Guides
Walking, in numbers and in stories.
28-day walking challenge: a free plan, day by day
A free 28-day walking challenge that builds from 15 to 30 minutes a day. About 63,000 steps and 44 km (27 miles) in four weeks, further than the Inca Trail.
How long is the Brooklyn Bridge walk?
The Brooklyn Bridge is 6,016 feet long with its approaches, about 1.1 miles (1.8 km). About 22 minutes on foot at a normal pace and about 2,600 steps.
How many flights of stairs is 10,000 steps?
Step for step, up to about 625 floors, since a 10 ft (3 m) floor takes at least 16 stairs. By effort, stair climbing is about 2.4 times harder than walking.
How far should a 75, 80 or 90 year old walk every day?
For adults over 60, the benefit of daily steps levels off at about 6,000 to 8,000, roughly 2.5 to 3.5 miles across a day. What that means at 75, 80 and 90.
How many calories does 12,000 steps burn?
About 500 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 390 at 55 kg to 720 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories does 15,000 steps burn?
About 630 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 490 at 55 kg to 890 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories does 16,000 steps burn?
About 670 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 520 at 55 kg to 950 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories does 2,000 steps burn?
About 80 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 70 at 55 kg to 120 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories does 20,000 steps burn?
About 840 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 660 at 55 kg to 1190 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories does 3,000 steps burn?
About 130 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 100 at 55 kg to 180 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories does 30,000 steps burn?
About 1250 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 980 at 55 kg to 1790 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories does 4,000 steps burn?
About 170 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 130 at 55 kg to 240 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories does 5,000 steps burn?
About 210 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 160 at 55 kg to 300 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories does 6,000 steps burn?
About 250 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 200 at 55 kg to 360 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories does 7,000 steps burn?
About 290 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 230 at 55 kg to 420 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories does 8,000 steps burn?
About 330 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 260 at 55 kg to 480 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories do 1,000 steps burn?
About 42 calories per 1,000 steps for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 33 at 55 kg to 60 at 100 kg. Totals for every common step count.
How many calories do you burn walking 2 miles?
About 190 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 150 at 55 kg to 270 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why pace barely matters.
How many calories do you burn walking 4 miles?
About 380 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 300 at 55 kg to 550 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why pace barely matters.
How many calories do you burn walking 5 miles?
About 480 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 380 at 55 kg to 680 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why pace barely matters.
How many calories do you burn walking a kilometre?
About 59 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 47 at 55 kg to 85 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why pace barely matters.
How many calories do you burn walking for an hour?
About 300 calories an hour at a normal pace for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, 250 at a stroll and 360 at a brisk walk. The table by weight and pace.
How many miles does the average person walk a day?
About 2 miles. The world average is 4,961 steps a day, about 3.5 km. And how far a person can walk in a day, from a normal day to a long day on a trail.
How many steps in 20 minutes of walking?
About 2,000 at a moderate 100 steps a minute, fewer on a stroll and about 2,600 when you walk fast. What each pace means and how far 20 minutes takes you.
How many steps in 45 minutes of walking?
About 4,500 at a moderate 100 steps a minute, fewer on a stroll and about 5,850 when you walk fast. What each pace means and how far 45 minutes takes you.
How many steps in an hour of walking?
About 6,000 at a moderate 100 steps a minute, fewer on a stroll and about 7,800 when you walk fast. What each pace means and how far an hour takes you.
How to get more steps in a day, at home and at work
Practical ways to add steps to an ordinary day without finding an extra hour: at home, at work, on errands and in front of the TV, with what one study measured.
Is walking 3 miles a day good for you?
Yes. 3 miles is about 6,300 to 7,500 steps, right where the big step studies find most of the benefit. What it takes in time and calories, and what it does.
Is walking 5 miles a day good for you?
Yes. 5 miles is about 10,500 to 12,500 steps, past where the big step studies find the benefit levels off. The time and calories it takes, and how to build up.
Is walking 6 miles a day good for you?
Yes, if your body is used to it. 6 miles is about 12,600 to 15,000 steps, the top tier in step research. The time and calories it takes, and how to build up.
Is walking in place as good as walking?
Walking in place burned about 85% of the energy of a 3 mph walk in a 2012 study. How it compares, whether your steps count, and how to make it harder.
What is rucking? Walking with weight, explained
Rucking is walking with a weighted backpack. How much harder it makes a walk, how to start, rucking vs running, and a backpack vs a weighted vest.
Is it better to walk before or after eating?
After, for blood sugar. In a trial, 10 minutes of walking after each meal lowered the rise in blood sugar more than one 30-minute walk a day.
Should you walk with or against traffic?
Against it. Where there is no sidewalk, walk facing oncoming traffic so you can see drivers and they can see you: the left side in the US, the right in the UK.
How many steps, miles and calories is 18 holes of golf?
Walking 18 holes took about 12,000 steps in a Mayo Clinic study, roughly 5 miles (8 km). What a round burns, and how it counts as exercise.
Walking in the cold: is it good for you, and does it burn more?
Winter walks count like any other, and snow makes every step harder work. What the research says about the extra effort, who should take care, and what to wear.
Walking meditation: how to do it, step by step
Walking meditation is walking slowly with your attention on each step. How to do it in ten minutes, and how it differs from mindful walking.
Walking or cycling: which burns more calories?
Per hour, cycling at a moderate pace burns more than walking. Per mile, walking burns about twice as much. The numbers by body weight and speed, side by side.
Walking plan to lose weight: a free 12-week plan
A free 12-week walking plan that builds from 100 to 300 minutes a week, past the 250 linked to clinically significant weight loss, and why food matters too.
Walking records: the farthest anyone has walked in a day, and the longest walks ever
The 24-hour walking records are 228.9 km (142 miles) for men and 211.3 km (131 miles) for women. The longest walks, and what a record day is in steps.
Walking team names: 70 ideas for step challenges
Walking team names for work step challenges, families and friends: puns, office names, names for older walkers and names from the world's famous trails.
Walking vs running: which is better for weight loss and health?
Running burns about 40% more per mile, and runners lost more weight in a 6-year study. For blood pressure and cholesterol, walking matched it for equal effort.
What muscles does walking work? Legs, glutes and the incline effect
Walking works your calves, thighs and glutes, and hills make the hips work far harder. What walking does for your legs and glutes, and what it doesn't cover.
How to run a workplace step challenge that people finish
A workplace step challenge works when everyone can take part and nobody feels watched. Formats to choose from, how long to run it, fairness, privacy and prizes.
Gifts for walkers and hikers: what to look for
Gift ideas for someone who walks every day or hikes at weekends: socks, rain layers, lights, poles and trail days, and what makes each one worth giving.
How does the iPhone count steps, and how accurate is it?
Your iPhone counts steps on its own, no app or watch needed, whenever it is with you. Where to see them and what studies found about its accuracy.
How to sync Fitbit steps to Apple Health
Since August 2026 the Google Health app, formerly the Fitbit app, can send your Fitbit steps to Apple Health on iPhone. Where the setting is and how to check.
How to sync Garmin steps to Apple Health
Garmin Connect can send your watch's steps to Apple Health on iPhone, but sharing is off until you turn it on. Where the setting is and how to check it.
How to sync Oura Ring steps to Apple Health
The Oura app can send your ring's steps to Apple Health on iPhone. Where the setting is, the membership it needs, and how to stop steps counting twice.
How to sync your wearable's steps to Apple Health
Garmin, Fitbit, Oura, WHOOP and Polar can all send steps to Apple Health on iPhone, but the sharing is off until you turn it on. How it works, brand by brand.
Average walking speed by age
About 5 km/h (3.1 mph) for adults under 50, easing to about 4 km/h in the seventies. The table by age, from a meta-analysis of 51,248 adults.
Benefits of walking: what the research actually found
Lower risk of early death, heart disease, dementia, diabetes and depression, and lower blood pressure. Each benefit of walking with its number and its study.
Does walking lower blood pressure?
Yes, by about 4 mmHg systolic in a Cochrane review of 73 trials of about 150 minutes a week. What the evidence shows, for whom, and how sure it is.
How long does it take to walk 10,000 steps?
About an hour and a half, from 85 minutes in your twenties to two hours after 80. The time by age and by step rate, and why most people never walk it in one go.
How many calories does 10,000 steps burn?
About 420 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 330 at 55 kg to 600 at 100 kg. The table by weight, and why your watch may show less.
How many calories do you burn walking a mile?
About 100 calories for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, from about 80 at 55 kg to 140 at 100 kg. Why pace barely matters, and walking a mile versus running it.
How many miles should you walk a day?
No guideline gives a number of miles. What the research says in steps and minutes, translated into miles, and how sure the studies are.
Is walking good exercise? And does it count as cardio?
Yes, if it is brisk: about 3 mph or 100 steps a minute counts as moderate cardio. What it does for fitness, how to tell, and what it does not cover.
Average walking heart rate: what is normal on a walk?
There is no single average. A brisk walk aims for 50 to 70% of your maximum heart rate, about 90 to 126 beats a minute at 40. The chart by age.
What is brisk walking?
Brisk walking is about 3 mph (4.8 km/h), or 100 steps a minute: fast enough that you can talk but not sing. How to tell, and how much of it counts.
Camino Portugués: the Portuguese Way, central and coastal
From Porto, about 240 km inland or 280 km by the coast; from Lisbon, about 620 km. The two Portuguese routes compared, the Galician stages and the 100 km rule.
How far should a 65 to 70 year old walk every day?
Over 60, the benefit of daily steps levels off at about 6,000 to 8,000, roughly 2.5 to 3.5 miles across a day. What that means and what else counts.
How many steps a day by age?
What children, teens, adults and older adults typically walk, and the steps research links to health at each age, from 6,000 over 60 to 15,000 for kids.
How many steps a day to lose weight?
There is no magic number. What the research finds walking alone does for weight, how many extra steps that takes, and what those steps burn at your weight.
How many steps in 30 minutes of walking?
About 3,000 at a moderate 100 steps a minute, fewer on a stroll and close to 4,000 when you walk fast. What each pace means and how far it takes you.
Japanese walking: the interval walking method, explained
Japanese walking is three minutes fast, three minutes slow, repeated five times. Where it comes from, what the original study found, and how to try it.
Kilimanjaro routes compared: which way up?
Machame, Lemosho, Marangu, Rongai, the Northern Circuit and Umbwe compared: days, scenery, crowds and acclimatisation, and how much to trust the success rates.
What is Nordic walking?
Nordic walking is walking with specially designed poles that work your upper body too. How it works, how much more it burns, and what the research says.
Tai chi walking: what it is and how to do it
Slow, mindful walking on tai chi principles: careful weight shifts, heel first, upright posture. How to do it, and what the research does and does not show.
What is a walking pad?
A walking pad is a small, flat treadmill made for walking, often under a desk. How fast it goes, whether you can run on one, and how it compares to a treadmill.
When was walking invented?
Nobody invented walking, but walking upright has a start date of sorts, 6 to 7 million years ago. The fossils, the oldest footprints, and why we stood up.
Best walking apps 2026
Eight walking apps, from GPS trackers like Strava and Map My Walk to apps that give your walks a goal, like Pokémon GO and The Conqueror. What each one does.
A choose your own adventure app you play by walking
reTrek's quests are branching stories you move through on foot: walk to unlock each chapter, make the calls, and reach one of several endings.
How to train for the Camino de Santiago: a 12-week plan
A 12-week walking plan that builds to 20 km days back to back, why you should never start the Camino in new shoes, and how to train with your pack.
Walking games 2026
Six phone games you play by walking: map games like Pokémon GO and Pikmin Bloom, story games like Zombies, Run!, and journeys you walk step by step.
Walking motivation: how to keep walking when it gets boring
Walking is easy. Doing it every day is not. Three things research says keep people going, and how to build each one into an ordinary walk.
Camino de Santiago routes: which one to walk
Seven Camino routes compared, from the 120 km Ingles to the 1,000 km Via de la Plata: where each starts, how long it takes, and what kind of walk it is.
How long does the Camino de Santiago take?
The Camino Frances is about 784 km and most pilgrims take 30 to 35 days. The maths by daily distance in km, miles, steps and days, on the trail and at home.