What is the most amount of steps anyone has ever walked in a single day?

[Mmiller2827]

I am just curious about the most steps walked in a single day. I have 45,000, and it was tough getting that badge.

[Ronlaub]

@ceraffen I live just 25 miles or so from the Grindstone 100 course and can vouch for the fact that what you did is certainly outstanding. While I have never done that race, I know what the terrain is like in that area and have read up on that event.

I do timed ultras, which are on much easier courses. Keep up the good work and hope you give it another shot next year.

[ceraffen]

Thanks so much Ron! Very cool that you do timed Ultras - I've done a fair
share of those myself also, and while the courses might be easier there is
nothing "easy" about running so many miles - congrats!

It's a beautiful area up there for sure - you're lucky!

Maybe we'll meet at a race sometime - until then take care 🙂

[ceraffen]

That's awesome!

[Ronlaub]

@ceraffen The two I hope to continue doing are the Crooked Road 24-Hour (November in Virginia) and A Race For The Ages (September in Tennessee). If you ever decide to try one of those, let me know. Both are awesome races.

[ceraffen]

I've definitely wanted to do ARFTA...and I'll have to check out that other
one as well. Thanks!

[1Punkin]

I wonder if those really high steppers even have jobs! Even if you're on your feet all day, at some point, you would think that they would need to rest. My personal best is around 52K and it was a challenge. 

[1Punkin]

Exactly!!! Well said!

If they need to cheat, why even bother being in the challenges. It's not like we actually win anything. 

[MickPenners]

So the theory is if somebodies effort is greater than what you can manage they must be cheating?

[1Punkin]

Absolutely not. I do believe that people are really moving but I also know
that some people do cheat. I've actually listen to people tell me how they
cheat. My sister works on her feet all day so I know that she gets alot of
steps, sometimes 100k a day. I question the ones who have gotten 200k or
more on a daily basis. You have to rest at some point. I don't enter into
challenges knowingly with them bcs I do try to keep up and it hurts, lol.
Anyway, I know there are high steppers, but there are also cheaters.

[Ranger2537]

No not at all if there were not many people who could manage more than me we would all be in real trouble. I just like to think about the math and can't believe how many ultra marathoners are out there. I also like to point out that many activities other than walking can be picked up by the fitbit. I have logged some fairly high step counts on days when I have gone fishing for example. You do you is all I can say I am just jealous of the time it must take to log all those steps.

[MihaiMVP]

I tried to write a post to explain that 300.000 is probably the limit, until I found this guy 🙂

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/tap-dancing-most-taps-in-a-minute/

[Oli09]

I got 300000 step in one day

[Ronlaub]

300000 in one day??? That would be OVER 200 steps a minute for 24 straight hours with ZERO breaks. Sorry...not buying that.

[Ronlaub]

Just to back up my previous comment...at the 2016 100-kilometer World Championships, 20 of the top ultrarunners averaged 182 steps a minute during the race (outsideonline.com). And they only kept this pace for seven hours or less. That's why I'm not believing someone can average over 200 steps a minute nonstop for 24 hours.

[mlsna]

Believe what you want , simple fact is  Yiannis Kouros ultra marathon runner holds many world records you can look this up this isnt opinion I have stated nothing but facts many times in response to this question however no one wants to accept it . He ran  303 km in 24 hours  = 188 miles which translates to 338k steps in 24 hours .... I know many running that can easily crack off 250k steps in a day .....  for these people running is easier than it is for walking for us ....  I cant imagine doing 50k steps in a day my best is 30k steps , however I  can also do 30k steps with 100# on my back these people cant ....  but for these people 100k steps in a day is a warmup.  Rainer Predl did like 850 km in 7 days on a treadmill  I cant imagine running 528 miles in 7 days ..... thats just grueling ....   and almost a million steps in a week .... and those are confirmed world records 

[Ronlaub]

@mlsna Even though I've never met him, I am very familiar with Yiannis Kouros and his legendary feats. But he doesn't post those accomplishments on Fitbit, nor do any of the elite ultrarunners that I've personally had a pleasure to race with or study. And for the record, I am nowhere near the level of these folks.

You say 100k steps a day is a warmup for them. Please read up on how Yiannis and other top runners trained for these ultras. It was not by doing 50+ miles a day every day.

Where do I get much of my perspective? Among others, I'm friends with:

*a woman who ran over 450 miles in a 144-hour race and was a Top-15 finisher at the Spartathlon

*a woman who was a member four straight years for Team USA in the 24-hour World Championships

*a man who currently owns two ultraracing World Records for his age group

*a man who has completed 100 miles or more in over 100 races

I know how they train and these are real life facts. None of them "easily" crack off 250k steps in a day, nor is it part of their training regiment. To get 250k steps in 24 hours, you would have to do roughly 174 steps a minute with no breaks from midnight to midnight. Not even Yiannis could do that "easily".

[Ronlaub]

According to UltraRunning magazine in 2015, Yiannis "rarely takes a training run longer than 12 miles, and is never over 80 miles per week." Sorry to bore you with "facts".

[ceraffen]

I wonder if the person who posted 300,000 steps actually meant to type 30,000 instead? To the argument about Yiannis - I'm very familiar with him as well - but you can't deduce excatly how many steps he actually took in his 24 hour record simply from the amount of distance he covered. Depends on his stride length. Your calculation is based on an average step count of 1800 per mile which is a good approximation and generally matches my step count/mile when I run. But consider if his stride length is shorter than that and he actually averages more than 1800, perhaps closer to 2,000 - then you end up at 376,000 steps. And not that it matters too much for this discussion but almost none of the 24 hour races (or other ultras) start at midnight (most start early morning) so any amount of steps covered is just a 24 hour period, not a calendar day. 

So I think the 300,000 is possible but extremely unlikely, save for a very small group such as Yiannis. 

I also agree with Ron about the comments regarding other top ultrarunners and how easily they could all do this. The highest amount of training I've heard of is Anton Krupicka who at one point was putting in 200 mile weeks, which is an average of 28 miles/day - although they might be capable of keeping that up for a while it eventually catches up to them - re: the well known phenomenon in the ultra community "overtraining syndrome"...https://www.outsideonline.com/1986361/running-empty

[Ronlaub]

@ceraffen You're right about elite ultrarunners having different strides. Most have longer, which means they need far fewer steps to cover a mile. It saves wear and tear on the body over the long distances.

So let's assume Yiannis averaged a believable 190 steps per minute in his record run while pulling off 7 1/2 minute miles for 188 miles. That would be 1425 steps per mile (elite marathoners do less) or roughly 268k total steps in the race. If the greatest distance runner of our era has probably never done 300k steps in 24 hours, I have serious doubts that a casual Fitbit user can. I know I can't.

[iKuzo]

I did 100,000+ steps twice this week. That’s my most, but I never jog or walk or anything. I usually do burpees, I just wanted the badge, then I thought twice in a week is not shabby so did it again.