Can Being Too Active For a Day Hurt You?

[inksmear]

So, I'm a wedding photographer, and I just got my fitbit last month. I love it so far! I finally had an opportunity to wear it while shooting a wedding yesterday, and the results made me wonder if I'm pushing myself too hard. I'll be bringing it up with my doctor soon, but was curious if anyone else has seen similar numbers on a very active/stressful day. 

Yesterday I logged 10,690 steps,

465 fat burn minutes,

156 cardio minutes,

and 21 peak zone minutes

Anyone else ever log similar numbers? I felt fine all day - sweaty and exhuasted by the end, of course, but nothing out of the ordinary for me when shooting a wedding. 

[USAF-Larry]

I've recorded numbers higher than that on long hikes, with upwards of 20K steps. I do not consider it being too active for me, because I have worked up to that level of fitness over time.

And, it does not sound like you over exerted yourself - being sweaty and exhausted is part of working out. If you have sore muscles, or pain somewhere, that would show over-doing it. But, being sweaty & exhausted is part of building fitness.

[shipo]

Fast answer: You didn't hurt yourself; not even close.

Long answer: Many folks, this fat old man included, routinely log similar hours of activity along with two or three times the number of steps compared to what you logged yesterday and never suffer from the extra activity.

Long story short, you're good to go.  🙂

[GershonSurge]

When people ask how much exercise they should do, I suggest wearing the fitbit for a week with no effort to get a lot of steps. Then work up gradually from there.

Since you asked the question if the amount of exercise you got that day can hurt you, I'll answer yes only because I feel your body is trying to tell you something. There is some system in your body that is not yet conditioned enough to handle the type of day you had. This isn't a serious thing. It's just advice to progess more slowly. It's sort of like a hangover telling people not to drink so much.

Many of us get higher numbers almost every day, but we've worked up to it. 

Doctors are surprisingly ignorant about exercise. Your doctor will likely spout the current CDC party line for the amount of exercise needed. This is a small amount. If your docter goes outside of this recommendation he or she is risking a lawsuit if something happens. 

[Dominique]

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@inksmear wrote:

Anyone else ever log similar numbers? 

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If you want to see what’s "normal" inside the (now huge) Fitbit population, you can start the free trial (one week) Fitbit Premium membership. This will let you "benchmark" yourself against the entire population, people in your age bracket, the same size as you etc. It provides a good reality check when you see people in challenges or in your friends’ list who log crazy step counts day in day out. 

[Dominique]

Based on your step count for the first month, it looks like you are transitioning from mostly sedentary (aka couch potato) to more active:

If you are used to life as a couch potato (step count < 2-3k), 10k must feel very challenging: after all, it requires at least 1.5 hours of walking/moving around. I remember the feeling when I started with Fitbit (three years ago): I had to struggle to get my 10k steps everyday. Now it doesn’t feel like anything, it’s just part of my daily routine.

[HelenaFitbit]

Well, 10.000 is the recommended amount of steps to take daily according to the American Heart Association. There are two relevant posts on the Fitbit.com Blog; that may help us understand the reasoning behind this number and if it's appropriate for your lifestyle. 

Personally, I step over 10k only about twice a week. When I was finishing up law school, I was walking everywhere and getting 12k minimum each day... until I ripped my fasciia because I wasn't wearing adequate footwear. 

Also, @Dominique's tip is really good; Fitbit Premium sets a goal to increase your activity at a relaxed pace. 

[Taurus21]

Try to take maybe 15-30 minutes in the evening and/or the morning to stretch. It reduces aches and helps prevent injuries. It also maintains muscles and keeps them in good health. I also like to sit and meditate for about 5-10 minutes and sometimes longer in order to reduce the stress. What you eat matters such as fruits, veggies, protein, and water (nutrient dense eating). 10,000 steps is usually an average daily step goal so it doesn't seem like you'de be overdoing it depending on your daily step average. Hope this helps. 🙂

[emili]

If you felt tired and nothing more- dizzy, faint, lethargic, confused- then you are good to go.. just remember to fuel properly food/ water . You will also notice a shift in your fat burn/cardio/peak as you become more fit. That is determined by your heart rate. As your heart becomes more efficient through movement, it will take more effort to get beyond fat burn.

[shipo]

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@emili wrote:

If you felt tired and nothing more- dizzy, faint, lethargic, confused- then you are good to go.. just remember to fuel properly food/ water . You will also notice a shift in your fat burn/cardio/peak as you become more fit. That is determined by your heart rate. As your heart becomes more efficient through movement, it will take more effort to get beyond fat burn.

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While it is true as you gain conditioning it becomes incrementally more difficult to work off excess fat, I don't believe there is any scientific basis to suggest a more efficient heart has anything to do with it.  Heck, if it did I'd never lose a pound.  😛

[Marcy]

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@HelenaFitbit wrote:

 two relevant posts 

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@HelenaFitbit The Fitbit link says, "10,000 steps a day is a rough equivalent to the Surgeon General’s recommendation to accumulate 30 minutes of activity most days of the week." That's a lot of steps for 30 minutes. The key word here must be "rough". 🙂 

[FitBeforeFifty]

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@Marcy wrote:

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@HelenaFitbit wrote:

 two relevant posts 

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@HelenaFitbit The Fitbit link says, "10,000 steps a day is a rough equivalent to the Surgeon General’s recommendation to accumulate 30 minutes of activity most days of the week." That's a lot of steps for 30 minutes. The key word here must be "rough". 🙂 

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@Marcy you are misinterpreting this because you aren't subtracting out the number of steps we accumulate just being a "sedentary office worker."

I get about 5500 steps doing no exercise -- just getting up, going to work and doing my job which is a desk job --- if I make no attempt to get extra steps. I would need 4500 extra steps to get to 10,000 which I could easily get by going out for a 30 minute walk.

Based on my personal experience, I'd say 10,000 steps is roughly equivelent to DeskJob+30MinuteWalk ... which to me is still not very active. I've been sidelined due to a bike accident for a few days and I'm still getting over 7500 steps.

[SunsetRunner]

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@inksmear wrote:

So, I'm a wedding photographer, and I just got my fitbit last month. I love it so far! I finally had an opportunity to wear it while shooting a wedding yesterday, and the results made me wonder if I'm pushing myself too hard. I'll be bringing it up with my doctor soon, but was curious if anyone else has seen similar numbers on a very active/stressful day. 

Yesterday I logged 10,690 steps,

465 fat burn minutes,

156 cardio minutes,

and 21 peak zone minutes

Anyone else ever log similar numbers? I felt fine all day - sweaty and exhuasted by the end, of course, but nothing out of the ordinary for me when shooting a wedding. 

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You are not pushing yourself too hard unless you're completely out of shape.  I've logged over 50,000 steps in one day 3 times.  Good job on your 10k steps

[Dominique]

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FitBeforeFifty wrote:

I would need 4500 extra steps to get to 10,000 which I could easily get by going out for a 30 minute walk. 

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150 steps per minute (4500 / 30)  is some serious walking...

[shipo]

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@Dominique wrote:
150 steps per minute is some serious walking...

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Short of Olympic style speed walking, is 150 steps per minute while walking even possible?

[Dominique]

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@shipo wrote:

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Short of Olympic style speed walking, is 150 steps per minute while walking even possible?

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Just did an experiment (two, actually). I set up a three minute countdown on my phone’s timer, and started it as I was walking on flat ground with an activity being recorded on my Surge, when the step count was a round amount. Walked as fast as I could during these three minutes: this got me 324 steps (108 steps per minute). Second experiment: same, but walking at my "normal" pace (about 6 km/h, the kind I can sustain comfortably for one hour or more); this got me 225 steps (75 steps per minute).

OTOH, I had a look at the stats on two walks I recorded today, for 8 km. I got 9305 steps in 81 minutes (115 steps per minute) and 8852 steps in 80 minutes (111 steps per minute) on the way back. Sometimes step counts can be confusing...

At any rate, it looks like 150 steps per minute walking would be out of my league.

[shipo]

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@Dominique wrote:

At any rate, it looks like 150 steps per minute walking would be out of my league.

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Thanks, good stuff.  FWIW, I just happened to go out for a brisk walk at lunch with a few coworkers; we walked a fairly hilly 3 kilometer mile course with about 55 meters of elevation gain/loss, and ended up walking at a cadence of 93 steps per minute; kinda right in there with some of your walks.  🙂

For my part, I'm quite sure I'd be seriously challenged to walk at a 150 cadence for more than a few moments; definitely out of my league as well.

[FitBeforeFifty]

My post run walk this morning was at 118 steps per minute, so 4500 steps would take me about 38 minutes. You guys were taking my 30 minutes a little too literally.

I wasn't trying to prove a precise number of minutes, I was just stating that a ~30 minute walk plus a normal day at my desk job gets me around 10,000 steps.

So, I'll revise, I can get to 10,000 steps per day at a desk job with a 38 minute walk after work. 

[Marcy]

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FitBeforeFifty wrote:

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Marcy wrote:

@HelenaFitbit The Fitbit link says, "10,000 steps a day is a rough equivalent to the Surgeon General’s recommendation to accumulate 30 minutes of activity most days of the week." That's a lot of steps for 30 minutes. The key word here must be "rough". 🙂 

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@Marcy you are misinterpreting this because you aren't subtracting out the number of steps we accumulate just being a "sedentary office worker."

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@FitBeforeFifty I was just taking it literally that 10000 steps is equal to an accumulated 30 minutes of activity, regardless of how that step activity occurs. 

[GershonSurge]

I use a metronome. Today, it was set at 129.34 steps per minute. Each bar is five minutes. The ones in the beginning were my warmup walk. I got 14,056 steps in 1:48:45. (I do stop the time for biobreaks. I had one today.) During the rest of the day, I get whatever steps it takes to burn 4,000 calories and get my chores done.. I'm at 25,427 at 6 pm. 

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