds meaningful for participants at least. I wonder if my opinion will change as I age; perhaps when I’m 40 I could be motivated to organize something like this myself.

The linked article that touches on the sandwiches in England made me laugh, I love the opening: https://craigmod.com/ridgeline/167/

Inviting potential business partners or overall just people you brainstorm business with on Hikes has always been my go-to.

Hours of walking next to each other, sometimes a bit of adversity, and you learn a lot more than just a loud lunch meeting.

some of these events are organized in exotic locations, but while that adds an interesting aspect, i don't think this is necessary. the focus is on the conversations and you can have a great experience walking not far from your home. the benefit of doing this at home is that it is easier to organize. you can pick well known trails that you don't need to scout out in advance. you don't run into issues with unfamiliar food, or getting lost with difficulty to get help. and you may attract some less adventurous types.

This sounds great for the gregarious types of people who can keep up a conversation for hours at a time, in exactly the same way that a multi-pitch overnight rock climb would be great for people with the skill and the physical fitness to do that climb. The problem I have with these type of articles is that they make these types of activities seem more accessible than they actually are. If you dissect this “walk and talk” activity it becomes clear that this is every bit as exclusionary as any high-performance endeavor (e.g. a 100km per day week long bike ride, or triathlon). Yes most people can walk, but how many people can walk and participate in 10 hours of conversation a day for 7 days? I’m glad this exists, and that these folks have the passion, so that the segment of the population up for this can have these experiences.

It's 100km per week, or 14km per day. At a 6km/h pace it amounts to a 2h20m walk each day.

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