10 000 steps right?

X

33.3r500 Miles

Introducing the concept of 10 000 steps. I have bought into the ‘Fitness Tracker’ craze. I didn’t buy the most expensive one (can’t afford that), and I didn’t buy one that tracks my heart rate. And no, I am not using it to track my sleep. I purchased it to track my movement. My particular ‘tracker’, is basically a bit of a fancy pedometer. Luckily, I did get to input my height, weight, age and general activity level. From there an arbitrary daily goal was spat at me. The good news after reading the paper on Sunday, for me is that my Tracker has done something really intelligent. It hasn’t just made me walk 10 000 steps. It makes me do a certain amount of movement at certain intensities!

Where do we get the concept f 10 000 steps from? Well according to many Australian Newspapers Good Weekend Magazine: “The goal's origins stem from the late 1960s in Japan, where a company created one of the first pedometers and sold it under the name Manpo-kei, or "10,000 steps meter". It was a catchy marketing term - no more, no less - that stuck” Pretty effective marketing campaign! Interesting isn’t it.

Why didn’t I buy the trackers with all the bells and whistles I hear you ask? Besides price. Technology in these devices simply cannot track heart rate correctly during activity at this point in time. They aren’t too bad at resting heart rate. Hence you would still need to wear a chest strap anyway. And as for tracking sleep! Sleep trackers are getting better, however there is still some questions over their accuracy.

The question now is, how many steps do we need each day. The article in the papers magazine went on to lay this out for us:

3000 STEPS

Distance: 2.4 kilometres.

What it means: 6 laps of a running track.

Approximate time taken: 30 minutes.

Category: couch potato/sedentary.

5000 STEPS

Distance: 4 kilometres.

What it means: 10 laps of a running track.

Approximate time taken: 60 minutes.

Category: people who walk less than this are considered to be sedentary.

10,000 STEPS

Distance: 8 kilometres.

What it means: 20 laps of a running track.

Approximate time taken: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

Category: walk 5000 to 7499 steps daily and you have what's considered to be "a low active lifestyle"; 7500 to 9999 steps a day and you are "fairly active".

15,000 STEPS

Distance: 12 kilometres.

What it means: 30 laps of a running track.

Approximate time taken: 2 ½ hours.

Category: should be a minimum target if you are already generally active but want to lose weight.

20,000 STEPS

Distance: 16 kilometres

What it means: 40 laps of a running track

Approximate time taken: 3½ hours

Category: about 18,000 steps is a good target for fitness and weight loss if you are already fairly active.

25,000 STEPS

Distance: 20 kilometres.

What it means: 50 laps of a running track.

Approximate time taken: 4 hours and 15 minutes.

Category: goal for couch potatoes who want to lose weight.

The kicker to the above numbers is – INTENSITY. Depending on intensity the article states “If your steps get quicker, then you can cut the duration, "If you are jogging or running your steps, then the higher intensity means that you can effectively chop the 16,000 to 18,000 figure in half”.

So 10000 steps may be a myth. However, if buying a fitness tracker and reaching a daily goal gets people up and moving then I am all for them. Especially if that movement is incidental and in most cases above their current activity levels.

Chaddy

About the Author: Chaddy has been a PT for over 10 years. He is an International Fitness Presenter, TRX Senior Master Instructor, PTA Global Faculty member, Trigger Point Performance Master Instructor, Kettle Bell Instructor. His passion for movement and coaching continue to drive his learning and inspire others to learn more about the human being not just the human body.

![endif]--