In this coaches corner we lay out the strategies you should use when walking (steps) are a part of your plan. Whether the goal is to increase your steps, lose weight, or gain fitness our coaches detail how to put your best foot forward!
-
Why walk?!
● Walking provides and excellent low impact means of gaining fitness.
● Walking is easy to do and requires little if any equipment.
● Steps and walking can be done throughout your day and can boost overall fitness.
● Walking can also help improve or prevent certain health conditions, such as obesity, osteoporosis, and age-related memory loss.
● The benefits of walking appear to increase with step count. A 2020 study found that participants who took 8,000 steps per day had a 51% lower riskTrusted Source of dying by any cause compared with those who took 4,000 per day. This finding suggests that the benefits of walking increase with step count but also shows that people who cannot reach 10,000 steps in a day can still benefit from the activity.
● For those athletes who get injured while running; walking provides a means of building stamina with low impact so that longer and faster runs can be safely accomplished.
-
Steps for recreational fitness
● These can be incorporated into your plan as a daily step goal target. You can do them all in one go or throughout your day as you work and live.
● The beauty of these steps is they can accrue through any activity type. Who said chores were fun?! They are if they count towards your step goals!
● To improve your strength, flexibility, or stamina, you may also benefit from more intense forms of walking.
● Hiking can be a great “sport” for someone who is less athletic oriented but looking to raise their step counts.
Steps for athletes
● If you have a plan that has sessions from your Tristar coach, you will want to have them count towards your total step goals. This way you are not overdoing it.
● The low impact nature is helpful to a point of building base fitness and stamina. However, when run recovery or other sport recovery takes precedence - it is important to back off the total step counts to aid in recovery. Your coach will help you decide how much and when.
-
The number of steps to take for weight loss can vary depending on an individual’s current weight, food intake, and target weight. However, 10,000 steps is a good goal for most people.
For enhanced weight loss, exercise intensity is also important.
A 2018 analysis of 363 people with obesity found that those who took 10,000 steps per day and spent at least 3,500 of those steps engaged in moderate-to-vigorous activity lasting for bouts of 10 minutes or longer experienced enhanced weight loss.
Keeping up this level of activity helped participants maintain their weight loss until the 18-month follow-up.
-
if you want to use walking as a way to improve your strength, flexibility, or stamina, you may also benefit from more intense forms of walking.
For example, walking uphill activates three times more muscle fibers than walking on a flat surface. People who get many of their 10,000 steps walking up hills will, therefore, get a more thorough workout.
Other ways to get more cardiovascular benefits from walking and boost muscle strength include:
climbing stairs
walking briskly for sustained periods
focusing on objects in the distance, which can increase walking speed by up to 23%
wearing weighted wrist or ankle straps
Nordic walking, which involves the use of poles to work out the upper and lower body
The average walking speed is about 3 miles per hour (mph). To increase walking speed, you can try keeping pace with up-tempo music. For example, taking steps in time with the beat can help you walk at a rate of 3.5–5 mph.
Average steps per day
How to use steps in your Tristar Athletes training plan
-
What is RPE? Rate of perceived effort? Learn more here.
-
Depending upon your fitness levels your heart rate range will vary. A few things to keep in mind.
Ⓐ Beginners; use a maximum of heart rate zone three when doing your steps.
Ⓑ Intermediates; use a maximum of low zone three heart rate unless going up a steeper hill.
Ⓒ Advanced; Use a maximum of heart rate zone two.
*Dialing heart rate zone two and less will have the greatest impact on leaning out if weight loss is the goal. This is should also be an RPE of “4” on a scale from 1-10.
-
The average walking speed is about 3 miles per hour (mph) and a range of 3.5–5 mph. The sessions posted by your coach will be a percentage of your FTP (functional threshold pace) or the best pace you could hold for an hour of running. Your sessions will be calibrated based on your FTP, and athletic ability. Ⓐ=>Ⓒ
F.A.Q’s
-
● Your Tristar coach will start you off on a baseline of steps and build from there. In general you should try not to raise your weekly step count by more than 10% from the previous week.
● The type of surfaces you walk on will also dictate how many steps you can handle 🙌🏻 🚶🏻♂️
● Try to avoid doing multiple BIG days of steps back to back or without building up first.
-
Walking can also help improve or prevent certain health conditions, such as obesity, osteoporosis, and age-related memory loss.
The benefits of walking appear to increase with step count. A 2020 study found that participants who took 8,000 steps per day had a 51% lower riskTrusted Source of dying by any cause compared with those who took 4,000 per day.
This trend continued with higher step counts, as participants who took 12,000 steps per day had a 65% lower risk of dying than those who took 4,000.
This finding suggests that the benefits of walking increase with step count but also shows that people who cannot reach 10,000 steps in a day can still benefit from the activity.
-
While running may be more “invigorating” it is also more stressful on the body and joints. We know it may be hard “not” to run for some. Often times your coach will prescribe a walk/ walk-run approach to meet you in the middle on your run goals. Know that the act of running vs walking varies little in the physiological sense… and running does have greater stress on the body. Enjoy walking as it safely builds endurance, stamina, and lean body composition.