20K and above

[MmmMarc]

I'm curious...how you do it, consistently.  Is it your job?  If it's your job, then you can ignore this...

If you are a marathon runner, you can ignore this

I want to know how a "normal" person with a desk job (or a stay-at-home person) gets over 20K in a day through a regular workout (no more than 30 minutes a day) and just doing normal person stuff.  

Do you understand what I'm asking?  Are you a busy body?  Do you have a huge house full of kids that keep you on your feet?  What drives you, what keeps you moving.  

Again, this question is for NORMAL people haha.  Not a mailman, not a Zumba instructor.  Not a marathon runner in training.  Just a run of the mill person who is in shape but isn't some sort of over achiever.  

[t.parker]

@MmmMarc this may surprise you but most of runners in training don't get that many steps at all. When training, they put quality over quantity, steps are irrelevant (not a metric of anything except cadence). I'm software engineer (desk job) but use my lunchtime for workouts. Rarely get 20k+ (last 4 weeks only 9 times). One hour of running clocks me in 11k-12k steps and I usually end my day with 15k after including moving around office and house. I'm sure it is possible for regular people to reach 20k every day (my wife tried that years ago when was into challenges and she's no athlete) but it requires lots of time (which for many people is a commodity). Also, it is easier to get lots of steps when using Fitbit because it never turns off steps counting. For example, if I'm on my bike my Garmin won't give me any steps but Fitbit can be very generous (bumpy 30min-40min ride can easily give you extra 5k-8k steps, indoor bike as less "bumpy" usually registers 4k-5k). Some people may get that target through those activities (like commuting to work on bike).

One thing I find interesting is that it is easier for me to stay active when I work from the office rather than home. Looking at my stats, wednesdays and fridays (when I work from home) are days when I often don't even reach 10k 😁 so desk job may work in some cases better for some people.

[Heather-S · Accepted solution]

@MmmMarc I'm a normal person who works from home at a desk job. I average about 15K per day, but some days I can reach 20K if I'm strategic about it. It is not possible to get to 20K with only 30 minutes of activity a day, you can't even get to 10K steps with 30 minutes. A 30 minute run might get me 5,000 steps. So people who are doing 15-20K per day are likely devoting at least 1-2+ hours per day to walking/running.

For me personally, I walk or run every single morning for 45-60 minutes before work -- this is the ONLY way I can consistently get in my steps. This earns me 5,000 to 9,000 steps depending on if I'm walking or running. Then during the work day, I get up to play with my dogs and get some steps in my backyard. Sometimes I stand at my desk instead of sit and walk in place for a few minutes. Then after work I go for another walk, 20-30 minutes or sometimes longer if I'm trying to reach 20K. 

With a desk job, it is hard to get in steps and I have to take breaks to move around. Sometimes if the weather is pleasant and my day is not super busy, I will take a short walk around lunch time. That doesn't happen very often, though.

[t.parker]

@MmmMarc  I totally agree with @Heather-S  about how time consumig it is for an average person. Just to give some numbers, my last Saturday easy long run (22km, 1hr57min with short stop of total 2-3min for taking some pictures) generated me 21.9k steps. Average cadence was 190 steps per minute (and sometimes more on downhills). If you think of it, it is very fast "stepping" rate that most of people won't be able to achieve without training (even runners!). So this took 2 hours of my day. If I walked it would easily double. Brisk walk is on average 100spm. 2 hours of brisk walking would give you 12k steps so you are still 8k short. If one wants to do it every day then it will require lots of time. I do believe some people do so but I also believe that majority not at all🙂

You mentioned Zumba. My wife attends Zumba classes (as a goer not instructor, after her work three times a week). She tried my Sense 2 couple of weeks ago and I can see that one hour of elliptical and one hour of Zumba resulted with 10816 steps. Still, not that many for two hours of intense gym workout (also Zumba "steps" depend on how much she waves arms rather than on her footwork).

[MmmMarc]

I'm a runner.  Well, I was...and I used to run every other day at LEAST 3 miles.  So i do understand and know how many steps running can produce.  I was being somewhat sarcastic about marathon runners.  That's what I call people who average over 30K per day...what a joke.  Those people just live different lives, I'm assuming.  No friends.  No family.  No life.  The few times I've hit LARGE amounts of steps (45K is my highest) I was alone at home all day and spent the day on the treadmill.  You can't have that many steps and have human relationships.  

I digress, I do know that running can just get you a lot of steps in a short amount of time, but then you have to REST and RECOVER after.  That's why I have always been blown away and curious about people who average over 20K.  

[MmmMarc]

Thanks for first letting me know that you are in fact a normal person!  haha.  Reading what you wrote, you are indeed normal and your life is pretty similar to mine. I get about 5-7k during my actual workouts, but then I walk my dog about a mile daily, and I have two teens and a pretty big yard that needs to be taken care of.  I don't sit much at home, which is annoying to anyone around me.  At work I do sit at a desk, but I get up at least once an hour and get some steps in.  All things considered I have to really look SILLY to get 20K.  Move move walk walk and it's annoying to those around me. 20K average?  No way in hell...not a chance.  Who are these magnificent specimens who do this?  lol.  Sarcasm, yes.  

[Heather-S]

Yesterday I reached 20K steps. I did a 60 minute walk in the morning at a good pace, which earned me just over 7,000 steps. Then I went out for another walk after I wrapped up work. It was 54 minutes and a little more leisurely pace and I earned 6,000 steps. So 13,000 steps and almost 2 full hours of walking. The other 7,000 steps were from moving around the house, using my standing desk and walking in place, and playing with my dogs in the backyard. It does take a lot of movement to get to 20K. 

15K is more realistic for me on a daily basis. I love walking after work to watch the sunset, but sometimes I'm just too tired to change clothes and get out there, but I never regret when I do. 

[MmmMarc]

You are proving my point!  This is awesome!  See what I mean?  Two hours devoted to steady walking and then you're moving around the house, using a standing desk, walking in place, and of course playing with pets.  I'll bet you feel like it was quite an active day too.  Like, not something you could/would do on a daily basis.  I appreciate your input on this, because honestly it drives me nuts..and to think there are people who do over 50K daily?  Nope.  No way.  You'd have to be a robot. 🙂 

[MmmMarc]

BTW, your Zumba info, although it was totally legit, it cracked me up!  haha.  Often in challenges, if someone is getting a ridiculous amount of steps, I always comment that they must be doing a Zumba class, flailing their arms about!  

[t.parker]

@MmmMarc so you pretty much in the same boat as I am and answered your own question. People must have lots of time (and will) to do that every day and this isn't a majority of users. It may look like that most of people reach some huge numbers every day but that's skewed view. As a runner, you probably also know that steps won't matter when it comes to running (there are way more important metrics) so runners don't really focus on it. When I race, I will get those steps in but after race I don't feel much like continuing (although often do as a part of recovery, easing out, I see in stats it can inflate steps over 30k on those days although usually I just drive my wife to some nice mall and myself I go to die in some coffee shop :D). Doing same distances in non-racing mode (stead-easy pace) will result with the same amount of steps (I can keep high cadence also running easy) and won't destroy me for the rest of my day (and the difference in time is maybe 30min). So in theory, I could go every day, every early morning for an easy long run, or two times easy 10k a day (or simplifying - up to 1hr). I guess, that would be possible but as a runner with past injuries due to overuse I also know that it would backfire eventually (and for that I follow myTrainingForcast tool rather than blindly clocking in metrics or steps, better safe than sorry :)). Yet still, I'm a regular person with daily office job, family, responsibilities and with such time constraints focusing just on steps would result with no progress at all. Hence, quality is way more important than quantity. I believe that people who can afford walking/stepping for hours do not have any other progression goals in mind except getting as many steps as possible. Also remember what I said about how Fitbit counts steps. I always get more steps with Fitbit than Garmin due to those differences. Some people who achieve more steps on Fitbit wouldn't get it on other platforms due to the ways they do steps. It is knows that some people put Fitbit on foot which makes possible stepping in place and do whatever you want with hands (you can step in place being at your desk in the office and steps will accumulate quickly). Doing the same thing when on bike will work as kind of conversion of cycling cadence into running cadence (and lots of Fitbit users want some kind of conversion and credit for cycling). See that slow spinning 70rpm is already 140spm which is approx. 40 more than if you tried to brisk walk but less effort (2400 steps more per hour and you barely sweat if set resistance or gear to easiest). Since Fitbit rewards only steps (there no other metrics rewarded) lots of users looks for ways to get a credit for all they do (hard to blame them) and that may show as more steps.

[MmmMarc]

Well, I did answer my own question but you validated it, which is what I was looking for.  haha.  I think too much.  

I've also suffered from overuse injuries...so I'm going to look into that tool you mentioned.  I've stopped running because of injuries but I'm getting back to it.  

Wow you are full of good information!  I appreciate all this input, sincerely.  I wish I could join you on that coffee shop trip so we could chat about all this.  haha.  

I've heard that Fitbit challenges are going away?  Sorry, I know we're veering off topic a little bit, but meh.  We seem to come back.  

[Heather-S]

I have runner's knee in my right knee. I have to take time off from running every now and then to give it a break and make sure I do other activities like yoga and mobility stretches to keep it healthy.

But as you can see, my 20K step day yesterday (with a full day of work too) didn't leave me much time to do anything else except walk and work. I did cook dinner before my evening walk, but once dinner and the walk was done, I took a shower and collapsed on the couch for the rest of the night. It did not leave room for other activities I enjoy like yoga. 

[MmmMarc]

I get runner's knee in my left knee, runner's hips (if there's such a thing) in both, then some sort of weird runner's calf, so I wear calf sleeves...and several years ago had stress fractures in my 4th metatarsal on my left foot.  All these things hit about the time I get to a speed I'm happy with.  Oh well.  

If I were to take the time necessary to average 20K per day, my family would disown me.  

[t.parker]

@MmmMarc I don't know any runner who wouldn't suffer runner's knee at some point 🙂 That also includes me (my knee took me off running for over a year). I started year with an Achilles tendonitis of my right foot and that was no fun 🙂 Mentioning tools, check out Recover app (it's Strava's sister app) which contains customized prehab workouts. I use that right after when something in my body starts feeling off (I learned the hard way not to ignore signs my body gives me). Runners usually feel incoming injury and reacting early is probably the best thing to do.