How do people average 50000 steps per day?

[Emmeli]

Who has the time to average 50,000 steps a day!? How can this be possible?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[nkotblove]

hello there its been a long time for me to chatting to you all last night I was walking and on my steps was 20,000 steps in 

that's is a lot of walking. 

thanks for reading my post have a good weekend 

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@GershonSurge wrote:

@BruceBu

"If you don't believe, you certainly won't even try, never succeed, never rid yourself of your disbelief."

Bruce, I think this is one of the all time great motivational quotes I've read. It can be applied to almost any great accomplishment. Too many posts in this topic have been devoted to why 50k steps a day is impossible instead of asking "How is it possible?"

Granted, many of the people who log 50k steps or more a day are cheating. What difference do the cheaters make in my life except to ruin the activity groups. From the start, I believed you and I have been asking myself, "How is this possible?" I've gone down some false paths in trying to extend the number of steps I do a day, and they have all led to days off to rest minor aches and pains.

The breakthrough came when I discovered Jeff Galloway and his run-walk-run method. The key is to never drift into an area where fatigue starts to occur. Now that I've fully adopted this concept, my morning runs are easy. I don't feel any fatigue at the end of my runs, and there is no residual fatigue the next morning -- you know, the type that disappears in the first 20 minutes.

Bruce, you said you never go more than 115 steps per minute. This would be 1725 steps every 15 minutes. You seldom do this many. This means you must be doing some sort of resting; either stopping or greatly reducing your pace. Could you tell us more about this?

There is a running speed where most of the forces are generated by the natural elasticity of the Achilles tendon and supporting muscles. For me, it can hardly be called running. It's at a stride rate of 138 to 140 bpm. Usually, closer to 138. Jeff Galloway recommends shuffling and barely picking up the feet. The stride is short. The forces are minimal and it's almost silent. Introduce frequent walking breaks, and there is no buildup of fatigue. I like alternating running 30 seconds and walking 30 seconds. At this ratio, there isn't time for fatigue to start. Both running and walking become rest breaks.

Endurance running seems to be the domain of people in their late 50's and older. The upper limit hasn't been found yet. I'm not saying fast endurance running. The 100 mile races are still won by younger people.

I think older and wiser people have learned to conserve energy and resources. There is no need to drink water on a long run if a person conserves water by not sweating. In fact, much of the needed water comes as a byproduct of burning fat at a slow pace instead of carbs at a fast pace. There is also a savings because water is not needed to flush waste products from the muscle cells and discharge it as yellow urine or stinky sweat. There is no need to eat if a person goes slow enough to burn fat. We have plenty of fat reserves for a long run. The carbohydrate reserve is small and can run out for the faster runner who gets into higher heart rates.

I'd like to see the disbelief suspended in this topic and have the topic dominated by believers who are working towards an "impossible goal." Maybe not 50k steps a day, but some number that is individually difficult.

I'd like to write more, but it's time for my morning run. The sky will start to turn light in a few minutes.

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[wookietim]

I agree - if we assume that the average person is awake for 18 hours a day,
then they could reach 50,000 steps for a day by taking 2,778 steps per hour
(Actually 2,777.777777778 steps per hour but I am rounding up). That is
possible. One could do that. But doing that every single day of the week?
That is where it starts to become a problem to argue.

"Possible" is one thing. "Probable" is quite another.

It is "Possible" for the desk I see right now to spontaneously turn into
gold. It is not, however, "Probable". Same for this - it is quite possible
to get 50,000 steps in one day. It is less probable that the same person
can do that, day after day, for weeks and months.

[GershonSurge]

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@wookietim wrote:
I agree - if we assume that the average person is awake for 18 hours a day,
then they could reach 50,000 steps for a day by taking 2,778 steps per hour
(Actually 2,777.777777778 steps per hour but I am rounding up). That is
possible. One could do that. But doing that every single day of the week?
That is where it starts to become a problem to argue.

"Possible" is one thing. "Probable" is quite another.

It is "Possible" for the desk I see right now to spontaneously turn into
gold. It is not, however, "Probable". Same for this - it is quite possible
to get 50,000 steps in one day. It is less probable that the same person
can do that, day after day, for weeks and months.

---

Your assumption that a person who gets 50,000 steps/day is spending all their waking hours getting them is wrong. Perhaps, you could develop an assumption that would make it possible. Then devise a training plan based on that assumption.

[wookietim]

Let's put it this way - I recently did a "Relay for Life". It's a 24 hour
long relay around a track to support cancer victims. My team had only two
people in it and at least one of us had to be on the track walking the
whole time.

I only got 40,000 steps that day. And the next day I wasn't exactly gonna
go out and do that again, considering the blisters I had. And I wasn't
exactly walking slow either.

So saying a person averages 50,000 steps per day strikes me as somewhat
unrealistic. Just having an active job isn't gonna do that.

[wookietim]

Let's put it this way - I recently did a "Relay for Life". It's a 24 hour
long relay around a track to support cancer victims. My team had only two
people in it and at least one of us had to be on the track walking the
whole time.

I only got 40,000 steps that day. And the next day I wasn't exactly gonna
go out and do that again, considering the blisters I had. And I wasn't
exactly walking slow either.

So saying a person averages 50,000 steps per day strikes me as somewhat
unrealistic. Just having an active job isn't gonna do that.

[GershonSurge]

@wookietim,

What's wrong with all your assumptions is there is a person here who has proven he can maintain 50,000 steps a day and more for a month. Any statements that it is not possible are simply irrelevant. All they mean is you can't do it. I can't do it either, but I can see how it's possible with training.

By the way, walking quickly the whole time is one of the reasons you can't do it. Getting blisters is an indication of your lack of training.

[londonrunner88]

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@wookietim wrote:
I agree - if we assume that the average person is awake for 18 hours a day,
then they could reach 50,000 steps for a day by taking 2,778 steps per hour
(Actually 2,777.777777778 steps per hour but I am rounding up). That is
possible. One could do that. But doing that every single day of the week?
That is where it starts to become a problem to argue.

"Possible" is one thing. "Probable" is quite another.

It is "Possible" for the desk I see right now to spontaneously turn into
gold. It is not, however, "Probable". Same for this - it is quite possible
to get 50,000 steps in one day. It is less probable that the same person
can do that, day after day, for weeks and months.

---

Finally. Someone who's speaking pragmatic clear sense. 

Not trying to tear anyone down, but people who do it "daily" it's just not probable.  

[GershonSurge]

Why don't the disbelievers start a topic called "Nobody can average 50,000 steps a day" and leave those of us who know it can be done alone?

[wookietim]

Obviously you are not a liar. The fitbit recorded that many steps. I think
most people are just trying to figure out HOW it recorded that many and
that many so consistently for so long.

[GershonSurge]

@wookietim, @BruceBu,

It was BruceBu who recorded that many steps, not me. I'm not in the same league as him. I do play the same sport though.

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@wookietim wrote:
Obviously you are not a liar. The fitbit recorded that many steps. I think
most people are just trying to figure out HOW it recorded that many and
that many so consistently for so long.

---

I disagree with your statement. Most people are trying to figure out why 50,000 steps a day is not possible. If they were trying to figure out "How?" they would be asking, "How do you do that?"

If you are seriously interested in the How?, I suggest reading ALL of Jeff Galloway's books and ALL of Joe Henderson's books. As you are reading, go out and try their methods. Then you will have the answers to all your questions.

[brunoray]

True. And I'm wondering how this issue has lasted sooo long on here. I do 9 to 16 a day; sometimes less. 50k doesn't mean much to me. 👟👟

Sent from my iPhone

[BruceBu]

How? Short term targeting: 1100 - 1200 steps every 10 minutes (this is short enough that if you come up short on one, you can make it up the next) and make breaks short and infrequent (earn them by pushing for a few segments). This yields 6600 - 7200 steps/hour (not 2800), which is my 'groove,' i.e., most efficient walking pace (112/min, 3.7 mph, 33 inch (+/-) stride routinely calibrated against gps) with occasional jogging mixed in. So 6 hours (not 18), in 2 - 4 sessions (divide 'em up as you like)  gets ~42k steps. In the other 12 non-sleeping hours, an active person can easily pick up the remaining 8k.

@GershonSurgeWhen I do Run-walk-run, I use a separate dual interval timer and always use 30 s for the walk phase - train for rapid & consistent recovery - and then use run/jog phase anywhere from 30 up to 150 s, depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. However, the majority of steps are mostly groove walking with (random) 10-20% jogging, RWR used more for shorter training sessions to increase capacity. 

@wookietim if you think that is 'so consistent' for so long, you should see when I am on a treadmill (very rare) or training cadence with a runner's metronome. The short-term targeting leads to a consistency at about the +/-10% level.

[GershonSurge]

@BruceBu,

Thanks for some actionable information. Through your posts, I know you walk at a normal pace and run slowly when you run. This should tell a person striving for the maximum average steps a day they are capable of to avoid speed.

When I'm a little concerned with speed, I generally monitor my average pace. Maybe I'm monitoring the wrong thing. Maybe I should be monitoring steps per minute.

It's easy enough to set the run cue on the Surge for every 5 or 10 minutes. If I come up short on the step target vs. total time, I can increase the run interval a bit or simply increase my cadence for the next 10 minutes. The way I do this is count the number of times my left foot hits the ground every 30 seconds and try to beat it by one the next 30 seconds. The display at the end of every 5 or 10 minutes will show my heart rate for the segment. This is often enough to see if I'm exceeding my capabilities that day. I can have the steps visible all the time. 

Thanks for the info,

Gershon

[brunoray]

Sounds like good plan. Since retiring from AF and mandatory fitness, I only walk. Currently in PT for bursitis in knees but try to get my 9 or 10k. 🏃‍:female_sign:👟🏃‍:female_sign:👟😉

Sent from my iPhone

[brunoray]

Sounds like good plan. Since retiring from AF and mandatory fitness, I only walk. Currently in PT for bursitis in knees but try to get my 9 or 10k. 🏃‍:female_sign:👟🏃‍:female_sign:👟😉

Sent from my iPhone

[GershonSurge]

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@brunoray wrote:
Sounds like good plan. Since retiring from AF and mandatory fitness, I only walk. Currently in PT for bursitis in knees but try to get my 9 or 10k. 🏃‍:female_sign:👟🏃‍:female_sign:👟😉

Sent from my iPhone

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@brunoray,

First, you should know I'll have nothing to do with most people in the medical field except for trauma. They tend to make things worse and find more things in a person to make worse.

If you have been correctly diagnosed with bursitis, then it's a diet related problem -- not  mechanical problem. Sure, using the joint can make it painful, but exercises will never cure the root problem.

Anything that ends in 'itis is an autoimmune disease by definition. It means there is an infection and the body is attacking the infection. The mechanism is what's known as a "leaky gut." The walls of the intestines are only one cell thick, and sometimes a leak occurs and things leak out. The risk is an animal protein leaking out because the immune system decides it's something attacking the body. The immune system creates anti-bodies. These antibodies hunt around the body looking for our own proteins that look like the animal protein. Then they kill it.

It's likely you can cure your bursitis with a two step process. First, eliminate all animal products from your diet. The anti-bodies currently in your system will disappear in time. (Source - Read Carefully).

There is a good chance you are re-injuring your knees with every step. Anytime the foot touches down ahead of your center of gravity, you are using the knee in a way that causes stress. Steps are the worst, so use a cane on the stairs if you need to. 

Dicharry, Jay. Anatomy for Runners: Unlocking Your Athletic Potential for Health, Speed, and Injury Prevention (p. 123). Skyhorse Publishing. Kindle Edition.

There is a rule with any exercise to never go past the pain threshold. For joints, this means no pain. Doing so will eventually cause some sort of repetitive motion injury or exacerbate an existing an injury. It may take years of effort to eliminate chronic pain.

Good luck,

Gershon

[GershonSurge]

@BruceBu,

There is some more actionable information buried in your posts. This time, I'm referencing breaking the steps into 2-4 periods. I'll use three.

Let's say I had reasonable goal for myself of 30,000 steps a day. I could get 15,000 steps during the cool hours of the early morning in two hours. This would be an average of 125 steps/minute. If I have to go over a few minutes, that works.

During the rest of the day, I could include some activities that get more steps. For instance, cutting my lawn at a leisurely pace gets me 2,400 steps. I can usually get about 1,500 steps going to the supermarket. Another 2,000 steps seem to magically appear. That's a total of 5,900 steps. When it gets cool in the evening, This would leave 9,100 steps. I could walk a couple miles during the heat of the day which would get another 4,000 steps. In the evening, I could finish the remaining 5,100 steps in about 43 minutes.

[BruceBu]

@GershonSurge, yes - when you think of it as a 2,1,1 + incidentals to get to 30k, doesn't seem that hard. Similarly 3,2,1+i for 50k is hardly daunting if you train up to it. My most important parameter is probably heart rate, try to keep it 100 - 110 for max output that I can keep up ad nausium. (I actually use a Polar M400 with simultaneous monitoring of cadence (& steps), gps speed, distance, & elevation, ekg heart rate, as well as multiple interval timers. My Charge 2 usual rides along in my pocket (sans band), like a coin, so I can share 'Fitbit steps' with friends. 

[wookietim]

Actually, what has been shown is that a fitbit tracker can count that
number of steps. It has not been shown that that number of steps were
taken. Never assume things about data that are not there - several ways of
inflating steps come to mind.

[GershonSurge]

@wookietim,

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@wookietim wrote:
Actually, what has been shown is that a fitbit tracker can count that
number of steps. It has not been shown that that number of steps were
taken. Never assume things about data that are not there - several ways of
inflating steps come to mind.

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Give it up. Bruce has shown heart rate plots along with the steps. You are starting to look like a flat-earther.