Completing 10,000 steps is the bare minimum you need to be fit and active
Highlights
- Less than 5,000 steps in a day may indicate you are inactive
- Work towards slowly increasing your number of steps
- Completing 10,000 steps in a day can break long hours of sitting
Weight loss: We all have different goals that we aim to achieve every single day, for our health, fitness and weight loss. While some people work towards exercising regularly, even if it is for 10 or 15 minutes, others want to complete the goal of doing 10,000 steps in a day. The latter has emerged to be quite a popular goal for fitness and weight loss. Roughly, walking 10,000 steps in a day is close to 7 kms. Achieving this step count can contribute to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation of doing at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week.
Studies have found that completing 10,000 steps in a day is a reasonable target for healthy adults. According to healthline.com, people who are inactive usually walk less than 5,000 steps in a day, those who are average or somewhat active complete 7,500 to 9,999 steps in a day, and those who are very active may complete more than 12,500 steps in a day.
Also read: Morning And Bed Time Stretching Exercises You Can Do Daily
We speak to celebrity fitness trainer Vinod Channa on the ways walking 10,000 steps in a day can help you. “Walking 10,000 steps in a day is the basic level of movement your body needs to be fit, agile and stable,” Channa tells DoctorNDTV.
10,000 steps in a day is the bare minimum of physical activity that you must do every day
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Sitting for long hours every day can put you at risk of metabolic diseases and weight gain. Trying to achieve the goal of 10,000 steps in a day can help you break long hours of sitting and prevent unnecessary weight gain. However, this goal cannot help you achieve fat loss, Channa asserts.
Speaking about the benefits of walking 10,000 steps in a day, he says that it can help in making you active, maintain your stamina and prevent strength loss.
Also read: Post-Workout Nutrition: 5 Foods For Fast Muscle Recovery You Must Try After Your Next Workout
Tips to complete 10,000 steps in a day
For starters, achieving this goal may seem a little too ambitious. You don’t necessarily need a fitness tracker just to track your steps. Most smartphones have a built-in step counter as well.
If your daily step count is lesser than 5,000, start with adding 250 to 500 steps in a day. Work on maintaining this increase in steps for at least a week. Add 250 steps to your daily count, and eventually move to adding 500 steps a day, till you reach your goal of 10,000 steps.
You can also do running for 2 minutes followed by walking for one minutes. This will increase the pace at which the steps are completed.
All in all, know that completing 10,000 steps in a day is the basic level of physical activity that you need to stay fit, healthy and disease-free.
Also read: Weight Loss On Your Mind But Got No Time To Exercise? Here’s A 15-Minute Workout To Your Rescue
Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.
