Is 70k steps a week (spread unevenly) as good as 10k every day?

[k4thybrown]

Hi - new community member. I've had my fitbit since January and like everyone would like to increase my daily output - for me it is about overall health and fitness but also weight loss and maintenance. I have a job which is largely desk-based but I do get to walk outside quite a lot too.

My question is this - I am a runner. Some days in the week I may be doing as much as 40,000 steps (long distance running), I can easily hit 15K steps 3 days a week by getting out and doing a run. The other days my step count can be very low because I am sitting at a computer long, long hours (very unhealthy I know - but run my own business and I don't always have time to go out!). Is it vital to be aiming for 10K steps a day or more every day? Or what if the weekly average is over 70K but unevenly loaded?

[SunsetRunner]

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@k4thybrown wrote:

Hi - new community member. I've had my fitbit since January and like everyone would like to increase my daily output - for me it is about overall health and fitness but also weight loss and maintenance. I have a job which is largely desk-based but I do get to walk outside quite a lot too.

My question is this - I am a runner. Some days in the week I may be doing as much as 40,000 steps (long distance running), I can easily hit 15K steps 3 days a week by getting out and doing a run. The other days my step count can be very low because I am sitting at a computer long, long hours (very unhealthy I know - but run my own business and I don't always have time to go out!). Is it vital to be aiming for 10K steps a day or more every day? Or what if the weekly average is over 70K but unevenly loaded?

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I am also a runner (5km., 10km. and the occasional marathon), and have (what is considered)

a normal training schedule, consisting of 1. shorter and faster days, between 2. longer and slower

days, and 3. one recovery day consisting of either a walk or a day off. It all works great for me.

[DominicJ]

Yes

10k is a nice round number, its a guess.

Theres no science that says 10,000 is good but 9800 and 10200 are bad.

Most weeks I clear over 100k, there are odd days I miss my 10k beep.

It can be hard, but I hit my 10k by forcing myself out for a walk before work, at lunch and after, only need to be a mile or so, 15-20 mins.

[k4thybrown]

Thanks yarddog - do you still do 10k + steps on your 'day off' - and are you hitting at least 10K steps on your 'short and fast' training days? I'm just wondering whether I should really be getting out every single day to hit 10k?

[k4thybrown]

Hi @DominicJ So what do you think about some days doing, say, 500 steps in the day vs others doing 20,000 steps - and still averaging 70k+ in a week? Is there less benefit to doing that do you think?

[SunsetRunner]

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@k4thybrown wrote:

Thanks yarddog - do you still do 10k + steps on your 'day off' - and are you hitting at least 10K steps on your 'short and fast' training days? I'm just wondering whether I should really be getting out every single day to hit 10k?

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My "short and fast" days, would be 5km. (and that, plus some walking around the office, would

add to about 7,500 steps for the day. The "longer and slower" days, would be about twice that.

It is not at all necessary to have a minimum of 10,000 steps per day.

[HelenaFitbit]

I'd say to try to squeeze as many steps as you can on your day, reaching an average within the week is great but if you hit it daily, it'd be awesome 

[SunsetRunner]

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@helenarriaza wrote:

I'd say to try to squeeze as many steps as you can on your day, reaching an average within the week is great but if you hit it daily, it'd be awesome 

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Doing 10,000 steps per day is completely unnecessary (as stated previously).

If this individual does less on some days, and more other days, that would be

perfectly OK, particularly since she is a runner and would exceed it per week.

There is no need to have a Bitfit about getting in 10,000 steps per day 🙂

[Gershon]

The 10,000 step a day guide was based on a Japanese study in the 60's. I couldn't find any reference to how the steps were attained, but walking clubs became popular then, so walking is a part of it.

For aerobic Fitness Ken Cooper recommends 30 aerobics points a week for good health and 60 for excellent health. This is easy to get running, but difficult for walking. (30-60 miles a week walking with a 1 mile minimum for each exercise period. Running varies based on speed, but is at least 3 points a mile. Google Ken Cooper Aerobics points charts to get exact values.)

Recently, more attention has been focused on sedentary physiology. I'm also a writer and I purchased a Welnomics Workpace monitor for my computer. (One copy can be copied to other computers.) I type for 20 minutes and do housework or pacing for seven minutes.) The steps aren't important here. What is important is moving around. The 20/7 ratio is based on experimentation.

(Save a copy to an external drive for when you get a new computer.)

To answer your question directly, personally, I'd treat the running and the 10,000 steps as two separate programs to address two different health issues: aerobic conditioning and sedentary physiology. On the days you don't run, as long as you get up every 20 minutes for a break, the number of steps probably doesn't matter.

One thing you can do is go to your profile and calculate how many sedentary minutes a day you have. Click on the gear, then settings, then data. Download the data there and you may be shocked. 

[DoctorJC]

It might actually be better than a daily repetition.  Building variability and recovery time between exercise episodes is the recommended approach my many fitness experts.  That being said, the exercise episodes should become more challenging on a progressive basis.