How do people work to get above 20,000 steps?

[Run4Fun]

I am active (run three miles in the morning, work all day, goof around with children in the evening while I do housework but getting above 20000 steps per day seems elusive to me. Help! 

[Selena1979]

Hiya

Personally it helps that I walk the dog twice a day - there is about 8-10k right away, now I have set my daily target to 17.5k though, I always need to push a little and with an office job it's not alway easy.

Here's what i do to get those extra steps:

(a) Park at the furthest point in the car park away from the office and walk that extra distance

(b) Take regular screen breaks and walk around / outside the office - a 10 minute break can be 1000 steps!

(c) Go for a walk at lunchtime

(d) Ditch the car - walk (or cycle) to the supermarket - you never buy more than you need either as you wil never get it home!  If I do take the car because i need something bulky, then I park in the fathest space away.

(e) Get out and about on the weekends!  for me it's long dog walks and shopping trips and both really add on steps

Hope that helps 😄

[Selena1979]

Also, don't forget the wristbands are activity trackers as opposed to pedometers as such.  This may seem like a silly point until you realise that if you did 10,000 steps holding a baby or pushin a trolley then nothing would register....the movement of the band of your wrist is what triggers the activity.

[Cyc]

It is doable.  I walk my dog in the A.M; then walk another 3 miles in my building before work; lunch time my walking group do another 3 miles; afternoon for 15 mins - another mile or so; P.M. another dog walk; and if I really want to add to the daily walk - do some steps on the treadmill while watching TV.  That makes it

[SunsetRunner]

depends on your life, what you do as a living, etc

a lot of factors to take into account

someone who works full time will have less time to do steps than someone who is not working/retired

by that same token that person who works full time could be motivated, yet that person who is retired etc maybe lazy

even if 2 people who did the same job, have the same amount of free time, same motivation etc, if one was healthy and the other unhealthy, the one that is healthy will obviously find it easier to do them

downhill? uphill? normal day? hot day?

also no such thing as the normal person can do x amount of steps per minute on average, not unless you take the whole worlds population, taking say the population of England or a certain group and then applying it to the whole world for example doesn't work, so unless you take the data from everyone in the world then the average is only really applicable to that group of people, not just for steps but everything, be it colour of hair, skin, wages, height, results from exams... everything

just because someone is say 6' doesn't mean they have a certain stride length, feet size etc, they might have a long body but short legs, or vice versa

if it were so simple, then we wouldn't have so many different size in clothing shops etc for example

not to mention it may not be recording all your steps or over recording, wrist based fitbit on your mouse moving hand? or on your hand that you don't use that much? hence the reason why I have been testing where to wear my fitbit one, clipped infront of the groin, records fine when walking, running, jogging and cycling, only thing I have to worry about is it unclipping and losing it

I bet if Fitbit were to actually release their sales data, the amount of units sold is many times higher than the amount of forum users, which means that the users in the forum does not represent the whole userbase of fitbit users or the world, just the forum, which means the data is not accurate

if the users on this forum represent the amount of units sold, then Fitbit would have been bust many years ago

[DebbieK63]

I have been in physical therapy for over 18 months due to a badly broken leg and then having it rebroken due to poor healing.  I just achieved 20,000 steps today and met all the minimums (all lines were in green) which I have done many days.  I find that on PT days my steps increase greatly now that I am in a running and jumping program, without even concentrating on it.  I think that from now on I will continue to do many of the PT exercises even after I am released.  

[joanjet]

I take long trail walks in the early AM with my dog, then work in retail which some days requires lots of walking , then gym after work on an elliptical for 30 min. Most days are 12K-15K but 20K is possible.

Sent from my iPhone

[Cyc]

Definitely can do it.. Plan for it and before long you got it. I walk before work; morning break; lunch time; afternoon break and I have it. My step goal is 15k, it's always nice to reach my goal by 12 pm.. Everything else is extra.. I also walk my dog in morning and evening too.

Keep walking it will come

Sent from my iPad

[CRSunrise]

I can get 20K in my steps if I really think about it. I find it's easier for me to do this if I can get my original 10K early on in the day. The earlier the better. Of course, it also depends on what else I have go on that day if I'm even going to manage doing anything but my 10K. My kids had VBS this week, and I'm lucky if I break 13K for my steps. I mainly work on getting my 10K before I have to leave to take them to the church.

[shipo]

I have a full time desk job, so I don't manage to log very many steps while working.  That said, I cheat; when my wife and I downsized a few years ago we sold our house and rented a "Caretaker" apartment on a horse farm, and three days per week I do in fact take care of the horses (lots of work, and an easy 10,000 steps before I get to the office).

The rest of my steps usually come from running; I currently have a stretch of 17 consecutive days over 20,000 steps.  🙂

[joanjet]

Wow that's fantastic! I can't run any more but walk every chance I get before or after work. Of course that eats up more of my free time than running would, but my dog is happy 😏

Sent from my iPhone

[shipo]

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@joanjet wrote:
Wow that's fantastic! I can't run any more but walk every chance I get before or after work. Of course that eats up more of my free time than running would, but my dog is happy 😏

Sent from my iPhone

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Due to the severity of the damage following my second broken leg, which was surgically put back together, my surgeon told me I'd walk with a limp for the rest of my life and never run again.  I kept trying to prove him wrong, and I kept failing, failing for over 6-years.  Then I discovered an old 19th century rail bed since repurposed as an ATV and Snowmobile trail; I started running again, a whopping quarter of a mile at a time, and wouldn't you know it; the soft dirt allowed me to gradually and safely work my way back into running.

Don't know if you'd benefit from a dirt trail or not but it might be worth a try.  🙂

[bellerophon30]

I work on my feet, and ride my bike too and from work (about 10 miles of biking will generate 4,000 or so steps), so 20,000 is pretty easy for me.  The trick is to keep moving, instead of standing still (if you can keep moving).  For someone behind a desk, 20K seems pretty high up there I agree.  Otherwise just go for a walk after dinner and collect some steps.  Oh, and always wear the Fitbit, so you can keep collecting.  I wear a Charge HR, which due to how often I check it and sync it, doesn't last that long in terms of battery.  But I charge it in the bathroom while I'm doing various things in there, and that's usually enough.  So it's always on when I'm doing something.

[Postie123]

Personally I find it difficult not to hit 20000 steps a day I work on my feet and spend the vast majority of my working day walking, if I did not work on my feet I agree it would be difficult to achieve day in day out

[Paradise555]

I get an average of 20000 steps a day and let me tell you something. I am obese and very active to lose the weight. It isn't easy by any chance but it is worth the feeling of being tired in the evening when I know I have done a lot of things that I need to get done. Plus with the place I am working/volunteering at.

[pbackma]

Make sure you have some good walking shoes--increase your steps on the weekends or on your days off...Keep moving and soon you will see results....Go to Fitbit.com and make you have a good device...keep the device with you at all times/every time you make a step...join Challenges with your groups to add more fun to keep moving.....

[siamlalvaiphei]

20000 steps or more could be achieved but i find it a little bit difficult cause it takes too much time to do ... 2 hours in the morning and another 2 hours in the evening... its hectic but achievable... but hard to keep it up...

[shipo]

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@siamlalvaiphei wrote:

20000 steps or more could be achieved but i find it a little bit difficult cause it takes too much time to do ... 2 hours in the morning and another 2 hours in the evening... its hectic but achievable... but hard to keep it up...

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The good news about using a reasonable goal like 20,000 steps per day is as you improve your fitness, the amount of time necessary to achieve the goal drops.  Back in early 2013 it would take me about 90 minutes to rack up 10,000 steps, now I can run over 20,000 steps in well under two hours.

[Ibixby]

I get an average of 20k steps a day. My goal was 10k but I stepped it up to 15. I work too. I take my dogs for 2 - 1.5 mile walks b4 and after work. I walk to and from the gym giving me another 2.5 miles- to do an hour cardio class- that's the big one- bc plyojam is all about dancing and jumping. Those who join a cardio class will easily get 6-8k steps in an hour. As for the rest of the steps, it's all walking normally. 

[SunsetRunner]

I can probably count on 1 hand how many times I have hit 20k steps in a day: 6 mile hike, Jimmy Buffet concert (tailgating in the afternoon with frequent walks to the bathroom, then it was 30 minute walk from the car to the show), day at the boardwalk (long walk in the morning, followed by spending the day walking up & down the Seaside Heights boardwalk).  On an average work day, with 40-45 minute walk in the morning, half an hour walk at lunch, and doing stairs, parking far away etc, I usually hit around 15k steps.  If I really push it and do an extra walk after work, I'll hit around 18k. 

What really baffles me is when my company does contests, and there are 100s of thousands of people (I don't even know them) who are logging up to 90k steps a day.  Many of them have profile pics and appear obese...so I think they are cheating somehow.  Some of them look to be in good shape so I don't know what those people are doing to log 80k+ steps a day.  It just seems impossible to me.

[_Fit4Life_]

@SunsetRunner - steps are like high scores in video game; some will do anything to get to the top spot.

Competition and 'winning' are powerful motivators to get some people moving.  However for many, those 'scores' are simply beyond reach and discouraging.

My best advise is to pick goals that are both attainable and challenging to 'you'.  Work with your body - it will let you know when you push too hard.  Find like minded friends with similar goals - this mutual support system will do wonders to keep you moving.  

Being healthy is not a competition.. it's a way of life.

Happy new year everyone, and keep walking!

-- Fit4Life --