You've probably been walking wrong your whole life, says expert

You probably don't give a whole lot of thought to how you walk - but you could be doing it wrong.

According to a new study conducted by Arizona State University professor and Glenn Gaesser, walking in the style of the Monty Python silly walks sketch of 1970 of all things is actually healthier.

The sample size was only 13 healthy adults (six women and seven men) who participated in the study, as per a report in the British Medical Journal.

But the results were dramatic — silly walking counts as vigorous exercise.

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Speaking to CNN, Gaesser — who studies the effects of exercise for a living — said, "I'm a big fan of Monty Python … and, of course, the 'Ministry of Silly Walks' was one of my favorite skits.

"Anyone who's seen the video knows that, wow, that looks like pretty good physical activity. My colleagues and I got this idea — basically, wouldn't it be fun to see how energetically costly those silly walks actually were. How many calories do they burn?"

Ministry of Silly Walkswww.youtube.com

The 13 volunteers in the study walked normally, and then copied the silly walk. During both walks, Gaesser and his team measured how much energy the volunteers used and how many calories they burned.

The way John Cleese walks in Monty Python, with his leg kicked out high is almost two-and-a-half times as intense as walking normally.

If you did this in public you would probably look pretty odd, though.

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