Be kind, rewind: is backwards walking any better than walking forwards?

From the Guardian, 27 August 2024:

I call it “the hill of death”: a steep uphill section of dirt road towards the end of an otherwise pleasant and not-too-taxing walk in the scenic Blue Mountains. It’s challenging enough to get up it walking forwards but my friend and I both feel pretty cocky about our fitness this morning, so I suggest we try walking up it backwards.

Within a few metres, my quad and calf muscles are burning, my heart is pounding and I’m regretting the idea. But we persist, and with much huffing and whinging we walk backwards up a 30-metre-long section.

Backwards walking is so hot right now, literally and figuratively. The practice has apparently been common in China for some time but, as so often happens when something is “discovered” by an influencer – in this case, the online fitness coach Ben Patrick, AKA the KneesOverToesGuy – it has suddenly become very popular with parts of the western world. Read more.