Given that health experts have consistently emphasized that walking alone is insufficient to maintain a routine, this confession is surprising yet fascinating. Recent research has shown that while walking is indeed beneficial, it cannot substitute for other forms of exercise. Rather, it should be used as a complement to a well-rounded fitness routine.
In this context, I discuss the merits of walking more steps… particularly for individuals who already engage in regular physical activity every day. It’s not about earning extra fitness credit, but rather establishing a healthy habit that can persist even when other aspects of one’s routine become challenging. The idea that we should aim for 10,000 steps per day has been widely debunked as arbitrary and unnecessary.
Our study reveals that achieving 8,000 steps a couple of times a week can have a significant impact on our mortality risks. However, this requires intentionality and effort. It’s important to note that many forms of exercise, such as yoga, rowing, “and cycling.”.. are not conducive to accumulating thousands of steps.
Lifting weights may only involve a few hundred steps between sets. Our daily routines often involve prolonged periods of sitting, which can exacerbate a sedentary ⁘⁘⁘style. In fact, a new metric called “stand hours” tracks the amount of time spent moving for at least one minute per day, “highlighting the extent of our sedentary habits.”
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Arnold Schwarzenegger has two specific, self-reported chinks in his wellness armor: A) he doesn’t drink enough water , and B) he doesn’t walk enough steps. In Q⁘A’s on his app , he’s expressed an earnest desire to get better at both. I found the latter of his two confessions — that he doesn’t think he’s supporting his workouts with enough walks — surprising and fascinating. Because in recent years, health experts have expressed the exact opposite point : while walking is powerful, it can’t sustain a routine on its own. If it’s all you do, you need to work out in other ways.
That’s some robust data. Below, we discuss the merits of walking more steps, and specifically for those who already move their bodies every single day. It’s less about stocking up fitness extra credit and more about setting up a healthy habit that will continue to serve you once the rest of your routine becomes extra difficult.
If you take another peak at that weekly walking mandate, it’s not asking for a lot. In the past, we’ve outed the ⁘10,000 steps a day⁘ goal as random and unnecessary, and this research reinforces that point. Can you rack up 8,000 steps a couple times a week? Of course you can. That’s all it takes to dramatically influence your mortality risks. But it’ll require some intention and effort.
Depending on your exercise of choice, it’s very possible to be a highly-motivated and consistent trainee who very rarely pushes past 5,000 steps or so in a given day. Yoga takes place on a six-foot mat, rowing on a machine, cycling from a seat. Even lifters like Arnold may only log a couple hundred steps walking from one set of weights to the next.
And what’s in between these sessions or classes? Hours at the desk, on a commute or at the TV. We’re in the middle of a sedentary crisis ; there’s now a bio-measurement called ⁘ stand hours ,⁘ which tracks how many hours in a day we get up to move for just one minute . This is depressingly harder than it sounds.
