50 k steps per day

[Corney]

Can someone please explain to me the reasoning or obsession with recording 50K steps per day?  I measured my step length to be about 24 inches,  50K steps would be 100K  feet or almost 19 miles per day!  Whether you realize it or not, you and your body will be paying for all that mileage someday in the future, then ask yourself, was it really worth it!  I ran for over 25 years, 6-7 miles per day, everyday, luckily I listened to my body and it told me when to stop before I suffered permanent overuse damage to Joints, Tendons and or Ligaments.  I can only hope you are willing to listen to your body, it will tell you when enough is enough!

[JohnRi]

I would suspect that anyone hitting 100,000 steps a day is either a insane marathon runner or cheating.  There's a fitbit model that you can spin on your finger and get steps.  Why anyone would want to do this, i have no idea.  I think the same thing for people hitting 10 miles a day.  I can walk 5 miles, but only every other day.  I can imagine 19 miles...  I just got 70,000 steps in a week for the first time today.  AND IT WAS HARD... 

[Dominique]

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@Corney wrote:

Can someone please explain to me the reasoning or obsession with recording 50K steps per day?

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This is really beating a dead horse, as proven by the endless discussions in other threads, eg. this one (whether it’s 50k, 80k or 100k doesn’t matter). If some people think it’s cool averaging these kind of step counts day in day out, and that it will impress other people, fine. I personally just ignore them. Why not focus on improving our own health and fitness, regardless of what others are doing?

[Incognito]

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@JohnRi wrote:

I would suspect that anyone hitting 100,000 steps a day is either a insane marathon runner or cheating.  There's a fitbit model that you can spin on your finger and get steps.  Why anyone would want to do this, i have no idea.  I think the same thing for people hitting 10 miles a day.  I can walk 5 miles, but only every other day.  I can imagine 19 miles...  I just got 70,000 steps in a week for the first time today.  AND IT WAS HARD... 

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Congrats on hitting 70k in a week.  Each person has their own goals and their own tolerances.  Just because you cannot do what others are doing, doesn't mean it cannot be done.  10 miles is not at all difficult for me and a lot of people I know.  That is going to be roughly 22k steps for myself to get that.  It's a shame that I have been extremely lazy lately, but as soon as it gets to be spring again, I can get upwards of close to 30k a day.  

To each their own.. And do what you can and always challenge yourself if you can.

[brunoky]

I cant for the life of me see how someone can get 50-100k steps in a day I did a 30k step yesterday for the first time just to see if I could do it and it was really hard am not going to try it again at least not intentionally.I usually average around the 15=22k each day I wouldnt get that if I didnt use the treadmill I am 65 and not overweight 

[shipo]

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@brunoky wrote:

I cant for the life of me see how someone can get 50-100k steps in a day I did a 30k step yesterday for the first time just to see if I could do it and it was really hard am not going to try it again at least not intentionally.I usually average around the 15=22k each day I wouldnt get that if I didnt use the treadmill I am 65 and not overweight 

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The thing is, 50,000 is certainly possible on an occasional basis, however, folks doing it every day are very few and far between; I think I've read posts from no more that a handful, and they're doing stuff like hiking across Italy.  Stepping it up to the 100,000 in a single day threshold and I've only seen two recent posters back up such claims with how and what they did to achieve that lofty number.

It is pretty safe to assume unless there is a very good amount of support, folks making such claims are doing so with what are often referred to as "fake steps".

[Corney]

I agree those who claim to walk 50K-80K steps per day are not doing it on a daily basis, week after week and month after month.  Doing it once or twice, although inane shouldn't cause irreversable damage, but calling it easy is quite the understatement.