Walking Pace Question

dachiri
dachiri Posts: 14
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all, I've been looking at increasing the amount of activity I do since I've been having some health effects that have been traced back to too little activity. I need to get a baseline to do this. I have a pedometer app that seems pretty spot-on (it has high reviews and I've tested it by counting my steps and it's always either right-on or very close), EXCEPT that I was doubting its pace/timer, which my doc also asked me to report. I averaged 30 days of results and came up with a pace of about 3.9 MPH. :noway: I triple-checked everything, and found that my stride length was slightly over-reported, redid the calcs, and came up with just shy of 3.75 MPH. :noway: I'm only 5'5! I have occasionally gotten complaints from friends that I walk too fast, but half the time I feel like I'm crawling along at a snail's pace for some of the walks, like my morning "stumble" to the subway.

I watched a video on Youtube of a guy demonstrating a 3 MPH walking pace on a treadmill, and I could hear my silent "tourist rant" (I live in a tourist-heavy city) beginning - that is "MOVE IT, SLOWPOKE, GET OUT OF MY WAY! I HAVE PLACES TO BE! LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET THE HECK OFF MY SIDEWALK!" (while actually meekly saying excuse me and grumbling a bit when they refuse to do so). So I guess I just wanted to put the question out there as to whether there is any way that pace is accurate. Yes, I often find myself arriving at my destination slightly winded and a bit sweaty if it's warm or humid, but I guess I chalked that up to being a little out of shape. I've also independently timed a few walks over the last week and come up with similar results (3.5-just under 4 MPH pace). I guess I just can't believe it. I'd be open to trying a different app, if anyone has a recommendation (currently use AccuPedo, on Android).

Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    3.5 is the most efficient speed for majority, so not surprising. And that's not short, that's avg.

    http://www.exrx.net/Aerobic/WalkCalExp.html

    Go for a timed and measured walk sometime and confirm it too. Use like gmaps-pedometer to map a route and see.

    http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
  • dachiri
    dachiri Posts: 14
    That gmaps thing says the same thing that Google Maps walking and my pedometer say about my morning/evening walk. I guess I'm just kind of in shock because I'm being told that my activity levels are too low, and my doc highly suspected it was my walking PACE that was a problem (not getting any real cardio benefit from the walking), because I clock anywhere between 6 and 8+ miles per day (big city life and all). I can't see how slightly to noticeably faster than the average person is too slow to get cardio benefits.

    Of course now I highly suspect she's going to tell me to start biking again (too many joint problems to run/jog except on soft surfaces), weather be darned, but I'm SO SCARED to bike after dark. Drivers be CRAZY, and 5 PM sunsets don't give me an option of taking off from work before dark.
  • Jhon1700
    Jhon1700 Posts: 7
    Walking is really helpful for our health.Its make our bodies active,fit and smart.So here should
    be the proper way that how you are walking.Its just not seems like you are running but you
    should walk in a little much speed of your normal walking.
  • babeinthemoon
    babeinthemoon Posts: 471 Member
    I'm 5'4" and can easily clock a 3.33mph time... and that's me just going moderately fast, sustained over 45 minutes. I've measured 3.5mph sustained over just about 50 minutes too. So, I'm thinking that your speed calculations are probably right on. If you really want to double check, go to a local school with a track and do some laps. Then you'll easily be able to calculate your every day walking speed. ;-)

    Edited to add: Years ago I had an ex-boyfriend who was 6'5". I just learned to walk fast next to him. LOL I guess I never lost the habit... because my husband tells me that I walk too fast some times. :smokin:
  • dachiri
    dachiri Posts: 14
    The closest I can come to a track is a block where I don't cross the street and Google maps to estimate the distance, and what I've done with that I guess is validating the results. I guess I never thought I walked that fast because I usually have to cross a lot of streets, which means waiting on lights, which means it may take me 35 minutes to make a walk just shy of 2 miles. So my old roughshod calculations had me around 3 MPH, but when my pedometer takes out the stops, it's closer to 4.

    Bummer that that's not enough, especially with winter here. I don't have time for cardio outside of my normal (non-vehicle) transportation, so I guess it's back onto the bike for me, which seemed to help but is a terrifying prospect with these early sunsets. Else I guess I need to do calisthenics in the aisle of the subway for my ride. That wouldn't be weird at all, right?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    That gmaps thing says the same thing that Google Maps walking and my pedometer say about my morning/evening walk. I guess I'm just kind of in shock because I'm being told that my activity levels are too low, and my doc highly suspected it was my walking PACE that was a problem (not getting any real cardio benefit from the walking), because I clock anywhere between 6 and 8+ miles per day (big city life and all). I can't see how slightly to noticeably faster than the average person is too slow to get cardio benefits.

    Of course now I highly suspect she's going to tell me to start biking again (too many joint problems to run/jog except on soft surfaces), weather be darned, but I'm SO SCARED to bike after dark. Drivers be CRAZY, and 5 PM sunsets don't give me an option of taking off from work before dark.

    For actual max cardio benefits, that means to improving the heart and lung situation, you'd need probably 50% of VO2max, which ya, walking level isn't going to get you anywhere near there.
    Still burns calories and mainly fat, still some workout for the lungs and heart, but not enough for improvement. For any system to improve, it must be fully loaded and then it repairs/recovers stronger.
    So your cardio system just isn't getting that strain to improve, it can handle the walking very easily.

    You still burn almost the same number of calories if the same weight, it's just not going to improve your cardio system. It'll keep it where it's at.
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    I gained a LOT of fitness walking, but I am guessing I started out in a much different place than you are in currently. If you're already walking 6 to 8 miles a day!

    My average outside walking pace is about 3.5. When I'm on the treadmill, I will go up to 4 for about one third of my walk (so maybe 20 minutes) but sustaining that pace for too much longer is fairly stressing on my joints. I'm 5'4". I do run a lot though.
  • micheleld73
    micheleld73 Posts: 914 Member
    i use the sports tracker app on my phone (its free for android and iphone). It tracks current speed, average speed, distance and time.

    My average speed when I walk/run my dog is 3.8 mph and I go about 2 miles in about 31-34 minutes.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    wow - ive never seen life micromanaged this badly before
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    oh wait the peach person yesterday smh
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    ps carry a bike bell in your pocket and everyone will get out of the way and not even look around for the bike
  • dachiri
    dachiri Posts: 14
    Riding on the sidewalk is both illegal and dangerous. Please don't ever think about doing it in DC, I will not move, despite your cute little bell, and you will be charged if you hit me. I ride in the street, where bikes belong. After dark, drivers have a harder time seeing bikes. Considering about 75% of them are driving around like their hair is on fire while wearing a sleep mask, the darkness compounds the danger. So, no, not thrilled about the prospect of biking after dark.

    If you're going to be rude, just keep it to yourself. I'm sure you're like crazy healthy now and have plenty of leisure time to run off to some fun gym or are maybe able to run on hard surfaces, but when your body starts betraying you and you try to find the answers, please don't ask in a forum specifically dedicated to helping with those answers you need, as requested by your doctor. Yeah, my life is very micro-managed. It HAS to be to work a full-time job and run two small businesses. Hence why I need to cram my cardio into the 2-ish hours a day I spend hopping between home, the office, the other office, and client visits. There ain't no more time once I get home, and there won't be the next morning, either. I took, like, a half hour out to make sure I was getting the right information to my doctor the first time. In case you need help with conveying your problem to your doctor, allow me to assist: self-centered witch. There's no drug for that.
  • dachiri
    dachiri Posts: 14
    Fortunately, my heart and lungs are fine and plenty fit to do more strenuous things when called for, the issues I've been having are related to how the body regulates its more advanced functions given a certain level of exercise. My doc thought that a base level of walking at least 5 miles a day at 3-3.5 MPH would regulate these fine, and knowing how much I walk, thought it might be the pace. Sounds like I need something a little more intense. Since job 2 to client relations for job 3 generally occurs on more residential streets, guess I'll start there and woman up by biking at a more intense pace than I normally walk (while not thrilled, it *is* at least faster). Averages are just that, I guess, and some of us just beat them by being ourselves.

    Living in a city is a great way to improve general fitness. Parking is a pain and really expensive, even just on the street in front of your house. It took me about 6 months before I just got fed up and sold my car. My only complaint is that, no matter my weight, my calf muscles are too big to fit into fancy knee-high boots. :wink:
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    What the heck is going on here? It's walking. It's beneficial. Can we dial the complications down a notch or two?

    complicated.jpeg
  • 2BeFit4Jesus
    2BeFit4Jesus Posts: 97
    Hi all, I've been looking at increasing the amount of activity I do since I've been having some health effects that have been traced back to too little activity. I need to get a baseline to do this. I have a pedometer app that seems pretty spot-on (it has high reviews and I've tested it by counting my steps and it's always either right-on or very close), EXCEPT that I was doubting its pace/timer, which my doc also asked me to report. I averaged 30 days of results and came up with a pace of about 3.9 MPH. :noway: I triple-checked everything, and found that my stride length was slightly over-reported, redid the calcs, and came up with just shy of 3.75 MPH. :noway: I'm only 5'5! I have occasionally gotten complaints from friends that I walk too fast, but half the time I feel like I'm crawling along at a snail's pace for some of the walks, like my morning "stumble" to the subway.

    I watched a video on Youtube of a guy demonstrating a 3 MPH walking pace on a treadmill, and I could hear my silent "tourist rant" (I live in a tourist-heavy city) beginning - that is "MOVE IT, SLOWPOKE, GET OUT OF MY WAY! I HAVE PLACES TO BE! LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET THE HECK OFF MY SIDEWALK!" (while actually meekly saying excuse me and grumbling a bit when they refuse to do so). So I guess I just wanted to put the question out there as to whether there is any way that pace is accurate. Yes, I often find myself arriving at my destination slightly winded and a bit sweaty if it's warm or humid, but I guess I chalked that up to being a little out of shape. I've also independently timed a few walks over the last week and come up with similar results (3.5-just under 4 MPH pace). I guess I just can't believe it. I'd be open to trying a different app, if anyone has a recommendation (currently use AccuPedo, on Android).

    Part of it could be your phone. Some of the Samsungs have fairly unreliable GPS systems for the level of accuracy you desire. MapMyRun allows you to go on their website and map out walking distances. You could use that to get distances and then time yourself and use that for comparison against your other data. MapMyRun also has an app, but I wouldn't suggest it. Better apps are Ms Track, Runkeeper, and Endomondo.
  • 2BeFit4Jesus
    2BeFit4Jesus Posts: 97
    wow - ive never seen life micromanaged this badly before

    Great advice!
  • dachiri
    dachiri Posts: 14
    I'm not running on GPS, but the 3D gyroscope, the same one that tells my phone what direction I'm pointed when using the GPS. Maps have confirmed the length of my routes. It's just tracking walking motions just like a normal pedometer. Like I said, I've tested its accuracy on number of steps by both counting steps while it's in my pocket/bag and watching it, and it seems pretty good. I'm just trying to relay accurate information to my doctor, so she can develop a plan that will keep my body working right, which she seems to believe requires an accurate gauge of my walking speed (there was, after all, a recent study that indicated that walking speed was related to longevity). I thought I asked a simple question, since everything I've ever been exposed to assumed that 3 MPH was a "normal" walking speed and all evidence I had indicated I walked substantially faster than that on a normal basis, even though I didn't feel like I was really pressing myself to perform. I was just curious as to whether I was misinformed about normal walking speeds or if my technology was failing me.

    And the answer to that equation is 45. I would suggest implementing that, but most people in the US can't do math to save their life.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    What the heck is going on here? It's walking. It's beneficial. Can we dial the complications down a notch or two?

    complicated.jpeg

    That's great.

    In that city, when pulled over for suspected DUI, is the field test trig questions?
  • Jhon1700
    Jhon1700 Posts: 7
    Walking is really helpful for our health.Its make our bodies active,fit and smart.So here should
    be the proper way that how you are walking.Its just not seems like you are running but you
    should walk in a little much speed of your normal walking.

    long island personal trainer

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