Tap Walk Break, slip your phone in your pocket and wander off. Wakeout counts 100 steps, about a minute, and throws a tiny party when you get there. No video, no space needed, no gym clothes.
Written by Pedro Wunderlich, Co-founder, Wakeout · Updated
How a Walk Break works
The smallest workout in Wakeout is also the easiest to say yes to. You don't watch anything and you don't need a mat. You just go for a very short walk.
It lives on the Wakeout home screen. Tap Move Now and it can turn up as your break, too.
Keep your iPhone in your pocket or your hand and it counts every step. On Apple Watch it counts on your wrist.
A little prompt rides along (say hi to the fridge, find something green) while the ring fills. About a minute at a normal pace.
Every finished Walk Break earns 50 Watts and keeps your streak going. Still feel like moving? Tap Walk again.
Look for the green card with the little walker. One tap and you're up.
Why tiny walks work
You don't need a 10,000-step morning to undo a day of sitting. The research keeps pointing at the same thing: break the sit up, often, with a little walking.
5 min every 30
Researchers at Columbia University had adults sit through eight-hour workdays and tried different walking schedules. Five minutes of light walking every 30 minutes was the only one that lowered both blood sugar and blood pressure, and it cut the blood sugar spike after big meals by 58% compared with sitting all day. One minute every 30 minutes helped a little. Walking once an hour didn't move the needle.
2 to 5 min
A 2022 review of seven studies in Sports Medicine found that two to five minutes of light walking, after meals or every 20 to 30 minutes, kept blood sugar and insulin steadier than sitting. Walking also beat standing.
100 steps a minute
Walking researchers use 100 steps a minute as the point where walking becomes moderate exercise for adults. A Walk Break is 100 steps in about a minute. Walk with a bit of purpose and you're right there.
Small studies, consistent results. Wakeout is a movement app, not medical advice. If you're managing blood sugar or blood pressure, check with your doctor.
Walk after eating
The after-lunch slump is real, and the fix is almost suspiciously easy. Studies on walking after meals saw benefits from as little as two to five minutes of light walking. A Walk Break is the smallest version of that habit: finish your plate, take a lap of the house or office, come back. If you're enjoying it, tap Walk again and go another round.
Micro walks at work
Most of these come straight from the prompts in the app. A micro walk doesn't need a destination. It just needs a direction.
Need a nudge first?
Getting up is the hard part. Wakeout's movement reminders nudge you when you've been still too long, and a Walk Break is the quickest way to answer one.
See the movement reminder appOn its own, one Walk Break is a small thing. The point is doing it often. Research on sitting found that short walks every 30 minutes, and two to five minutes of walking after meals, helped blood sugar more than sitting still. 100 steps is a minute you'll actually take, again and again.
About a minute at a normal pace, a little more if you dawdle. The finish screen tells you your time, like 100 steps in 1:16.
No. Keep it in your pocket or your hand, whichever you like. iPhone counts your steps as you walk. The first time, Wakeout asks for Motion & Fitness access so it can count.
Yes. Start it on your Apple Watch and it counts on your wrist, so your phone can stay on the desk.
Studies saw steadier blood sugar after as little as two to five minutes of light walking after a meal. Longer is fine too. A Walk Break is a one-minute start, and Walk again is right there.
Yes. A finished Walk Break is a full Wakeout: it earns 50 Watts and keeps your streak going.
Walk Break is in Wakeout for iPhone and Apple Watch, next to the movement games, the desk exercises and everything else that gets you up.