Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Kiel DiGiovanni, Co-founder
FACT CHECKED
Unless you've lived under a rock for the past decade, you have almost certainly heard of the importance of "10,000 steps". 10,000 steps is a straightforward and achievable goal for everyone to incorporate into their daily routine. It's a simple yet powerful way to increase daily activity. But where did this number come from, and is it legitimate? The answers to these questions will probably surprise you, but we'll tell you now that the suggestion of 10,000 steps should be taken way more seriously by the public.
What Is 10,000 Steps?
It's hard to pinpoint exactly when, but some years ago, talks of getting "10,000 steps" began making its rounds on fitness channels to promote and control fat loss. When this first happened, it's safe to say that many people took it with a grain of salt. However, as more people began following this, its benefits began to be realized.
Increase NEAT
The basic premise of walking 10,000 steps is to increase your low-intensity daily activity. Sometimes, this is also known as NEAT, or non-exercise aerobic thermogenesis, and is just one part of your overall total daily energy expenditure.
Four sources are used to calculate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), or the total amount of calories your body uses in a day.
- Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): Energy is required to support basic life functions, including respiration and brain function.
- Thermal Effect of Food (TEF): Total calories required to digest food, absorb nutrients, and expel waste.
- Exercise Aerobic Thermogenesis (EAT): A fancy term for exercise or sport. It is an activity specifically done to burn calories or improve performance.
- Neat Exercise Aerobic Thermogenesis (NEAT): NEAT is an activity that's not affiliated with exercise. It can include walking to the kitchen, watering your garden, or even fidgeting.
Understanding these four mechanisms is important, as we often equate "burning calories" with lifting weights and running. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Exercise generally only accounts for about 5-10% of your total caloric burn, which isn't much.
This gets confusing because some people may have a desk job where they sit all day and go to the gym hard four times a week for an hour. That's awesome, but those four hours during the week at the gym will not compensate for the rest of your time sitting.
In addition, understand that you don't need to beat yourself down to burn calories. Going on a 30-60-minute walk can do wonders! This is where the idea of 10,000 steps comes from. At its core, it encourages you to improve daily activity and decrease sitting time.
Research Behind 10,000 Daily Steps
We mentioned above that plenty of research supports the idea of walking 10,000 steps daily; we're now going to check some out.
In 2006, a study examined the effect of an exercise prescription of 10,000 steps a day in previously overweight and sedentary people.¹ A total of 56 people participated, with 38 finishing the 36-week study.
The result showed a decrease in fat mass of almost 3kg and a 1.9% drop in body fat percentage. These numbers are great, but you may first think it's not that impressive. However, you need to realize that the 10,000 steps were the only intervention used, and still, the average daily steps were only about 4,000. Those who adhered to the 10,000 steps saw greater results.
Later, in 2016, a study showed that 35 overweight individuals increased their daily steps by 1,000 until they reached 10,000 steps, which they then continued.²
The total duration of the study was 6 months, and the individuals were also given dietary assistance. In the end, the results were far-reaching, including:
- 3.7% drop in body mass
- 8.9% drop in fat mass
- Improvement in overall physical functioning
- Improvement in overall metabolism
- Decrease in anxiety
Above, we said that walking 10,000 steps has a greater impact than just weight loss. Multiple studies have also found the power of walking on health, including all-cause mortality and cardiovascular risk.
In 2020, a large meta-analysis included 17 studies and over 30,000 people.³ The primary focus was to examine the effects of daily steps on all-cause mortality and cardiovascular risk. What they found is pretty crazy. The researchers found that adding 1,000 steps a day resulted in a lower risk of all-cause mortality, and health benefits can be seen below 10,000 steps. We don't like shooting for the minimum, but it's interesting to see how powerful walking is.
In 2023, another huge meta-analysis wanted to build off what we know.⁴ They concluded that significant improvements in all-cause mortality were seen at just 3,867 steps per day, while improvements in cardiovascular complications were seen at just 2,337 steps a day.
However, after these thresholds, they found that more was definitely better. In all-cause mortality, a 1,000-step increment correlated with a significant reduction of 15%. On the other hand, for every 500-step increment, cardiovascular disease saw a drop of 7%. This dose response was seen all the way up to 20,000 steps!
In 2024, another meta-analysis found that those walking more than 12,500 steps daily saw the greatest drop in all-cause mortality.⁵
Anecdotal Evidence For 10,000 Steps
We just saw plenty of evidence supporting walking 10,000 steps daily. Since it has become so common, many people have been doing it.
Considering everything we have seen firsthand, as well as the experiences of others, we can say that walking 10,000 steps daily is one of the biggest game changers in a person's fitness journey. This is especially true for those who have previously been largely passive.
Finding someone consistent with their 10,000 steps for an extended duration is hard and has not seen positive results.
Common Questions About 10,000 Steps
Walking 10,000 steps is a refreshingly simple fitness plan. However, it raises many questions. Here are some of the most common and important questions people ask about 10,000 steps.
Where Did 10,000 Steps Come From?
A common question that arises, and rightfully so, is: Where did 10,000 steps come from? It's a good question, and the answer is pretty funny.
10,000 steps came from a marketing scheme that a Japanese company named Yamse used to sell their pedometer (step counter). Their pedometer was called the man-kei, which translates to "10,000 step meter" in English.
Aiming for 10,000 steps daily was a marketing strategy for the step counter and part of a public health campaign. Dr. Yoshiro Hatano advocated for this daily step goal, believing it could significantly reduce the Japanese population's heart disease risk.
Don't let the fact that it began as a marketing step deter you; we now have research to support its use; we'll get into that further down.
How Far Is 10,000 Steps?
You're probably wondering how far 10,000 steps are. The exact answer can vary greatly depending on a person's height and, more importantly, their stride length. In addition, the speed of your walk can also affect the total distance, as a slower walk generally uses a shorter stride. However, the average distance of 10,000 steps is usually around 4-5 miles.
How Many Calories Can You Burn Walking 10,000 Steps?
Like distance, the calories you burn walking 10,000 steps can vary greatly. The primary factor is your weight. A heavier person must perform more work and will burn more calories.
The terrain can also play a factor. Walking through an outdoor trail with hills and uneven surfaces will burn more calories than walking in the mall. However, it's essential to realize that both count! Yes, you can get your steps in by window shopping.
Speed can also play a minor role. Even though you're technically performing the same work, walking briskly may result in greater caloric burn. Now, there's some nuance to this, which we will discuss below, but you'll probably burn anywhere between 400 and 600 calories, depending on your size and other variables. You can get an estimate with this calculator!
How Fast Do You Need To Walk?
The most crucial factor is you get your steps in, especially if you're new to exercise. Increasing daily activity will always provide awesome benefits.
At the same time, part of the whole 10,000 steps idea is to increase low-intensity daily activity in a non-stressful manner. Basically, this means you should stop thinking you need to bust your ass all the time to get benefits.
To maximize your benefits, you should do some of this walking at a higher intensity. One study had two groups complete a walking program of 12,000 steps a day.⁶ One group simply walked at a normal pace daily, while the other group completed their 12,000 steps at a pace of 103 steps/min three days of the week.
How To Use 10,000 Steps In Your Fitness Program
Even though some studies have shown that 10,000 steps alone can help you lose weight, we think this is the wrong takeaway. In addition, some articles claim you don't need to walk 10,000 steps to get benefits. While true, again, we feel this is the wrong mentality. Rather, you should simply look at the minimal number of steps as motivation to get up and start walking, knowing you'll see benefits. However, more is always better.
Therefore, to get the most out of your 10,000 steps, it should be a part of a balanced fitness program. Here's how it should look.
- Your primary source of calorie control will always be your nutrition. You can not get around this. Control your calories with nutrition.
- Get in the gym to either build muscle or maintain muscle mass. This should be your primary goal.
- If desired and able, use various forms of cardio. Ideally, at least one session of HIIT or interval training and one session of longer steady state.
- You then use 10,000 steps as an "afterburner" to increase caloric burn, assist with recovery, and stay moving. Depending on your fitness levels, 10,000 steps can also improve cardio health.
And remember, more is always better. Yes, we're really serious about this!
Get Your 10,000 Steps In!
In our opinion, walking is the most underestimated tool you have in your arsenal to improve fitness levels. So many people will just sit at home because they're too (even though walking can help with DOMS too!). Or, they think exercise is worthless unless it's maxing out all the time. False! We will tell you that no one is too good for a walk!
10,000 steps is unique as it's probably the only "marketing ploy" that actually delivers on its benefits. If you're having issues with your body composition or general health, we can't stress enough how effective regular walking can be!
Learn more about general fitness topics!
References
- Schneider, Patrick L., et al. “Effects of a 10,000 Steps per Day Goal in Overweight Adults.” American Journal of Health Promotion, vol. 21, no. 2, Nov. 2006, pp. 85–89, https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-21.2.85.
- Castres, I., et al. “Impact of a Walking Program of 10,000 Steps per Day and Dietary Counseling on Health-Related Quality of Life, Energy Expenditure and Anthropometric Parameters in Obese Subjects.” Journal of Endocrinological Investigation, vol. 40, no. 2, 1 Feb. 2017, pp. 135–141, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27600387/, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-016-0530-9.
- Hall, Katherine S., et al. “Systematic Review of the Prospective Association of Daily Step Counts with Risk of Mortality, Cardiovascular Disease, and Dysglycemia.” International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 17, no. 1, 20 June 2020, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-020-00978-9.
- Banach, Maciej, et al. “The Association between Daily Step Count and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality: A Meta-Analysis.” European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, vol. 30, no. 18, 9 Aug. 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjpc/zwad229.
- Eva Rodríguez-Gutiérrez, Ana Torres-Costoso, Borja del Pozo Cruz, Sergio Núñez de Arenas-Arroyo, Carlos Pascual-Morena, Bruno Bizzozero-Peroni, Vicente Martínez-Vizcaíno, Daily steps and all-cause mortality: An umbrella review and meta-analysis, Preventive Medicine,Volume 185, 2024,108047, ISSN 0091-7435, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2024.108047.
- Chiang, Tsung-Lin, et al. “Is the Goal of 12,000 Steps per Day Sufficient for Improving Body Composition and Metabolic Syndrome? The Necessity of Combining Exercise Intensity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” BMC Public Health, vol. 19, no. 1, 3 Sept. 2019, p. 1215, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31481039/, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7554-y.
Garett Reid
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