Steps...what's the big deal?
“Time for my hot girl walk!”
“Gotta get my steps in.”
“I just went for my morning ruck.”
“Just hit my step goal!”
Whether you have heard these things said by your favorite instagram influencer, or just a neighbor out walking their dog, it begs the question of how important are “steps”. The original step goal of 10,000 in a day came from a Japanese pedometer company in the 1960s. They assigned this goal as purely a marketing strategy because of how it looked on the box and website. It had nothing to do with the science of health and wellbeing, but a large population of the walkers out there today use this number as a baseline to reach every day.
So…What can walking help us achieve? How much of it do we need? Why should we care?
We can put walking in the “simple but powerful” category. It is something that we can do anywhere (weather permitting) that can have a major impact on our health in the long haul.
Walking is a great form of recovery, mentally and physically. After a hard lifting session at the gym, or a sprint conditioning piece that leaves us on the floor, we usually end class with a slow walk. This helps us bring the nervous system back into rest and recovery mode so we can get back to our normal lives. A longer walk to start or end the day can be a great way to recover without any expensive gadgets. Walking is low impact, increases blood flow, reduces stiffness, and helps muscles recover after harder training days without adding more stress to the body. So if you are a person who cramps up sitting at the desk all day, or is incredibly sore two days after that front squat and lunge day, walking might be your way out!
Whether your goal is to maintain that hard earned muscle or shed a little extra weight for that Cabo trip next month, consistent walking can also be a great tool when it comes to burning calories and managing weight. The simple act of adding an extra 2000-3000 steps to your day, only about 20-30 minutes of walking, can increase your daily calorie burn by about 100 to 150 calories. If we think about that in the grand scheme of one week, consistently adding a 25 minute walk to the end of our day can cause us to burn an extra 1000 calories per week.
One of the best things about wanting to increase your steps in a day is the fact that you don’t need to do it all at once. Unlike training for a marathon or needing an hour to warm up for the biggest deadlift PR of your life, walking can be done in short strategic bits in order to fit it into your daily routine. Split up your 30 minutes of walking into three 10 minute sections after each meal, or brush your teeth while walking up and down your stairs…carefully, or even pop a headphone in and go for a small walk during that annoying meeting with Janine from HR. However you can accumulate that new goal of time or step count is up to you and your schedule.
Now, where to start?
Just like starting to workout or changing your nutrition, in order to figure out where to go, we first need to know where we are now. Start by finding your baseline. How many steps are you getting on average every day? Using your phone, a watch, or a $12 pedometer from amazon, track your steps for two to three days and see what the average is. Once we have that number, we can slowly start to build it up over time, if necessary. We wouldn’t jump from a 100 pound back squat to a 200 pound back squat, and we shouldn’t jump too quickly here either. Try adding 1500-2000 steps for the first week or so, and remember this might only take about 15-20 minutes depending on your speed and step length. From here, we can build momentum week by week.
Circling back to our original question: How many steps do we actually need? In a study done by the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, they found that the sweet spot for most people fell around 6,000-8,000 steps per day, and that “more steps than that provided no additional benefit for longevity”. Now this doesn’t mean that 10,000 steps isn’t a great goal, it just means that we don’t need to stress about it. Start small, add little by little, and stay consistent.
Here is a great way to structure the first few weeks of this journey.
Week Daily Step Goal Tips
Week 1 - Baseline + 1000-1500 steps - Measure baseline first, then add modest extra (walk after dinner, take stairs, park further)
Week 2 - Baseline + 2000-3000 steps - More intentional walks; maybe add a walk at lunch or wake up earlier for a short walk
Week 3 - Baseline + 3500-5000 steps - Use this week to get close to your number goal.
Week 4 - Hit your goal every day + add one “challenge” walk (hilly, brisk, longer) - Push a little and see what it feels like to maybe walk a little faster or increase your elevation.
No matter where you are in your health and fitness journey, steps are a great addition to everyday life for multiple reasons. Challenge your friends or your partner at home and get to steppin’.