Fitness is a personal venture, and your daily step goal should be too – here’s how to set one, according to an expert. Walking 10,000 steps a day is one of world’s most common fitness goals. But a walking expert says this lofty target might not be needed to enjoy many of the health benefits associated with a regular stroll.
Several recent studies have attempted to identify the daily step count that offers optimal bang for your buck, and many of them have landed on a figure in the range of 7,000 to 8,000. But that doesn’t mean walking 8,000 steps per day should be everyone’s target – there’s more nuance to it than that. Below we debunk the 10,000 steps a day myth, and explain how to settle on a daily step goal that works for you.
If study after study keeps landing on 8,000-or-so steps as a worthy daily target, where does the 10,000 steps a day goal stem from?. Its origins lie in an enduring marketing campaign for a Japanese pedometer in the 1960s, around the time of the Tokyo Olympics. The machine was called the manpo-kei, which translates as “10,000 steps metre”.
“There is evidence to suggest the Japanese population, similar to the US and probably the UK, does about 5,000-6,000 steps per day on average,” Dr Aguiar says. “Picking 10,000 is a great target because it’s a little bit higher. If you went for a 30-minute walk you would probably get around 3,000 steps, so if you take your baseline daily activity and add one session of planned exercise, you’re close to that 10,000-step goal.”.
