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. 

[Liz_J]

Usain Bolt is the fastest man in earth. No one else can do that time or they'd be in the Olympics too.

[Liz_J]

Yes. And that means they walk over 1000 km a day????? Really ?????

[sdtd]

Here are some tips that have helped us get our step totals up.

Recently we got a small rescue dog that loves to walk. That's really helped in keeping my steps above 10,000 a day. We live in a hilly neighborhood and have mapped out several different routes that total between one and 2 miles. Two miles seems to be the pup's limit. The hills are steep enough we even get credit toward our goal of 10 flights of stairs a day, although the climb slows us, cutting down on the credit for very active minutes. Playing two sets of singles tennis tacks on several thousand. Going grocery shopping and walking up and down every single aisle adds lots of steps.

Note: You really have to be walking fast to get credit for active minutes, but it's no problem to log 80,000 a week, even if you're at Medicare age like us. Build slowly if you haven't been walking before, and get well-cushioned shoes. Wear two pairs of socks (old tennis trick to ward off blisters) and get shoes a bit larger to accomodate the thickness. Also, the extra cushioning from the socks seems to keep an old body's feet from aching.

But even with this, the fitbit-set goal of 2500 calories burn a day is something I've never achieved.

[LewWagner]

I'm a normal joe (for a 58 year old who was 300 lbs back in Nov 2013 and lost 130 lbs to be at 170 on Aug 22, 2014) and I walk alot.  Either around the mall connected to my office building, around the lake in our neighborhood, or at a nearby state park (Oak Mountain) in Pelham, AL.

I'm getting in an average of 6 - 10 miles of walking a day, now.  My goal is to get in at least 105,000 steps a week. Most if not every week, I go over that amount.  Translated into miles, I'm now averaging over 40 miles in a month (I used to just do 15 miles a month at first).

Some of the walks (especially in the state park over rugged mountain bike paths) are pretty steep, rocky, and rooty.  I burn alot of calories on those walks.

So, I think a person can meet 80,000 a week if they just do some walking in the evening, during lunch, or early in the morning before work.  Thoughts?

Lew

[LewWagner]

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@Gershon wrote:

Well, 60 miles a day is possible. Some of the walkers in the late 1800's and early 1900's averaged over 70 miles a day in walks across the United States. 

Anyway, I gotta go run 57 miles.

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Gershon,

I've become pretty addicted to walking and walking alot.  These past three days, I will have averaged around 10 miles per day.  And I'm not feeling it in my 58 year old muscles or bones or joints like I thought I would.  My personal best week is still around 48.5 miles, though.  I'm going to try for the next couple of days to see if I can keep this distance each day (takes about three walks a day to do that).

I don't think I can keep this sort of effort up for a long time frame, though.  I'll just settle for my 40+ mile weeks.

Lew

[LewWagner]

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@LewWagner wrote:

I'm a normal joe (for a 58 year old who was 300 lbs back in Nov 2013 and lost 130 lbs to be at 170 on Aug 22, 2014) and I walk alot.  Either around the mall connected to my office building, around the lake in our neighborhood, or at a nearby state park (Oak Mountain) in Pelham, AL.

I'm getting in an average of 6 - 10 miles of walking a day, now.  My goal is to get in at least 105,000 steps a week. Most if not every week, I go over that amount.  Translated into miles, I'm now averaging over 40 miles in a month (I used to just do 15 miles a month at first).

Some of the walks (especially in the state park over rugged mountain bike paths) are pretty steep, rocky, and rooty.  I burn alot of calories on those walks.

So, I think a person can meet 80,000 a week if they just do some walking in the evening, during lunch, or early in the morning before work.  Thoughts?

Lew

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Sorry, I meant 150 miles a month.  I'm averaging 40+ miles a week.

[sdtd]

Your plan sounds great. And your success is very encouraging. My thought is
you are varying your walking so it stays interesting, which is a great idea.

Will try not to be jealous that you have a mall nearby for bad weather
and/or the chance to see and talk with other regular Joes.

My Sis has a treadmill now and she's having success with that. We encourage
each other, and that's been a great help.

[prc1977]

The question had to do with averaging 80,000 steps each day for seven days so the number in question would be 560,000 steps per week.

[Liz_J]

80000 a week is easy. It's the people who say that do that per day!!!

[Liz_J]

Really??? Walking 12 hours in a day. At what pace. ?? That's just normal incidental steps don't count towards fitness. You have to WORK. for several hours to burn off very little.

[Gershon]

Lew,

I was kidding about the 57 miles in a day. Be careful about adding distance quickly. It's easy to walk into an injury. If there are any new pains, back off. If you walk without injury, it will pay off in about seven months. Then 8 to 10 miles a day will become easy.

Gershon -- now Road Walking

[SunsetRunner]

is it possible that she meant 80K in a week? that's very reasonable.

[midnightcut]

No she meant 80,000 a day ( or 70,000), I am reading this thread because I have exactly the same question, though mine is how do they do it? I admit "cheating" had not occurred to me, and if it is not real then my interest evaporates. I have messaged and asked but not yet had a response. So I remain curious. I have mused that since my own 30,000 steps in a day (twice now) takes me almost six hours walking (including 3,000 feet of altitude climb) then how? I an do 145,000 in a week but only if I reduce my average as the higher numbers then mean I need rest. Desk based treadmills are a real surprise, never imagined such a thing. Another guy uses a wii fit thing and throws. In some tennis, but his numbers are "only" 150',000 or so over a week, not a day. I gather a taller person has longer strides and a shorter shorter thus more steps for the same distance. My steps vary in length longer down hill, shorter and shorter the steeper the hill; my shortest probably the length of my foot (it's very steep) and my average is 87cm ( derived from using a gps based device and a separate non fit bit step counter so I know my fit bit basic step length is ok)

[oldrunner]

70,000 and more steps in a day? It can be done; but the ones that are doing it day after day for months are cheating. Don’t let the apologist convince you otherwise. The apologist as well as the cheaters are usually non-athletes and have no idea what it takes to get more than 10,000 steps a day. Anyone continually doing over 30,000 steps a day for a months is likely doing some form of cheating. Even if it is shuffling their legs while standing, shaking their wrist, using a vibrating machine, or wearing their fitbit on their dominate hand. That is cheating. I have caught two just writing their steps in. Save yourself some aggravation and don't compete with others online.

[Gershon]

Old Runner, 

I feel you set the bar to low at 30,000 steps a day. It does take a long time to condition the body to do that without injury. I'm averaging 25 or 26,000 a day and the only thing that keeps me from going farther is time.

My big jump came when I started focusing on the time at walking pace and trying to minimize random steps during the day.

I find competitions where I can place near the top, but not at the top. Then over a period of months, I work my way to the top if I can. I let it happen naturally with my training plan. I don't focus on winning as it ruins my long term goals. After I can win each month in a group, I leave it to give others a chance.

Gershon

http://48statehike.blogspot.com

[sdtd]

Don't know how to log steps except by actually walking with the device on. Don't need to know. BUT if a person can run, and likes to run more than an hour per day, I would not quibble with fitbit totals of 30000 or even much more per day.

[oldrunner]

I did not mean to imply that everyone that averages more than 30,000 steps a day for a month is cheating. I feel with time constraints such as they are we should be skeptical of those who claim they do more than 900,000 steps a month. Also, “some form of cheating” includes putting your fitbit on your dominate hand, moving your arm while sitting, shuffling your feet while standing still, writing bike miles as walking steps, etc.

[oldrunner]

Running will result in fewer steps per mile than fast walking for most people because a running stride is longer than a walking stride. Fast runners usually take no more than 180 steps per minute. A fast walker usually does the same. The average person would have to run more than 15 miles to log 30,000 steps. It is possible, but I would question it. After following a couple of cheaters, I found that you can just write in you steps.

It doesn't matter to me if people cheat; because I don't compete.

[sdtd]

I'm thinking time we put in for our fun runs. If I walked about 5 miles in one hour, gasp, pant, gasp and they ran 10 miles in that hour, they'd still put in more steps than me. Walking to and from work, I'd see them out every morning and evening running because they enjoyed it.

[oldrunner]

Are you sure you walk that fast?

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@sdtd wrote:
I'm thinking time we put in for our fun runs. If I walked about 5 miles in one hour, gasp, pant, gasp and they ran 10 miles in that hour, they'd still put in more steps than me. Walking to and from work, I'd see them out every morning and evening running because they enjoyed it.

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