About those 10,000 steps....
March 16, 2016 1:25 PM Subscribe
As a dog walker, I easily log 14,000 steps Monday through Friday. I make sure I hit that minimum, so I can slack on the weekends and not mess up my weekly average of 10,000 that the health pundits say we need to walk for weight maintenance.
But here's the thing...not a step of that 14,000 could be considered aerobic (or cardio-vascular, as they're saying now.) My pace is moderate and sometimes downright slow-ish, depending on how much sniffing time the client wants to take along the curbs. (I don't rush them.)
As far as diet goes, moderation is my watchword. This does not mean no chocolate or wine.
Is that a problem? I dislike breaking a sweat, or working hard, physically. I will walk walk walk into the sunset, as long as it's not making me sweat!
By now you know I want to hear what I want to hear, so lay it on me, exercise toughies.
But here's the thing...not a step of that 14,000 could be considered aerobic (or cardio-vascular, as they're saying now.) My pace is moderate and sometimes downright slow-ish, depending on how much sniffing time the client wants to take along the curbs. (I don't rush them.)
As far as diet goes, moderation is my watchword. This does not mean no chocolate or wine.
Is that a problem? I dislike breaking a sweat, or working hard, physically. I will walk walk walk into the sunset, as long as it's not making me sweat!
By now you know I want to hear what I want to hear, so lay it on me, exercise toughies.
It depends on what you want. Walking or standing is good for your posture and movement helps you have some cardiovascular activity during the day, but I would consider your resting heart rate much more indicative of this kind of fitness than the number of steps you've had. IMO the "steps per day" thing is a fad pushed to sell movement tracking wristbands. What is your resting heart rate? Is your blood pressure okay? Do you find yourself easily winded? Those are better questions to ask. There isn't some magic number that indicates physical health for everybody. If your fitness level is below where you want/need it to be, make a change.
posted by deathpanels at 1:33 PM on March 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by deathpanels at 1:33 PM on March 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
I feel like you are lacking in data, but fortunately that is an easy fix.
Are you trying to maintain your current weight? You can tell if that's working by weighing yourself while continuing your current routine and diet.
Are you trying to increase cardiovascular capacity? You will want to challenge yourself, such as via interval training. A heart rate monitor will tell you how you are doing on that front.
posted by Atrahasis at 1:35 PM on March 16, 2016
Are you trying to maintain your current weight? You can tell if that's working by weighing yourself while continuing your current routine and diet.
Are you trying to increase cardiovascular capacity? You will want to challenge yourself, such as via interval training. A heart rate monitor will tell you how you are doing on that front.
posted by Atrahasis at 1:35 PM on March 16, 2016
It's not really as if there's a bright line where this amount of exercise is not enough and that amount of exercise is too much.
Are you healthy? Do you have any particular health concerns or appearance concerns that might be affected by exercise? If 'yes' and 'no,' then you're good. The Fitness Police will not pound down your door and make you do burpees.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:36 PM on March 16, 2016 [7 favorites]
Are you healthy? Do you have any particular health concerns or appearance concerns that might be affected by exercise? If 'yes' and 'no,' then you're good. The Fitness Police will not pound down your door and make you do burpees.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:36 PM on March 16, 2016 [7 favorites]
Response by poster: My question is: these daily 14,000 steps is enough exercise for me. Hmm?
posted by BostonTerrier at 1:36 PM on March 16, 2016
posted by BostonTerrier at 1:36 PM on March 16, 2016
My question is: these daily 14,000 steps is enough exercise for me. Hmm?
'Enough' according to what metric? To achieve what end result?
You don't HAVE to exercise at all, you know - or you could start running triathlons. The vast space in between those options is pretty much down to what you want to do, which is affected by your health goals, your appearance goals, and your level of interest in various forms of exercise.
Basically: if you feel like it's enough and your doctor isn't begging you to do more, it's probably enough.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:41 PM on March 16, 2016 [11 favorites]
'Enough' according to what metric? To achieve what end result?
You don't HAVE to exercise at all, you know - or you could start running triathlons. The vast space in between those options is pretty much down to what you want to do, which is affected by your health goals, your appearance goals, and your level of interest in various forms of exercise.
Basically: if you feel like it's enough and your doctor isn't begging you to do more, it's probably enough.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:41 PM on March 16, 2016 [11 favorites]
Whether it's enough for weight maintenance: You can tell by stepping in a scale or putting on clothes.
Whether it's enough to prepare you for the physical activities you want to do: You can tell by trying to do what you want.
But I'm guessing that you want to know about the future. Is it enough to prevent future disease? Is it enough to reduce your risk of death? Is it enough to prevent the risk of frailty? And again, the answer to that depends on your goal.
On the mortality question, the figure halfway down this page is very useful. It shows that the more exercise you do, and the more vigorous that exercise is, the lower your risk of dying. But note that the slope declines: The marginal benefit of getting off the couch and walking around the block is much greater than walking around the block after your 10 mile run. This also depends on your age: if you're 25, your mortality risk is pretty close to zero anyway. If you're 75, you're going to worry more about that heart attack. On the other hand, 75 isn't the time to suddenly accelerate your exercise routine.
On frailty, I'd also expect that more vigorous exercise would also be more protective.
A few concluding thoughts: The best exercise routine is the one you do, so telling you to run till you drop isn't likely to be helpful. On the other, if you hate intense exercise because you're out of shape, then getting in shape could lead you to enjoy running. Why not try adding a few jogs into your walks and see how it goes. Walk 3 minutes, jog a block, repeat for the dog walk. If you don't hate it, keep it up and jog the block every two minutes, and so on. Also consider weight training, even if it's just a few squats without weight and pushups on your knees. It will reduce the odds of your being a frail 60 or 70 year old.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:16 PM on March 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
Whether it's enough to prepare you for the physical activities you want to do: You can tell by trying to do what you want.
But I'm guessing that you want to know about the future. Is it enough to prevent future disease? Is it enough to reduce your risk of death? Is it enough to prevent the risk of frailty? And again, the answer to that depends on your goal.
On the mortality question, the figure halfway down this page is very useful. It shows that the more exercise you do, and the more vigorous that exercise is, the lower your risk of dying. But note that the slope declines: The marginal benefit of getting off the couch and walking around the block is much greater than walking around the block after your 10 mile run. This also depends on your age: if you're 25, your mortality risk is pretty close to zero anyway. If you're 75, you're going to worry more about that heart attack. On the other hand, 75 isn't the time to suddenly accelerate your exercise routine.
On frailty, I'd also expect that more vigorous exercise would also be more protective.
A few concluding thoughts: The best exercise routine is the one you do, so telling you to run till you drop isn't likely to be helpful. On the other, if you hate intense exercise because you're out of shape, then getting in shape could lead you to enjoy running. Why not try adding a few jogs into your walks and see how it goes. Walk 3 minutes, jog a block, repeat for the dog walk. If you don't hate it, keep it up and jog the block every two minutes, and so on. Also consider weight training, even if it's just a few squats without weight and pushups on your knees. It will reduce the odds of your being a frail 60 or 70 year old.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:16 PM on March 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
Strength training adds to overall health. So does some stretching. Cardio also adds to your overall health. In an ideal world, you be doing strength training and stretches 2 to 3 times a week and a couple 20 to 30 minute real cardio sessions.
That being said, you are crushing it compared to most folks in the U.S. Walking that much is great for your overall health and is going to fight metabolic syndrome like gangbusters. Nice work!
posted by Kalmya at 2:24 PM on March 16, 2016
That being said, you are crushing it compared to most folks in the U.S. Walking that much is great for your overall health and is going to fight metabolic syndrome like gangbusters. Nice work!
posted by Kalmya at 2:24 PM on March 16, 2016
For long-term cardiovascular health you need to maintain an elevated heart rate in the exercise zone for your age and fitness category 3x a week for about 20 minutes with a 5 minute warmup and a 5 or 10 minute cooldown. The moderate exercise zone involves some light sweating after 10 minutes of activity, but you should be able to carry on a fairly normal conversation. According to the AMA, you know you're doing a good job if you can talk but not sing.
I mean, 14,000 meandering, unrushed steps a week is great. If you aren't overweight, have a decent resting heart rate, and aren't having issues with diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure, pain, etc. then there's not much to complain about. But if you specifically want to have good long-term cardiovascular health, then you should try to break a light sweat 3 times a week. If the thought of doing that is too much, then don't do it. Strolling is better than nothing at all.
posted by xyzzy at 2:48 PM on March 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
I mean, 14,000 meandering, unrushed steps a week is great. If you aren't overweight, have a decent resting heart rate, and aren't having issues with diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure, pain, etc. then there's not much to complain about. But if you specifically want to have good long-term cardiovascular health, then you should try to break a light sweat 3 times a week. If the thought of doing that is too much, then don't do it. Strolling is better than nothing at all.
posted by xyzzy at 2:48 PM on March 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
Any movement is good, but being honest, if it's not challenging then it's not really making any improvements from the status quo. Once you have an hour's walk tolerance you pretty much have it beat. If you're all right with the status quo, then you're all right doing your 14,000 a day. Hell you are lapping everyone on the couch.
With walking especially it's hard to really produce ongoing incremental improvements. Speed is limited by physiology, and distance by boredom and time, because we as humans are really damn good at walking long distances. It's not uncommon for my wife and I to get 35 - 40K steps a day when we decide to spend it walking around, but it's not a workout by any means.
Put another way, 14,000 steps is your maintenance, kinda. It's someone else's lazy, and someone else's impossible challenge.
posted by Sternmeyer at 2:58 PM on March 16, 2016
With walking especially it's hard to really produce ongoing incremental improvements. Speed is limited by physiology, and distance by boredom and time, because we as humans are really damn good at walking long distances. It's not uncommon for my wife and I to get 35 - 40K steps a day when we decide to spend it walking around, but it's not a workout by any means.
Put another way, 14,000 steps is your maintenance, kinda. It's someone else's lazy, and someone else's impossible challenge.
posted by Sternmeyer at 2:58 PM on March 16, 2016
Response by poster: The gist has been gotten.
Thank you, all!
posted by BostonTerrier at 3:15 PM on March 16, 2016
Thank you, all!
posted by BostonTerrier at 3:15 PM on March 16, 2016
Best answer: Fellow dog walker here. Hi!
You sound a lot like me. I love food and indulgences (chocolate and wine good for you, though!), but I try not to go overboard with those. My goal is that most of what I eat be home-cooked meals that are vegetable-heavy but I don't worry too much if I want to eat a big old burrito for lunch every once in a while.
I also dislike strenuous exercise but I do enjoy walking briskly and I try to keep my dogs moving -- they's (usually) why we're being hired, and dogs need exercise just like we do. I'll let Fluffy do some sniffing, but I won't let her stop every single time she wants to. My heart rate definitely goes up during brisk walks. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're going to have to get a little sweaty.
What app do you use to track your steps? I like Pacer because it keeps historical data and tells me how that day ranks among others (i.e., it gives you a little summary of the previous day and says "This was your 7th best day"). I LOVE it when I break my all-time steps record, so try to make it a challenge for yourself. It also tells me that take more steps on average than 99.2% of users, so that makes me feel like a boss and want to push it to the limit.
To sum up, I think you're ahead of the game in a lot of ways; most Americans don't get any kind of regular exercise and don't eat very well either. But it sounds like you could just ramp it up a bit and you'd benefit.
posted by kitty teeth at 3:23 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
You sound a lot like me. I love food and indulgences (chocolate and wine good for you, though!), but I try not to go overboard with those. My goal is that most of what I eat be home-cooked meals that are vegetable-heavy but I don't worry too much if I want to eat a big old burrito for lunch every once in a while.
I also dislike strenuous exercise but I do enjoy walking briskly and I try to keep my dogs moving -- they's (usually) why we're being hired, and dogs need exercise just like we do. I'll let Fluffy do some sniffing, but I won't let her stop every single time she wants to. My heart rate definitely goes up during brisk walks. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're going to have to get a little sweaty.
What app do you use to track your steps? I like Pacer because it keeps historical data and tells me how that day ranks among others (i.e., it gives you a little summary of the previous day and says "This was your 7th best day"). I LOVE it when I break my all-time steps record, so try to make it a challenge for yourself. It also tells me that take more steps on average than 99.2% of users, so that makes me feel like a boss and want to push it to the limit.
To sum up, I think you're ahead of the game in a lot of ways; most Americans don't get any kind of regular exercise and don't eat very well either. But it sounds like you could just ramp it up a bit and you'd benefit.
posted by kitty teeth at 3:23 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
The 10,000 steps things might be a bit of an unintentional furphy.
According to somebody from the Walking Behavior Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, pedometers sold in Japan were marketed as '10,000 step meter' (manpo-kei). So people started walking 10,000 steps. These people made a handy cohort for people studying the benefits of walking. Sure enough, people who walked 10,000 steps were better off overall than people who didn't. And so the 10,000 steps thing stuck.
But there's nothing magical about 10,000 steps. Walk 14,000 steps but eat a crap diet and smoke? Bad. Walk 8,000 and eat a great diet and don't smoke? Awesome. Don't do any exercise at all and slowly make your way up to 5,000 steps a day you weren't doing before? Fantastic.
A target that's good for a cohort might not be necessary (or conversely, enough) for you. Increase / improvement is what counts, and hitting that 150 mins of moderate exercise a week recommended by the CDC might only require 7000 or 8000 steps.
Here's a 'it's the latest science!' cardio program from the Norwegian Uni of Science and Technology if you're interested in that. Warm up, do four minutes that leaves you breathless and speechless, cool down, 19 minutes total.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:04 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
According to somebody from the Walking Behavior Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, pedometers sold in Japan were marketed as '10,000 step meter' (manpo-kei). So people started walking 10,000 steps. These people made a handy cohort for people studying the benefits of walking. Sure enough, people who walked 10,000 steps were better off overall than people who didn't. And so the 10,000 steps thing stuck.
But there's nothing magical about 10,000 steps. Walk 14,000 steps but eat a crap diet and smoke? Bad. Walk 8,000 and eat a great diet and don't smoke? Awesome. Don't do any exercise at all and slowly make your way up to 5,000 steps a day you weren't doing before? Fantastic.
A target that's good for a cohort might not be necessary (or conversely, enough) for you. Increase / improvement is what counts, and hitting that 150 mins of moderate exercise a week recommended by the CDC might only require 7000 or 8000 steps.
Here's a 'it's the latest science!' cardio program from the Norwegian Uni of Science and Technology if you're interested in that. Warm up, do four minutes that leaves you breathless and speechless, cool down, 19 minutes total.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:04 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
Have you heard about Walk For A Dog ? It could add some extra fun to the workout you're already getting! :)
posted by The otter lady at 7:36 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by The otter lady at 7:36 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
Most people get nowhere near enough exercise. The fact that we even call walking exercise, like it's some athletic endeavor and not just part of being human, tells you a lot about where the "10k steps" advice is coming from. That's geared toward people who are completely sedentary and would not move at all during the day unless they go out of their way. Basically I think you're fine, keep living your life. Unless you want to increase your athleticism or lose weight or some other goal, there is no need to dwell on it.
posted by deathpanels at 8:25 PM on March 16, 2016
posted by deathpanels at 8:25 PM on March 16, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
I'm not sure what you're asking. As an overly general comment, if your weight is what you want and your doctor isn't suggesting for you to change your weight, then that's good. If you want to decrease your weight, then you will either need to eat less or exercise more.
posted by saeculorum at 1:32 PM on March 16, 2016 [2 favorites]