First, if you walk regularly, you’re doing great.

“If there’s a pill you can take that will reduce your all-cause mortality by 50%, you can give it to your whole family and it’s free, everyone will take that pill,” Kelly says. It turns out that this “pill” exists – it is walking 8,000 steps a day1. “The research shows very clearly that when people walk only 8000 steps1, they get the lion’s share of the benefits. Not 10,000 steps. Not 12 thousand [steps]… 8,000 steps,” adds Kelly.

And you don’t have to do all those 8,000 steps at once! In fact, the Starretts encourage short, frequent bursts of daily movement (also called “movement snacks”). “We’re stuck thinking you have to do a one-hour block [of exercise]and that’s not the case at all,” says Juliet. You can easily take short walks throughout the day and get to 8,000 steps.

Once you start walking regularly, “that’s when you can start wearing the thing,” Kelly says. This means you can add mini-exercises or habits that improve your walking so you can work up a little sweat and get even more benefits from movement.

This is why some people choose to walk with ankle weights, as the addition can improve your balance at the same time. You’re actually sprucing up your walk with something extra — get it?