10,000 steps

[Ronstar]

I don't usually do New Year's resolutions. But I have a goal to average 10,000 steps per day in 2020.

I know a lot of you get your steps in. Whether 10,000 or other milestone, it takes a lot of time and energy.

How do you do it?
Do you walk all of your steps outside, or some on a treadmill indoors?
Do you block off a set amount of time at a certain time each day to get your steps in?
Do you try to do a certain number of steps as planned exercise early in the day, knowing that daily life the rest of the day will add enough steps to reach your goal?
Did / do you lose any weight in your walking program?
What are your other health benefits from walking a lot?
I have other questions, but can't think of them now.

 

[bingybear]

like most types of exercises.... (at least with me) play a game.


find a place to play pickleball and play aggressively. You'll think about playing and not counting steps

 

[Dtail]

like most types of exercises.... (at least with me) play a game.


find a place to play pickleball and play aggressively. You'll think about playing and not counting steps

Exactly what I do.

 

[Music Lover]

I don't count steps but I do jog/run on the treadmill and lift weights. I usually workout in the morning so that leaves the rest of the day. My routine is short and sweet (20 or so minutes) and I alternate running and lifting. A sample:

Day 1 - run/jog
Day 2 - lift upper body
Day 3 - run/jog
Day 4 - lift lower body

I find that 20 or so minutes is more than enough to be effective and since it's a short workout it's a lot easier to get motivated. I don't think I could workout for an hour or more.

 

[Aerides]

10k isn't that much when you get down to it, if you're even reasonably active. It's pretty hard to do less than 4k unless you just putter around the house for the day.

As long as I include a 30 min walk/run/cardio in my day (about 4k for me) I'm going to reach 10k with no issues. My fit bit gives me hourly reminders to get at least 250 to make sure I'm moving and not sitting for the rest of the time.

If someone is mostly sedentary and now going to be exercising and reaching it everyday, they might lose weight but not terribly much without dietary changes.

 

[Ronstar]

No pickleball around here yet. But I know what you mean about finding a sport or activity you enjoy and let it take you to where you need to be for exercise

 

[Athena61]

I have an Apple Watch and have set a reasonable Move Goal of 300 calories. It’s pretty easy to meet and exceed that on most days just by going to the gym. I walk to and from the gym so that contributes towards my step count. But what really adds up the count is walking my dog. So most days it’s easy to exceed 10k steps, especially in warmer months. Overall, I maintain a healthy weight doing this, but I believe if I cut back a bit in my calories it would help me to drop a few pounds.

 

[Midpack]

Walking (or biking) is my primary exercise now, I need to get back to doing more resistance training too, that was more effective for weight control for me. DW lifts at a women only club 3 times a week.

I walk outdoors as much as possible. Even when I lived near Chicago like the OP, I walked outdoors in winter as much as possible, and we had a treadmill (hated it). Unless it was icy or below 15F I walked outdoors. If it was raining I’d just take an umbrella unless it was pouring.

I don’t bother with an odometer, but DW wears her Garmin Vivoactive fitness watch all day. We/I go for walks 4-6 days a week, about 3 miles a day, 2 on a bad day, 4 on a good day. IME it’s just over 2000 steps per mile. And DW seems to get in 3000-4000 steps aside from our walks, as someone noted above. So we probably get in 7000-12000 steps/day. I just bought a new golf watch that has an odometer, but I probably still won’t use the odometer.

I don’t block off time or schedule, I just do it usually before noon. In summer I usually go early to avoid the hot/humid afternoons and later in winter to avoid colder mornings. It’s easy to do other activities before or after as needed.

It helps that I love being outdoors, so walking (like yardwork) is a welcome excuse to get out.

 

[braumeister]

According to the Mayo Clinic, the average American walks 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day, or roughly 1.5 to 2 miles. So they recommend finding your own average to set a baseline, then setting your goal accordingly.


In my own case, I've always used the stairs instead of an elevator whenever possible (this was great when I had an office on the 7th floor).

I also try to park as soon as I enter a parking lot and walk as far as possible to the store and back, which helps in finding my car, too!

 

[pb4uski]

A round of golf... even just playing 18 with a cart... is way more than 10,000 steps.

My last 5 golf with cart days were 14k, 15k, 14k, 15k and 14k.

My average on the 5 days prior to those golf days was ~7.5k so it looks like 18 holes with a cart is good for about 7k steps or about 3 1/2 miles.

How that is is a mystery to me.

 

[street]

If I budget about a ~ hour a day then I can reach ~10000 steps. I'm not sure if biking counts with the health app on my phone or not but in the summer months it would be very easy to get that end point of 10000.
I do try to take a couple walks a day and each are ~ 1.8 miles so doing two I'm pretty close. For me I do a lot of walking at the ranch and it adds up in a hurry.
My suggestion is find a routine and walk or bike where ever you go, if you can. I walk up town and don't drive etc..

 

[Andre1969]

One thing I learned, fairly early on, is that my fitbit records it as "steps" if I'm riding around on the tractor cutting the grass. It'll also record rapid arm movements, such as using a hammer, handsaw, etc. I probably average 3-5,000 steps per day, unless I go for a walk. But on Thursday, I had to fix a doorjamb in the garage, and between looking around for materials, tools, sawing, and hammering, managed about 9200 "steps" that day! I didn't do anything out of the ordinary otherwise, that day.

The busiest day I ever had was a couple years ago. I had taken the day off, and went for a walk of maybe two miles in the morning. Then, I spent most of the rest of the day starting to tear down an old garage that the homeowner's insurance company wanted me to get rid of. Most of it was swinging a sledge hammer, moving debris, and piling some of it to burn off. I got 28,658 steps that day!

 

[Music Lover]

A round of golf... even just playing 18 with a cart... is way more than 10,000 steps.

My last 5 golf with cart days were 14k, 15k, 14k, 15k and 14k.

My average on the 5 days prior to those golf days was ~7.5k so it looks like 18 holes with a cart is good for about 7k steps or about 3 1/2 miles.

How that is is a mystery to me.

I average 8 - 10km walking per round of golf per my Garmin GPS. That makes sense to me as 6500 yards is around 6k, then add in another 2-4k for the rest of the walking around.

 

[Music Lover]

One thing I learned, fairly early on, is that my fitbit records it as "steps" if I'm riding around on the tractor cutting the grass. It'll also record rapid arm movements, such as using a hammer, handsaw, etc. I probably average 3-5,000 steps per day, unless I go for a walk. But on Thursday, I had to fix a doorjamb in the garage, and between looking around for materials, tools, sawing, and hammering, managed about 9200 "steps" that day! I didn't do anything out of the ordinary otherwise, that day.

The busiest day I ever had was a couple years ago. I had taken the day off, and went for a walk of maybe two miles in the morning. Then, I spent most of the rest of the day starting to tear down an old garage that the homeowner's insurance company wanted me to get rid of. Most of it was swinging a sledge hammer, moving debris, and piling some of it to burn off. I got 28,658 steps that day!

The singer in one of my bands moves to the music during rehearsals (while standing in one spot) and his step app records thousands of step. He's moving but he's not working out.

 

[eytonxav]

I would never under estimate the benefits of walking, but if you want to reduce the time and if you are physically up to it, go to a local HS track and do some sprint/walk intervals. You should be able to get quite a workout in 15/20 minutes vs 60 minutes or more of walking alone.

 

[street]

I just looked at my daily average for the entire year so far and I average 9060 steps a day. I don't really work on trying to set a step goal but I would think it would be very easy, to have a average of 10000 steps a day through the year.

As far as a weight lose tool I don't see where it does much for me. they say 1 mile of walking is good for 100 calories. they also say bike riding is way less then that.

 

[frayne]

Two mile walk every day for starters, choose stairs instead of elevators, park far away from restaurant or store and walk. 10K is very doable for most anyone without health issues. I had a double fusion back surgery ten weeks ago and have been doing anywhere from eight to ten thousand steps a day with no problem.

 

[aaronc879]

I have chronic pain from my hip replacement and the two prior hip surgeries. The more I walk the more pain it causes. I would guess I average about 4000 steps a day. I agree with the person who said get your personal average then set a goal accordingly. It doesn't have to be 10,000 steps. It might be 5000 for me and 15000 for someone else.

 

[Midpack]

A round of golf... even just playing 18 with a cart... is way more than 10,000 steps.

My last 5 golf with cart days were 14k, 15k, 14k, 15k and 14k.

My average on the 5 days prior to those golf days was ~7.5k so it looks like 18 holes with a cart is good for about 7k steps or about 3 1/2 miles.

How that is is a mystery to me.

Here’s what Golf Digest says https://www.golfdigest.com/story/kaspriske-fitness-column-2009-10.

I played Friday, with a cart, paths only and did about 4400 steps. It can vary considerably depending on course length and distance between holes, but Golf Digest says walking with no cart is about 12,000 steps.

 

[Midpack]

As far as a weight lose tool I don't see where it does much for me. they say 1 mile of walking is good for 100 calories. they also say bike riding is way less then that.

Maybe if you compare a mile walk versus a mile bike ride, but that doesn’t make sense to me. If walking a mile takes 16 minutes, biking a mile would take about 4 minutes - no one would bother for exercise. I’d compare X minutes walking vs X minutes bike riding. If you put in comparable effort, biking burns more calories/minute than walking - same amount of exercise time.

Based on the Harvard Health Publishing calories-burned chart, bike riding is the way to go if your goal is to burn more fat in one workout. The chart shows that a person who weighs 155 pounds and bikes outside at a moderate pace burns 298 calories in 30 minutes. A person of the same weight who walks outside at a moderate pace for 30 minutes burns 186 calories, which is almost 100 calories less than biking.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/523040-does-walking-or-riding-a-bike-burn-more-fat/

 

[iloveyoga]

I try to get in at least 30 minutes of walking outside, which is not always easy in Iowa. It is very good for my mental health too. I find my iWatch to be very helpful for my steps and exercise.

 

[street]

^ yes that is right. I was comparing same length of bike ride to the same length of walk.

 

[Midpack]

I have chronic pain from my hip replacement and the two prior hip surgeries. The more I walk the more pain it causes. I would guess I average about 4000 steps a day. I agree with the person who said get your personal average then set a goal accordingly. It doesn't have to be 10,000 steps. It might be 5000 for me and 15000 for someone else.

Time to get a bike or take up swimming like my DW?

 

[audreyh1]

I have a daily exercise “active” calories goal (i.e. move goal) on my watch, and any number of activities will contribute to it. Which is good, because I have a large number of different forms of exercise I use. Plus some activities like gardening and housecleaning have me moving around enough to contribute. It also tracks steps, but for me that is secondary.

 

[tmm99]

My main step earner is volleyball. It's much more strenuous than walking though, and in about 1.5 hours, I hit 10,000 steps. I usually play three times a week, so that adds up. If I walk around shopping at Costco, I may hit 4,000 steps. Not the same intensity as volleyball of course, but walking around grocery shopping and browsing adds a lot of steps.