Are you sick of cheaters in the stepping community?

[PaulSask]

I am. It's depressing.

https://www.fitbit.com/group/22XDSF

I made that group for anyone to join. I frequently walk almost all day long and never post numbers like the leaders I see in every large stepping group. If someone starts posting 100k steps daily, we'll ask them to explain themselves and if the explanation sounds somewhat fantastical, out they go. On the same note, if the group gets folks that can't make the minimum 10k (average over a week), they'll be kicked out too, however they'll be allowed back.

[Corney]

PaulSask:  I just ignore every post concerning steps.  If they are cheating they are only cheating themselves.

[MagsOnTheBeach]

I don't cheat and today I have just shy of 100,000 steps and I am a regular person and I still have half a day left!  The best thing is to just challenge yourself - in one of my groups someone has 300,000 this month, but she wakes up and walks on the treadmill for 3 hours straight every day and still walks more!  The whole kicking out thing is odd, kicking out for too much or too little? 

[WildCatClaire]

I have spent all day walking and jogging at work on a farm for 10h and walking after, normal stuff at the store and home. I still only hit about 60k steps in a day! I can’t challenge myself any harder than that 

[PaulSask]

If the average marathon is 57000 steps, you've nearly completed 2 in half a day. Congrats.

Is your friend's name Karnazes?

This is kind of the point of my post. I'd believe it if you'd run a marathon this morning but just walking around, no.

It's true that cheaters really only cheat themselves but it's nice when a hard fought total can be seen in legitimate context with honest peers.

[PaulSask]

I agree WCC.  My best day was 65k and it really hurt.

[emili]

I guess I view it a little different. I never join a challenge for the sake of winning. I couldn't care less. The reason I join a challenge is to chat with people through the day, see how they are doing, when their last walk or run happened- just be in together. If a challenge is silent and people pull down ridiculous numbers, I leave- no one needs to kick me out. I think the spirit in which these challenges were created was to help folks build comradery through a shared purpose- not be vigilante about who does what and if it isn't liked, get booted. My opinion of course.

[PaulSask]

And I thank you for it!

I'm doing it to help with motivation. YOU shouldn't have to leave the group because it's spoiled with cheats. That's my opinion.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[essieL]

I have achieved 100,000 once. It took me over 12 hours of solid walking. Not something that I could achieve except on a vacation day dedicated to hours of walking, certainly not something I could accomplish on a daily basis. 

I really do believe anyone who would cheat is defeating the whole purpose of wearing a Fitbit.  It’s about personal inspiration and goals, so individuals will feel motivated in the ordinary day and  to be aware of how little or how much exercise we get. Those badges and milestones have little meaning if you haven’t really reached them. 

[missnotsofit]

I'm new and barely making my 10,000 each day...actually missed the mark one day. I guess I need to challenge myself more.

[essieL]

Missnotsofit,  you go girl! Just the fact you are trying earns you points in my book!

[SunsetRunner]

Missnotsofit I hear ya.  I missed 10k steps by 1900 steps yesterday.  If I had just gone for one more walk around the office!  I'm 13 weeks postpartum and I need to get back to daily exercise.  I'm jealous of people who even manage 20k steps a day!

I actually started using fitbit a couple of years ago when my company offered a discount on the trackers & a company wide competition using another app.  Thousands of people joined in, and it was impossible.  People on top were averaging 90k + steps a day.  Most people believe they were cheating.  There are no jobs in this company where you are moving all day, unless they're working from home with treadmill desks.  So I don't join those competitions anymore.

[essieL]

Your “treadmill desk” comment was so funny!

[bbarrera · Accepted solution]

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@MagsOnTheBeach wrote:

I don't cheat and today I have just shy of 100,000 steps and I am a regular person and I still have half a day left!

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How is this real without being on a treadmill for 10+ hours, or having a job where you walk all day long (e.g. delivering the mail), or you are getting tons of false steps from moving arm (wrist tracker)? 

Here is my personal step math.... When walking fast, around 14 minutes per mile (over 4.25 miles every hour), I get say 9000 steps. Maybe 10,000 steps if I focus on taking smaller steps. Half a day is 12 hours - so walking fast (jogging pace for some) for 12 hours with a couple of short breaks would give me roughly 100,000 steps. In my office I can pace around on conference calls and log 4000-6000 steps an hour. Over 16 hours pacing my office to bag 100,000 real steps. Again those are real steps, no false steps from moving my arm or driving on bumpy roads and getting false steps.

I'm very active, switched from walking to cycling a couple years ago. Work full-time and have a family. Right now I'm prepping for some 200 mile rides this spring, training by cycling/spinning 8-11 hours a week (over an hour a day!) and that is a huge time commitment.

Some recent big step days... 36,000, a family hike on Yosemite's Panorama trail for 10.5 miles over 6 hours. A week after that I walked a 13.1 mile half-marathon in under 3 hours - for a 29,000 step day (matches up with comment about 57,000 steps for a 26 mile marathon). Did a 200 mile bike ride last May, burned almost 9000 calories and received "48,000 steps" (obviously not real steps). Biggest step day - 60,233 - was actually a bumpy 100 mile bike ride in Napa Valley with tracker in back jersey pocket.

My sister-in-law got an Alta HR for Christmas, she walked 6000 steps before work on Tuesday, and when I came in for a haircut at 4pm she had 14,000 steps. Close to 8000 false steps cutting hair from 9am to 4pm.

Challenge yourself? I do all the time, in fact I get better cardio workouts riding than stepping. Just can't come up with any math that has a "regular person" logging 100,000 real steps in half a day. 

[bman57]

My daughter walked the A.T.   They averaged about 32,000 steps a day.  Took her and her boyfriend five months to complete.  On one occasion. her boyfriend walked 60 miles in without stopping.  That is approximately 125,000 steps.    I see people who claim they average that.   My father use to say this about golfers "There may be a golfer that will not cheat at golf, but may cheat at life.  However, any person who cheats at golf "will" cheat at life.

[MeltyCat]

I actually encountered a couple of cheaters myself and I've only had my FitBit since the 2nd. I suppose it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it is frustrating when you are actually trying to reach goals yourself and see people doing it just for popularity or whatever.

[Datjoker]

Nothing like patting yourself on the back. WGAF!

[Cold_Dog]

According to Arizona State University the average male walking stride is 2.5 ft or 30 inches.   So a 100,000 step day would covers about 47 miles.  The average speed a personal walks is about 3 mph. 

47/3 gets you to 15 hours.   To get to 8 hours you'd have to walk about 5 to 6 miles per hour.  

Power walkers go at that pace. 

"Race walking is done competitively, and national-class male race walkers cover a 20-kilometer -- 12.5-mile -- race in approximately one hour and 30-minutes. That is about 8 to 9 mph."

Just some thoughts on the matter......

[Corney]

Cold_Dog: Who cares! They are only fooling themselves! No one does it 5
days a week, 4 weeks a month. So someone spends 12 hours walking just to
log 80-100K steps once. They get a badge only they can see unless they put
it in face book. One should worry about something that will affect
everyone's life by 2050, Climate Change.

[Run12]

I love to track my steps but the most Important data to me that I look at on my Fitbit page is my active minutes. I always know when I'm up against cheaters because my active minutes are 3 and 4 times more than theirs yet they have 100,000+ more steps than me.  I have a desk job but run at least 3-5 miles after work and I barely get 10,000-12,000 by the end of the day.