How long does it take to walk 10,000 steps?
If walking more is one of your New Year’s resolutions, chances are that 10,000 daily steps is your goal. Even though a 2023 study showed that between 7,000 and 8,000 is the sweet spot for lowering the risk of disease and premature death, if having a lofty target in mind is going to help you move more, we’re all for it. As for how long it’ll take you walk those 10,000 steps, that’s dependent on a few factors. Here, we hit up walking coach and founder of The WalkActive Method Joanna Hall to explain.
Meet the expert: Joanna Hall, MSc Sports Science, is an author, presenter, and founder of The WalkActive Method, which she describes as 'an educational process to walk better, allowing you to positively connect with the way the body should walk as opposed to the way the body has learnt to walk.'
How long does it take to walk 10,000 steps?
‘Walking 10,000 steps a day depends on your cadence – how many steps you take per minute, which depends on the length of your legs, your stride, your age, and your fitness level,' says Joanna. 'For a cadence of 100 steps per minute, walking 10,000 steps could take you one hour and 40 minutes. Walking at a cadence of 130 steps per minute would take you one hour and 16 minutes.
A 2020 review published in Sustainability examined walking habits in order to suggest ways to increase activity, and the authors found that healthy older adults typically average 100 steps per minute when moving at a moderate pace. This translates to about 100 minutes to hit 10,000 steps.
‘If you’re unsure how many steps per minute you should go for, a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that 100 steps a minute is the threshold to yield physiological health benefits, while 130 steps per minute is considered to be a fast walking pace.
‘What I will say, is that with the WalkActive Method, we see that good walking technique is compromised when you walk at a cadence above 128 steps per minute. We see that this leads to reduced stride length, reduced posterior extension (your posture and how efficiently you recruit the muscles on the back of your body), and reduced recruitment of the glutes and hamstrings.
'These are all very important factors for reducing joint strain and helping you improve your body composition by recruiting the right muscles and thereby building muscle and strength. Speed is most definitely not the key for fitness benefits, including joint stability and joint strain reduction.
‘I recommend working towards a cadence of 120 steps per minute. This will reduce injury by maintaining good muscle recruitment, and studies have also shown that this can release the optimum amount of dopamine needed to ease stress and leave you feeling happier.
‘Walking 10,000 steps at this cadence – 120 steps per minute – would take you one hour and 23 minutes.’
How many calories do you burn per 10,000 steps?
‘The caloric expenditure burned by walking 10,000 steps is subject to several factors including your weight, body mass, your walking stride, and whether you are walking on an incline.
‘On average, an individual burns between 30 and 40 calories per 1000 steps.
‘With the WalkActive Method, when clients are looking to optimise their walks for caloric burn and better body composition, we apply our pace formula: technique + stride length + cadence.
‘First, you want to get your technique right, by tucking your tailbone and engaging your core as you walk, to encourage recruitment of the muscles on your posterior chain (the back of your body). This will activate your glutes and help you pick up the pace, while also reducing pressure on your joints.
‘Then, you want to increase your stride length, using your back leg to propel you forward. This will optimise glute activation.
‘Lastly, providing you have nailed your technique and stride length, you want to add cadence. This is my success formula to really optimise results and help maximise caloric burn.’
Is it better to walk 10,000 steps in one go, or throughout the day?
‘Quantity always trumps quality when it comes to steps. A meta-analysis in the journal Lancet showed that for people below the age of 60, 8,000 steps per day could be enough to reduce all-cause mortality, while 6,000 could be enough for people over the age of 60. In all cases, quality is most important. Much like the way that your technique in a tennis serve or bench press is more significant than how many you do, the technique with which you walk is more important than how many steps you do.
‘That said, studies show that splitting your walks (even with micro walks of just four minutes) throughout the course of a day can be more beneficial both physically and mentally, as you’re likely to walk further or faster, and thereby use more energy and burn more calories. I would suggest a daily target of 7500 steps a day; if you’re able to hit that target in one go, great, but breaking it down into two or three walks will be just as beneficial, if not more.’
4 ways to increase your step count
1. Split your walks up
Break you day into zones of four hours:
7-11am
11am-3pm
3-7pm
7-11pm
‘Within each zone, aim to hit 1500-2000 steps,' says Joanna. 'This will likely feel more achievable than striving to hit your overall target in one go.’
2. Plot out your routes
‘Write down three locations where you often spend time. For example, this might be your workplace, the local supermarket, your children’s school. At each location, plot out a five, ten and 15-minute walking route, so that you have these at your fingertips whenever you have time to kill or need a walk to help shift your mindset or give you a quick energy boost.’
3. Make a deal with your friends
‘Make a deal with a friend that you won’t call or text one another, and that you’ll only share any news when you meet for a walk. This is great to strengthen your motivations to make a walk happen.’
4. Do an activity audit
'Audit the amount of time you use public transport or your car. Studies have shown that people won’t walk if they perceive that the journey will take longer than 12 minutes on foot, but if you’re aware of how long you spend on a bus or train or in the car, you will likely feel more inclined to travel by foot. Plus, think of the good you are doing for both the environment and your bank balance.’
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