When it comes to fitness, walking is stomping out the competition.

If you're interested in starting a walking program or in upgrading your present program, here's some advice from Larry Grollman, manager of sports medicine at Pittsburgh Center for Sports Medicine:

Q: Can walkers burn calories as effectively and efficiently as runners?

A: If you're comparing walking a mile to running a mile, the runner is going to burn more calories. But the important thing is that it's not just the idea of burning calories over a mile, it's the idea of burning them over the long haul.

If you weigh 150 pounds and you walk briskly for an hour you'll burn 432 calories. If you do it weekly, you'll burn almost a pound a week.

Q: Are there advantages to choosing walking over running?

A: Walking has less impact on the joints. And for those who have had an injury or arthritis, walking will probably be better suited to them. For conditioning, walking is a good starting point if you want to get to running.

Q: Are any type of athletic shoes appropriate for walking or is it important to wear a shoe designed specifically for walking?

A: If you're going to make walking a regular activity - that means you're going to do it more than twice a week - and you're going to be out there more than 20 minutes at a time, I would say a good walking shoe would be necessary.

You should replace your shoes at least once a year because the

cushioning will eventually wear out.

When you walk you should shoot for your target heart rate, a number that depends on the level of condition you're in right now.

Here's how the heart-rate formula works.

-- Subtract your age from 220. Let's say your age is 30. Then 220 minus 30 equals 190.

-- Then take your resting heart rate. Let's say that turns out to be 72 beats per minute. Subtract that number from 190. That gives you 118.

-- If you're at the low end of the spectrum in terms of conditioning, take 60 percent of 118. If you're at the high end, take 80 percent. If you're in the middle, take 70 percent.

We'll use 60 percent. Sixty percent of 118 is about 71.

-- Finally, take 71 and add it to your resting heart rate, which was 72. The total is 143. That means when you exercise, you should work to 143 beats per minute for 20 minutes, at least three times per week.

Q: Does incorporating hills or steps into my workout have advantages?

A: I would rather see someone incorporate hills vs. steps. With steps there are safety factors. People can trip. Steps are also a little more difficult on the knees.

Q: What about hand weights?

A: For anyone with an upper extremity problem, I would not recommend using hand weights. If you do use them, I would try keeping them in close to your upper body. Also, I wouldn't recommend using more than 1 to 3 pounds.

I would increase distance by no more than 10 percent each week. And if you're increasing your intensity with hills or weights, you wouldn't want to increase your intensity at the same time.

Focus on: Health & Fitness, compiled by Nancy Bartley, appears every Thursday in the Scene section. Other Focus subjects during the week are: Consumers, Sunday; Parenting, Tuesday; Managing Money, Wednesday; and Real Life, Friday. To suggest a story or calendar item, write to any of these subjects, c/o Scene, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111.