04/5Exercise vs walking 10,000 steps Exercising or walking can both improve cardiovascular endurance, which helps in ensuring an active lifestyle and reduces the risk of various diseases. For people who have any ailment, it's best for them to walk on a low-to-moderate intensity.
So 10,000 steps or 30 minutes of regular exercise, who wins the big battle of fitness? Well, no one. It's a matter of choice and convenience, because both provide common benefits of improving your overall health. In fact, whether you choose to walk or exercise, both can help you burn calories, helping with weight loss.
“There's nothing magical about hitting 10,000 steps a day,” he says. Of course, walking 10,000 steps—roughly four to five miles, depending on your stride length—is still great exercise, and a perfectly good daily goal; it's just not an automatic fitness cure-all.
This is not only a cheap option, but is also easier on your joints. While running and gymming are also intensity-based work outs that target muscle groups, studies say it is walking that beats all else.
Formal exercise steps plus steps throughout the day, adding up to a grand total of 10,000 steps, could very likely get you to the 60 minutes of daily exercise that has proven so successful for significant, long-lasting weight loss.
Experts say, walking 10,000 steps is a form of low-to-moderate intensity cardio exercise. Thus, it can be equivalent to other low-moderate intensity cardio exercises like cycling, elliptical cross trainer, swimming and aquatic exercises.
Completing an extra 10,000 steps each day typically burns about 2000 to 3500 extra calories each week. One pound of body fat equals 3500 calories, so depending on your weight and workout intensity, you could lose about one pound per week simply by completing an extra 10,000 steps each day.
The average American walks 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day, or roughly 1.5 to 2 miles. It's a good idea to find out how many steps a day you walk now, as your own baseline. Then you can work up toward the goal of 10,000 steps by aiming to add 1,000 extra steps a day every two weeks.
The study also found that overweight participants (those with BMIs ranging from 25 to 29) cut their risk of becoming obese by half if they increased their steps to 11,000 steps a day. In fact, “this increase in step counts resulted in a 50% reduction in cumulative incidence of obesity at 5 years,” the study found.
As it turns out, 10,000 steps is actually a decent goal when counting how many steps to take in a day. With average speed and pace taken into consideration, 10,000 steps equates to about five miles of walking time in a day.
Many fitness trackers – such as Fitbits – will encourage the wearer to aim for 10,000 steps a day, and various studies have shown that walking this much can have an array of health benefits, including a reduced risk of developing heart disease, cancer and dementia.
“Running or jogging two and a half miles is equivalent to walking 10,000 steps,” says Chauncey Graham, CSCS, an ACE Fitness Professional at Gold's Gym in Washington, DC. Higher-intensity workouts also come with added benefits, including improvements to your cardiorespiratory system.
“The more steps you walk at high speed, the more calories you burn.” People who set 10,000 steps as a target goal will often walk at a lower intensity to reach their goal. However, people who set a lower target goal, i.e. 5000 steps a day mostly do it at a higher intensity.
When it comes to strength training, 30 minutes is the perfect amount of time to effectively work all the big muscle groups; the legs, the chest and the back.
Try starting with short workouts that are 30 minutes or less. As you feel your strength building, add a couple more minutes every week. The American Heart Association recommends 75-150 minutes of aerobic activity, as well as two strength-training sessions, per week.
The best types of cardio to aid in weight loss are either low-impact, low intensity cardio like rowing, incline walking, and biking, or HIIT workouts implemented in small doses such as kickboxing, interval training, and weight training.
How much should I walk to lose 10 kg? 30 minutes a day of brisk walking or power walking 5 days a week can help you reduce up to 10 kgs.
Walking 10,000 steps every day will burn off roughly 3,500 extra calories per week. And burning off 3,500 calories per week burns off half 500g of fat – so combine your walking routine with a healthy and sensible diet and you can easily lose between 500g – 1kg a week.
You've Gained Muscle Mass
If you're exercising regularly and doing a mix of cardio and strength training, it's very likely your body composition (ratio of muscle to fat) is changing for the better. If you're gaining muscle while losing fat, the scale may not show any weight change.
Does walking around your house count as exercise? Any movement you do can help you become more physically active. When answering this question, you need to ask yourself: What is my goal? If you simply want to move around more, then yes: Walking around your house is exercise.
While one study found that walking just 4,400 steps per day reduces the risk of death by 41% compared to walking fewer than 2,700 steps per day, the mortality risk decreases as you walk. Therefore, walking 20000 steps per day is a fantastic workout.
With daily fitness trackers keeping count, many people tried to hit that number – and some occasionally wondered if 10,000 was, in fact, some kind of important number. Turns out: Yes, it is, according to new research.