How can a person average 80,000 steps in a day?

[prc1977]

I don't mean to call anybody out or question somebody's integrity but there are fitbit users who average better than 75K steps a day over the course of a week. Assuming they get eight hours of sleep, that means they're walking almost 40 minutes each hour every hour of the day unless they're asleep. Every day for a week.

It is possible that they're running or training for a marathon or walking really fast or are really really into this walking thing but it seems like it is too much. Any way you do the math, it is an incredible amount of walking and it is sustained over the entire week.

What's the most anyone has ever walked in a day? How about in a week? 

I wonder what it would be like if I got up at five am and walked all day until midnight? Doing the math, it would theoretically be possible to break 100k but I don't think I could get anywhere near that. And 80k a day for a week seems too much too.

What do you think?

Moderator edit: Clarified subject. 

[KathleenGage]

When I ran a marathon I hit 65,000 that day. If the person is an elite runner it is possible. It would mean they are doing 25 plus miles a day.

There is a woman who actually did the equivilant to a marathon a day in power walking to honor her mom and dad and bring awareness to diabetes. http://www.yolandaholder.com/

It is possible and if someone can do it, wow! More power to them.

[shipo]

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@KathleenGage wrote:

When I ran a marathon I hit 65,000 that day. If the person is an elite runner it is possible. It would mean they are doing 25 plus miles a day.

There is a woman who actually did the equivilant to a marathon a day in power walking to honor her mom and dad and bring awareness to diabetes. http://www.yolandaholder.com/

It is possible and if someone can do it, wow! More power to them.

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Are you sure you did 65,000 steps in a single day?  I ask because I ran a relay a few years ago in an ultra format where I ran over 33 miles in a day and did a LOT of walking around in addition to cheer on my team mates; in that day I didn't even manage 50,000 steps; I cannot for the life of me figure out how you managed 65,000 from a single marathon.

Thinking about this from a different perspective, if an average walker was to walk a marathon the result would be roughly 52,400 steps.  If an average amature runner was to run a marathon where their average number of steps per mile was 1,700, they would only log 44,540 steps.  So, what did you do to log all of those extra steps?

[MihaiMVP]

Wow, studying something for 38 years to discover that you cannot do more than 50000 steps in a given day without incurring subtle but sure damage and also not attempt to break any step record by going backwards!

[KathleenGage]

That is what my fitbit logged.  Yes. It was 65,000.

[shipo]

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@KathleenGage wrote:

That is what my fitbit logged.  Yes. It was 65,000.

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Doesn't sound even remotely correct; faulty Fitbit?

[KathleenGage]

Does it really matter to you? It is what my fitbit logged and that's that.

And it only happened once. The next marathon I did was around 50,000.

[Corney]

MihalMVP  I did not state someone can't or shouldn't walk 50K steps in a day, I'm saying that if they do this over several years on a daily basis they are over stressing the bodies ability to keep and maintain the health of the Hyaline cartilage that covers evey synovial joint.  Several days ago I went into specific details concerning the Physiology of synovial joints and the method the body uses to maintain the Hyaline cartilage health.  If a person chooses to disregard that information, they are not hurting me.  So. Wow I say go for it, why stop at 50K, go for 80K, or even 100K.  More power to you!  You sound a little sarcastic. I suggest if you have a personal Physician, ask Him/Her what they think of someone walking 50K steps on a daily basis over several years.  I'd like to hear what they tell you, that is if you would care to share what they say.  Have a good day.

[shipo]

@KathleenGage, your initial point was it should be easy for an elite runner to achieve 80,000 steps in a day due to running 25+ miles in a day, and I say it isn't even remotely easy, even for such a runner.  The thing is, elite runners typically average only 1,200-1,300 steps per mile when they're training (and even fewer when racing); if they are indeed running 25+ miles in a day (something they may do on occasion, but certainly not every day), that only equates to 32,500 steps from running.

In my case I am far from an elite runner, this last weekend I ran three legs of a 200+ mile relay totalling 19.8 miles plus a 5K race on Sunday; in all I ran 22.9 miles and only logged 30,134 steps (average steps per mile: 1,316).  Even my longest training runs only yield about 30,000 steps.

Long story short, 999 out of 1,000 folks claiming 80,000+ steps in a day as an average are cheating in some fashion.

[Corney]

shipo I don't know of any training regimen that calls for running 25+ miles everyday. Maybe a long run 1-2 times per week but not everyday.  The body would breakdown or their immune system would be so compromised that they would become ill.  When I was running regularly the sign that I was over training was a fever.  Years ago I recall an American Olympic marathoner was running over 100 miles a day, most other runners and coaches were very skeptical.  He made it to the starting line, but dropped out after halfway.  No elite runner runs 25+ miles everyday of the week! 

[Corney]

shipo;  I truly doubt there are 1000 people out there that are averaging 80K steps everyday, and yes I do believe there are ways to cheat the fitBit, but they are only cheating themselves and cheating those that they are in competition with.  Within 2 years this discussion will be all but forgotten.

[GershonSurge]

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@Corney wrote:

shipo;  I truly doubt there are 1000 people out there that are averaging 80K steps everyday, and yes I do believe there are ways to cheat the fitBit, but they are only cheating themselves and cheating those that they are in competition with.  Within 2 years this discussion will be all but forgotten.

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I doubt that. The thread is already 2 1/2 years long.

[MihaiMVP]

@Corney

Thanks for sharing your perspective. I believe that with training and maybe a good sports background, 50 K+ seems attainable on a regular basis (maybe not years, but a few weeks at a time), followed by cool-off periods like a marathon training regimen. There are people walking / running across countries and I assume they normally are very active too (like doing maybe 25-35 K steps a day), not quite as "steps-focused" as in their treks. So if you don't push blindly, ignoring all the body signals, I believe most people should be able to handle a bout of effort. 50 K is not too extreme (I am into it myself  - not every day, but the average), 80 K is not reasonable with a day job :).

[Corney]

MihalMVP  My concern is for people who average 50K-80K steps on a daily basis for years.  The most important thing for these people is to listen to thier body,  The body knows more about it's status than any person who is motivated by some inane competition on a daily basis.  Mark my words, this 50K-80K step count, like any other fad will be a thing in the past in years to come.  I agree 80K steps a day is not reasonable with or without a day job and no one could keep it up for weeks at a time due to both mental and physical burnout.

[Corney]

GershonSurge  If this thread id truly 2.5 years long I guarantee no one has averaged 80K steps everyday for those 2.5 years, they are living in their own fantasy world!

[mydonspace]

Over the summer my company had a Fitbit step challenge to win prizes. I
later found out that some participants attached their Fitbit to their pets
or kids to get an edge on the competition. These people are only hurting
themselves because they feel the need to put themselves on a pedestal.

There is a lot more that goes into weight lost than the number of steps you
get. When I'm training for a marathon I probably get between 20K-30K a day
not including my long run day which is around 40K. During the weekday I
also walk my dog and 20 city blocks to and from work. I have to admit
when I first got a Fitbit 3 years ago I focused a lot on the number of
steps I would get. That was because I haven't discovered running. Once I
discovered I could cover more steps in less period time by picking up the
pace through running the weight started to drop off. This included by
tracking what I eat and setting goals for myself. Now that I've reached my
goal I focus more on continuing a healthy lifestyle by watching I eat,
train regular and maintain emotional balance through meditation. I
continue to use Fitbit to check in on my overall well-being and to maintain
an active lifestyle when I take a break from running in between races.

I guess what I'm trying to say if someone is truly getting 80,000 steps a
day how many of those are "active steps" and are they truly getting these
steps for the right reason, which should be to carry on a healthy lifestyle.

[Corney]

mydonspace  Sounds like you and I bought and use our FitBit for the same sane reason.  Sounds like you are on the way to good health and happiness.

[MihaiMVP]

200 k+ over the weekend. Can't wait to sync 😛

[paso]

200k in one weekend. That's remarkable. For someone like me that hasn't reached that in a week what type of pace and distance does that translate to?
Is this a first for you?

[SunsetRunner]

Wow seriously, 200k steps in two days

[KathleenGage]

Way to go!!!