How do you get 10,000 steps?

[Anonymous]

I always wondered how people got 10,000 steps in a day. It is also 6 miles from me. It would take me an hour and a half to walk that far.

Now I see some people only walking 3 miles wow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work from home and have a treadmill. It’s amazing how many steps I can get during the day (while legit working.) basically, if I’m not on camera I’m (slowly) walking.

How many? Do you love it? How fast and how do you adjust when you are on the treadmill v desk etc.?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Under-desk treadmill changed my life! I love it so much, and I never sit at work any more. I now easily get at least 10k steps/day and some days up to 20k-30k. I walk slowly but consistently throughout the day.

Are you on it all the time or do you ever sit? Considering...

[Anonymous]

I get about 6k at work (teacher) and take a 20ish minute walk after dinner every night.

[Anonymous]

I do 2 45-ish minute fast walks while taking calls.

Or, on the days I run I do 4-5 miles and walk some. But according to my Apple Watch I am at 12.997 steps right now which also says 5.3 miles.

[Anonymous]

It’s hard. And don’t believe the people who tell you it’s easy-those people think it’s easy because they work at jobs that make it easy to get steps in. I will make 10k if I take a total of 60 minutes to walk during the day as dedicated walk time. That gets me about 7k right there and I can easily hit 10 that way.

I don’t know how the people walking dogs are hitting it just with that? walking a dog takes like 5-10 minutes.

I will say that you shouldn’t set your goal to 10k off the bat if you aren’t even getting close. I would say set it to get 1-2k more than you usually do and scale up from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard. And don’t believe the people who tell you it’s easy-those people think it’s easy because they work at jobs that make it easy to get steps in. I will make 10k if I take a total of 60 minutes to walk during the day as dedicated walk time. That gets me about 7k right there and I can easily hit 10 that way.

I don’t know how the people walking dogs are hitting it just with that? walking a dog takes like 5-10 minutes.

I will say that you shouldn’t set your goal to 10k off the bat if you aren’t even getting close. I would say set it to get 1-2k more than you usually do and scale up from there.

Haha, I always wonder about the dog too. I must have the laziest dog ever.

[Anonymous]

I’ve posted this before, but it takes me about 10 minutes to briskly walk 1000 steps. I take my step goal and break it up into 3-4 segments throughout the day and set a time to hit them. Like 2500 by 9:30, 5000 by 1:00, 7500 by 5, and 10K by bed. It also has the benefit of making sure I can get up from desk: I am one of the people who could sit down and not move for 10 hours. This has caused tremendous issues for my back. Forcing to get up periodically has really helped my back too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is everyone tracking steps? I got an Apple Watch last year and that’s when I learned I was walking a lot fewer steps than I thought using other trackers. So now 10K seems like a lot.

I got a tracked watch (Fitbit) and found the opposite—many more steps than when using my phone to track. Presumably because it is always in and I don’t always carry my phone around. So it’s counting walking around the house, up and downstairs etc

Agree with other posters that 10k steps is more like four miles

I used a Fitbit for years and got steps for folding laundry. The arm movement is more sensitive to count as a step. Apple Watch is more accurate I think with forward motion and distance.

The newer fitbits are much better on this.

[Anonymous]

My job requires that I sit in front of a computer all day. I work from home everyday now and it's fairly simple for get 10,000 steps. I do a walk in the morning and get about 3000 steps. Do a walk at lunch and get about 4000 steps. I get about 3000 steps just milling around the house all day and running an errand or two. When I worked downtown pre covid, I actually used to average over 16000 steps a day. To beat traffic into the city, I would go in by 5am and do a workout in my office building's gym. I would get at least 6,000 steps and be at my desk by 7am. I would go for a walk at lunch and get at least 4000 steps. I would leave around 2:30 to beat HOV and do an hour or two or work at home. My kids were smaller then and I would take them to practice and walk while they practiced for 90 minutes. I would get 16000-18000 steps a day. If I didn't think about it, I probably would get about 4000-5000 steps just walking around my house in a day, but, to get 10,000 steps, you need to put in a conscience effort of walking at lunch, after work, or after dinner, etc. I also used to be a bit crazy with my steps and I would march when brushing my teeth, waiting for the microwave to run, when I was on the phone, watching TV sometimes, etc. I'd run up and down my steps to get floors and steps. Even now I take the steps whenever I can in an office building and also park far away when I go places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve posted this before, but it takes me about 10 minutes to briskly walk 1000 steps. I take my step goal and break it up into 3-4 segments throughout the day and set a time to hit them. Like 2500 by 9:30, 5000 by 1:00, 7500 by 5, and 10K by bed. It also has the benefit of making sure I can get up from desk: I am one of the people who could sit down and not move for 10 hours. This has caused tremendous issues for my back. Forcing to get up periodically has really helped my back too.

So you walk 1 hour and 40 minutes every day... briskly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve posted this before, but it takes me about 10 minutes to briskly walk 1000 steps. I take my step goal and break it up into 3-4 segments throughout the day and set a time to hit them. Like 2500 by 9:30, 5000 by 1:00, 7500 by 5, and 10K by bed. It also has the benefit of making sure I can get up from desk: I am one of the people who could sit down and not move for 10 hours. This has caused tremendous issues for my back. Forcing to get up periodically has really helped my back too.

So you walk 1 hour and 40 minutes every day... briskly.

Yes, likely. Sometimes less because I run or go to an exercise class instead. It sounds like a lot but imagine if you walked for 10 minutes instead surfing the internet . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve posted this before, but it takes me about 10 minutes to briskly walk 1000 steps. I take my step goal and break it up into 3-4 segments throughout the day and set a time to hit them. Like 2500 by 9:30, 5000 by 1:00, 7500 by 5, and 10K by bed. It also has the benefit of making sure I can get up from desk: I am one of the people who could sit down and not move for 10 hours. This has caused tremendous issues for my back. Forcing to get up periodically has really helped my back too.

So you walk 1 hour and 40 minutes every day... briskly.

Yes, likely. Sometimes less because I run or go to an exercise class instead. It sounds like a lot but imagine if you walked for 10 minutes instead surfing the internet . . .

Another thing I do, on WFH days, I take calls on my cell and walk during them. I walk during what would have been my commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard. And don’t believe the people who tell you it’s easy-those people think it’s easy because they work at jobs that make it easy to get steps in. I will make 10k if I take a total of 60 minutes to walk during the day as dedicated walk time. That gets me about 7k right there and I can easily hit 10 that way.

I don’t know how the people walking dogs are hitting it just with that? walking a dog takes like 5-10 minutes.

I will say that you shouldn’t set your goal to 10k off the bat if you aren’t even getting close. I would say set it to get 1-2k more than you usually do and scale up from there.

Haha, I always wonder about the dog too. I must have the laziest dog ever.

5-10 minutes?!? My dog must be bananas. He will happily walk for 90 minutes when I take him to kid sports practices and walk the trails behind the fields. I probably spend 2.5-3 hours a day walking him (two of those are when the kids are still asleep in the morning and evening).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:6 miles? I’m 5’4” and 10000 steps is 4 miles according to my tracker.

Same. I am 5'6 but have short legs.

But for me, it generally included running for a portion of it. Then add in several small dog walks, consciously parking at the far end of the parking lot, etc. I stopped running in favor of an elliptical warm-up (just 20 minutes) plus weight training for my daily workout.