# 10,000 steps a day **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 28, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362 "2006-07-28T03:40:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/1 "2006-07-28T03:40:00Z")
I was wondering how much walking I do, so I decided to look into pedometers. I soon found that there’s a fad that recommends 10,000 steps a day for health. Whatever. I just wanted to know how many steps I took. So I bought a Accusplit Eagle 120 Digiwalker Pedometer, which I’ve been wearing the past two days. Looks like I’m doing about 7,500 steps per day. ---
**Author:** ![Denis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5e9695/32.png) [@Denis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Denis)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/2 "2006-07-28T03:54:41Z")
Yer gonna die. -the preceeding public health nag brought to you by yer pal, Denis 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/3 "2006-07-28T04:15:01Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I soon found that there’s a fad that recommends 10,000 steps a day for health. How do you feel about sharing a fad with Donald Rumsfeld? ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/4 "2006-07-28T07:54:51Z")
I wore one of those for a few days! Turned out I take around 15000 steps a day. I’m still horribly unfit, though. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/5 "2006-07-28T12:18:41Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > How do you feel about sharing a fad with Donald Rumsfeld? :eek: Well… I can’t help walking. I just wanted to find out how much I did. Rump-smelled is doing it on purpose. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/6 "2006-07-28T14:08:36Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Looks like I’m doing about 7,500 steps per day. How far is that? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/7 "2006-07-28T15:51:18Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > How far is that? Well, if it were me, 7,500 steps would probably work out at around 4-5km (about 3 miles). That assumes a stride length of about 45-65cm (18-26 inches). Does that sound about right? I’m just a hair under 6 feet tall, and i’m assuming a normla walking pace, not dawdling but not striding out either. As for my own stepping, my rather sedentary lifestyle (grad student, researching and writing dissertation) means that some days i probably barely get above 1,000 steps. To counter that tendency, i play softball a couple of times a week, and i run 5 miles (8km) about 4-6 times a week. Also, not having a car means that a trip to the store requires walking. And just going to the library, which i do quite frequently, takes a bit of walking too. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/8 "2006-07-28T20:23:45Z")
They say a mile is equal to about 2000 steps. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/9 "2006-07-28T23:11:49Z")
I read the same “10,000 steps” advice and measured my steps, too. To be especially accurate, I walked the track at the high school to calibrate the pedometer. I walk between 12,000 and 16,000 steps a day, up to 8 miles, and ‘walked off’ (lost) 2 pedometers! ---
**Author:** ![eveanyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@eveanyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eveanyn)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/10 "2006-07-29T00:17:17Z")
Awhile ago, many of my co-workers started buying Special K cereal because you got a free pedometer in the box. We all liked to walk around outside the building at breaks and lunch, anyway to stretch our legs and chat, so having a gadget to measure our steps was a very cool thing. Shortly, we realized that we could just stand still and bounce up and down slightly and still accumulate steps! Hilarity ensued as about a dozen laughing women stood in one spot doing a stupid little dance to try to get to 100 first. These are all grown women, mind you. We did get the health benefits of one good laugh a day! I would imagine that the electronic ones are far more accurate. I’m going to check out the Accusplit Eagle. I’d really like to know how far I actually do walk in a day. My job requires steel toed shoes and if it’s nice out, I spend at least 20 minutes outside walking as well as my usual daily tasks inside. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/11 "2006-07-29T15:47:16Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I was wondering how much walking I do, so I decided to look into pedometers. I soon found that there’s a fad that recommends 10,000 steps a day for health. Whatever. I just wanted to know how many steps I took. So I bought a Accusplit Eagle 120 Digiwalker Pedometer, which I’ve been wearing the past two days. Looks like I’m doing about 7,500 steps per day. 12,000 steps pussyfooting iaround the house and/or office isn’t the kind of walking it takes to take it off. Walking trails or outdoors at a moderately fast pace is required to take off the averdupois! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-000-steps-a-day/366362/12 "2006-07-29T15:51:08Z")
True. But I was only curious about the number; not fitness.