600-700 Thousand Steps in Work Week Challenge?

[Sbarsell1220]

I saw a post on my Fitbit App where a group of people had 600-700 thousand steps in the Work Week Hustle. How is that even possible, that's over 100,000 steps a day for 5 days. My best 5 days is 150,000 and that was not working, running and walking for 5 days almost non stop. So how does someone get over 600,000, it has to be fake or they manually load their steps to get that many. 

[Ronlaub]

I've had a chance to meet some of the very best ultramarathoners in the United States and none of them train like that. It would be inappropriate of me to accuse any particular person in any group of manipulating their stats. But if you check results of 6-day races that are held on occasions, there are only a few of the top racers in the world that can do that in a week, much less week after week. 

[Uschip66]

The Fitbit counts certain movements as steps when it shouldn’t. I noticed when i lay in the hammock and sway back and forth the Fitbit counts the sway movements as steps. Definitely not accurate counting. Design flaw?

[Sbarsell1220]

Exactly! Thank you. I am not sure how one would manipulate their step counts but it is impossible to legitimately get over 100,000 steps for everyday for a week. 

[YojanaFitbit]

Welcome to the Forums @Uschip66. Nice to have you here @Sbarsell1220 and @Ronlaub! 

Wow those are a lot of steps! Not sure how a person can get that number of steps. It might be that they are doing what @Uschip66 suggested, but we would have to check that specific case. If that's the case I think it's best to compete with friend that you already know that they are competing following all the rules.

You can read about the Fitbit accuracy here: How accurate are Fitbit devices? 

At this time, only steps from your Fitbit device or MobileTrack count towards a challenge. That means manually logged activities and activities tracked through any third-party apps aren't included in your challenge total. If you have questions about it keep me posted.

Good luck in your future Challenges.

[valerie69]

It's possible.  I work with a man who belongs to 2 teams and some of the members walk at least 50,000 steps a day so that adds up.  Sometimes this guy will go to the gym in the morning and evening and walk for at least 3-4 hours at a time.  He's very competitive so whatever works, but why??? 

[YojanaFitbit]

Thanks for sharing this information @valerie69! I'm glad to see you comment. I think that it will depend on what is doing each person but it's good to know that there are people getting those numbers.

Keep sharing your thoughts around.

[Sbarsell1220]

Yes I agree 50,000 steps a day is doable. That would take working out twice a day and walking/running 3-4 hours. I am asking how do people get 5-600,000 in a 5 day work week? That is over 100,000 steps in a day. My best is around 50,000 steps and that was working out or doing some kind of walking for 18 hours that day. How can someone triple that and do it for a week straight?

I know I should only care about myself but mostly just curious and astonished I see these people getting over 600,000 steps in a 5 day period. I have got 150,000 and it was absolutely ridiculous how much I ran and walked that week. I am in pretty good shape and workout all the time. The people in the pictures don't even look like tri athletes or ultra-marathoners.

[Ronlaub]

I'll give you an idea how difficult it is to hit 100k steps in a day, since I've accomplished it once. I compete in 24-hour races as a walker. In 2017, I had a few thousand steps before the race started at 8:00. I then walked nonstop at a brisk pace (excluding restroom breaks) and hit 100k just before midnight. That's 16 hours of continuous walking just to hit it for one day.

If you're a runner, you can do it quicker. But you'd have to do the equivalent of about two marathons in a day to have a chance to pull it off. That would take an unbelievable toll on your body to try to do either for five straight days.

You be the judge on whether any typical person can do this day-after-day and still have a life (or a job). Needless to say, I'm a skeptic.

[YojanaFitbit]

Wow @Sbarsell1220 and @Ronlaub very impressive numbers! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. We're glad to know that we have a lot of competitive runners and walkers here! Keep adding your comments on the Forums. I've moved this thread to our Get Moving board on the Lifestyle Discussion Forums, to have the option to receive more interaction from other runners and walkers.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. 

See you around.

[Ronlaub]

It would be nice if some of these people that average over 100k steps a day would share their training regimen (in detail). It will be fun to see if the math adds up. 

[Rich_Laue]

It would be impossible to average 100K a day every day without literally killing yourself. I would think it would be hard, not impossible to do it 700K in 7 days if the person is in shape and has worked up to it.

For me that would be 2 marathons each day.

Annette Fredskov ran 366 marathons in 365 days, and a few have done 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 consecutive days

[Sbarsell1220]

Totally agree, and the gals I see post that do 100,000/day and get 500-600,000 steps in a work week don't look like ultra marathoners or people who are in excellent shape. She did a 175,000 step day and said she walked for 24 hours straight, not sleeping and eating/walking at the same time. I call BS lol

[J-flex]

I know of someone who would repeatedly put up high numbers daily.  80K +.  This person was called out repeatedly about the suspicions of cheating.  Eventually it came out that these steps weren’t earned honestly.  So, when I see or read about people routinely getting those daily high numbers I call bs.........

[Rich_Laue]

175000 steps for small person would be about 75 miles.

[Ronlaub]

175K steps in one calendar day...by just walking??? The math on that is possible, but it would be totally different in the real world.

To do that, you would have to start right at midnight and continue for 24 hours straight at a 7300 step per hour pace (with zero breaks). That is a very fast walk, not a leisurely stroll.

Trying to maintain that pace alone for so long is hard to imagine, even if you're able to stay awake and eat while walking (which most ultramarathoners do). But speaking from experience as one that has done 24-hour races, you do need breaks.

Since you will have to take in large amounts of food and drink to replace the calories burned, you will need several bathroom breaks. You will also have to stop often to take care of your body in other ways, to prevent blisters, chafing, cramping  and other issues. So that means you would have to pick up your walking pace to compensate for down time to hit that goal.

Most of the top ultra runners that I've had the honor to race with barely get that many steps while running 100 miles or more in 24 hours. I have a tough time believing that anyone could accomplish this by walking.

[Heather-S]

I started removing those people from my friends list who continuously have 500K+ for the weekly average.  It's obvious that's not possible, day in, day out.  

The top person on my friends list has 231K steps for the 7 days.  She averages around 33K steps a day and always has.  Even to me, that sounds like a ton of of steps.  But it's possible she has a very active job.  33K steps a day is way more believable than 50K or 70K per day.  

I would remove the people who you don't believe are honest.  That's been the easiest course of action for me.

[Sbarsell1220]

Interesting, so how do they actually do it? Obviously I am not asking to figure out how to cheat...do they attach their fitbit to something that moves continuously, and just leave it on their all day? That's my guess. 

[Sbarsell1220]

I agree, my personal best is around 45,000 steps in a day. I am in decent shape and boy that was tough. I didn't sit down, ran, did yard work, went to the gym...it took 16 hours of pretty much constant moving obviously stopping for restroom and to eat to get 45,000. So I can't see how someone can average over 75,100k...has to be impossible.

[Sbarsell1220]

Look up username Ibb Z's profile. On Jan 2nd she posted that she got 185,535 steps! People ask how and she says she starts it at 12am and runs/walks for on her treadmill at home. I suppose with no breaks and that is all you do it is possible? What do you think?