“Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.”
-Thomas Jefferson
As much as I love strength circuits, walking may be the foundation of a lean & healthy body filled with vitality. Walking helps you maintain your bone mass & strength, improve your cardiovascular health, improve circulation in your body, and burn incrementally more calories so that staying lean is easier.
And walking freely without pain is something to be very thankful for!
So where the heck does “10,000 steps a day” come from you’ve heard a million times?
The first commercial pedometer was launched in Japan in the 1960’s. It was called the “manpo-meter”, which translates to 10,000 meters. This specific number was selected after research showed that men who burn at least 2,000 calories per week have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. That breaks down to about 300 calories per day, which can be accomplished by walking 10,000 steps.1
There are now over 300 peer-reviewed articles showing the health benefits of walking 10,000 steps per day, which range from decreased blood pressure and glucose levels to increased cardiovascular fitness.
My personal opinion is that somewhere above 7,000 is solid, which has been supported by research2, but 10,000 steps (~5-miles) or more is ideal.
1. What Is The Challenge?
Take 10,000 steps a day for 7-days. This includes walking up stairs, up a hill, or to the bathroom.
If possible, consider wearing minimalist shoes or shoes with a small heel height.
2. Why Should I Do It?
There is a laundry list of benefits.
One report concluded that after 12-weeks, “The 30 participants who accumulated 10,000 steps had significantly lower anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue, confusion, and total mood distress scores compared with measurements taken prior to the intervention. Further, the participants had higher vigor scores compared to baseline.”3
The report continued, “Regarding physical health, the participants who accrued 10,000 steps a day had significantly lower body weight, waist circumference, BMI, and % body fat.”4
3. How Do I Track My Results?
Option #1 – Use Your Phone Pedometer
Androids or iPhones have pedometers built into the phone. You can see your steps right now by going to the Google Fit app or Apple Health app respectively. The one downside of using your phone is that you must keep the phone on you at all times to accurately track your steps. I personally don’t like to carry my phone in my pocket if I’m walking around in my apartment. I keep it on the kitchen counter.
Option #2 – Buy An Activity Tracker
There are several different wearable trackers that track your steps like a FitBit, Apple Watch, or Oura Ring. The advantage of these trackers over using just your phone is that you may not have your phone on you all the time, but you can wear these trackers 24/7. They also show you how many floors you’ve climbed, continuous heart rate, along with sleep information.
4. When Do I Start?
Consider starting this Monday for a full 7-days. Sooner rather than later, better late than never.
You can share your results, how you’re doing, and lessons learned in the comment section below. You can also leave comments under the Youtube Video, Facebook post, or Twitter post with hashtags #builtlean #10000stepchallenge.
I accept the 10,000 steps per day challenge. I’m 85, live in Vancouver, Canada, and walked 4 million steps (recorded on my Fitbit) last year.
Awesome!
Recovering motorcycle accident here, appreciate the comment about walking without pain – certainly took that for granted til now. Great idea. May need to modify, but I’m in.
Nice, Brad. Good to hear you’re in and I hope you have a swift recovery!
Barrie I hope to have your outlook at that age……I hope to make it to your age #Longevity
My fitbit & I are in starting this Monday, May 17th.
Nice, Dale! Sounds great
Challenge accepted…starting today Sunday 5/16. This is just what need, some accountability, to get back where I need to be. Thank you.
Sounds great, Shaps. I’ll be leaving a comment with my updated steps every day on this post. Just did a hike so now at 18,000 steps so far today!
Heart attack at 46, triple bypass at 54. Walking 10,000 to 15,000 steps a day. Age 72. Heart healthy, now. Enjoying 6 grandbabies I almost missed. I am with you. Great information.
Wow, that’s great to hear you’ve beaten the odds and are going strong at 72 Donald! Great to hear you are enjoying all those grandkids.
Good morning Mark, I’m in for the challenge. I always find your content informative. Gotta go, gotta get my steps in. Good luck and enjoy everyone
Thanks, Margie and glad you’re up for the challenge!
I’m in. Starting today 5/17
Nice, Lew! Glad to hear that
I’m going to leave my progress here and update this comment as the week goes on. Will create screenshots of my iPhone Health app after the final day.
5/16 – 18,130 (did a hike)
5/17 – 10,345
5/18 – 10,783
5/19 – 11,463
5/20 – 10,756
5/21 – 10,387
5/22 – 12,703
Here’s the screenshot from my phone => MP 10,000 Steps Challenge Screenshot.
I’m glad to did this challenge because I spent more time outside and realized that 10,000 steps is definitely a lot more than I do on a given day. I think around 5-7k is a decent baseline with some days that will be much higher 15k+.
10,000 steps is about 5 miles a day which takes about 1.5 hrs of walking. Are you doing this all in one setting? I just started 30 min incline treadmill at incline of 3 at 3.3mph..
Hey Matty – You can do the steps whenever you like. You’re right; walking 10,000 steps requires about 1.5 hours of continuous walking / activity. How I’m doing it for this challenge is that I’m doing most of the walking in the afternoon. I walk to the gym about a mile away, then walk back and walk around my neighborhood a little bit until I hit 10,000 steps. It’s definitely more steps than I normally take, but I committed to doing it so I’m putting in the extra time!
I turned 70 in February and have had some challenges, both physically and emotionally in the last 18 months. I’ve been following the Builtlean site for over a year and have taken a lot of your ideas to heart. I’ve lost 20 lbs so far and will be taking on the 10,000 step challenge. I’m excited.
Thanks for the note, Mary and that’s great to hear you’ve made such a big transformation despite some big challenges! This 10,000 step challenge is definitely harder than I anticipated, but I’m posting my results to the comment section here. Good luck!
Started 10,000 steps 1/23/2021 through 4/23/2021, went from 170 to 155 lbs, 77 years young, going for that 6 pack I had 50 years ago. Always been fit but weight creeps up with life hardly without notice. Great articles Marc, thanks.
Nice, Ernie! Daily activity can yield impressive returns over time. Congrats on the transformation and good luck with the next goal
Hi Marc, are you replacing the cardio or HIIT with this? As I understand it, you live in New York so 10000 steps is an easy task.
Hey Lou – I actually live in Santa Monica now. My thoughts around cardio are evolving. As of now, I’m not doing much “cardio”, but just today I did a Westside Fit Club workout hosted by Nate Mezmer & Sierra Handley that included several sprints which were tough, but they felt great. 10,000 steps is more than I normally do during the week, I realized that quickly with this challenge. I have a 2 hour hike tomorrow planned, so I’m definitely still active but not as much formal running / HIIT right now.
Great article and great podcast with Nate Mezmer! Everyone tends to over complicate things when it comes to their diet and fitness. Walking is something everyone can do. I love Nate’s philosophy on functional movement and the importance of community.