Finally — an easier way to measure those 10,000 steps

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

We’ve all heard the edict that people should walk 10,000 steps a day for fitness and weight control. That 10,000 is a nice round number, but it brings up some questions, like how fast should you walk to reach a moderate intensity, the level many fitness experts recommend. Should people strive for I-think-I’ll-stroll-around-the-park steps, or gotta-get-to-the-bank-before-it-closes steps?

That’s why researchers decided to study walking strides and set some standards, making it easier for people to know if they’re walking at a correct pace. The 97 study participants were mostly sedentary, and about two-thirds were overweight or obese. Steps were counted with pedometers while walking on a treadmill for six-minute bouts at speeds ranging from 213 to 361 feet per minute.

As the men and women walked, researchers took note of their heart rate and oxygen uptake, and the participants were also asked to rate how hard they thought they were working, to determine if they were walking at a moderate pace. Intensity was measured in metabolic equivalents, or METs, which calculates the rate energy is expended during exercise. Moderate exercise is in the 3 to 6 MET range.

For men, the step rate for moderate exercise was 92 to 102 steps per minute, and for women, 91 to 115 steps per minute. For all participants, from normal weight to obese, the numbers were about the same.

Although using the pedometers in the study resulted in some errors in measuring step counts, researchers believe that the findings were substantial enough to recommend people strive for 3,000 steps in 30 minutes on level ground to achieve a moderate level of exercise.

In the study, the authors wrote, ‘Indeed, the use of a single and simple pedometer-based guideline that is easy both to remember and measure may be more effective in a health communication strategy than the promotion of multiple guidelines and, therefore, messages.’

The study appears in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.