September 22, 2022

"When they looked at the step rate, per minute, of the highest 30 minutes of activity a day, they found that participants whose average highest pace was... between 80 and 100 steps per minute...

"... had better health outcomes compared with those who walked a similar amount each day but at a slower pace...The key is to walk at an intensity that is manageable but also slightly pushes the boundaries of what is a comfortable pace."

Playlists I downloaded after reading that and before heading out for a walk:

44 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Just to throw cold water on the whole thing, here's the top-rated comment over there: "Cardiologist here. As pointed out by others, this is an association study. People who could walk faster (and more steps) did better. This is very different from having people initiate a walking program and then demonstrating that it leads to improved health outcomes. Nonetheless, I am a big fan of walking and strongly encourage this for my patients."

Rory said...

My dog and I did a measured mile in 90 minutes this morning.

Achilles said...

Once per day you need to push yourself to maximum effort.

You need to ascend into Anaerobic activity for an amount of time. During and after this effort your body will release Lactate into your blood stream. Lactate is a hormone that signals the body to do a lot of things that benefit health.

The old bullshit about lactic acid causing soreness is a myth. It is blaming the ambulance for the accident.

The most notable benefit of lactate being in your blood stream is that it signals your body to rebuild the glial sheaths on your neurons. These are the things that feed and repair your neurons.

You don't create more neurons as you get older, but their function is dependent on the cells that sheath them and feed them.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Yeah, OK... But KC and the Sunshine Band? Makes me nauseous.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Yeah, OK... But KC and the Sunshine Band? Makes me nauseous.

Joe Smith said...

I do 8-10 mile walks and try to do a minimum of 3.5mph.

If you're in decent shape it's doable but you can't just 'stroll,' you have to walk with a purpose...

The docs comment seems relevant. People in better shape probably walk faster to start with.

Achilles said...

Ann Althouse said...

Just to throw cold water on the whole thing, here's the top-rated comment over there: "Cardiologist here. As pointed out by others, this is an association study. People who could walk faster (and more steps) did better. This is very different from having people initiate a walking program and then demonstrating that it leads to improved health outcomes. Nonetheless, I am a big fan of walking and strongly encourage this for my patients."


As we have seen over the last several years "experts" are not to be trusted.

There is a mountain of evidence that exercise at all levels leads to cognitive benefits but particularly to high intensity high heart rate exercise.

We even know the biological functions that lead to this.

Most of the motivation to avoid this is that people do not like sprinting for even 1 minute a day. It is uncomfortable certainly but you will live longer and be cognitively more effective.

n.n said...

Aerobic vs anaerobic fitness in a progressive climate that reduces carbon emission and health.

Lurker21 said...

BPM: psst ... Stacey Abrams says that fetal heartbeats aren't real ... pass it on ...

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

other than pink floyd - good choices.

MartyH said...

Along these lines, Professor-

You had a post where you asked for recommendations to break through a wall on your run. I can’t recall if you were trying to beat a certain time or pace. Did you achieve that goal?

Enigma said...

I did a little math and found that 'walk' at about 120 steps per minute. That's only 3.5 miles per hour but definitely not running or jogging. Those who walk <80 steps per minute may be relatively infirmed or waddle about like penguins.

Unhealthy, slow, and unfit people are unhealthy, slow, and unfit.

Kate said...

Yeah, my first question was, "Steps for men or for women?" If my husband and I walk the same number of steps, I'm working -- is it four times? -- more aerobically than he is. Some huge disparity.

Sofa King said...

For easy reference, Sousa matches are usually about 100 bpm. Humming the Stars and Stripes Forever while you walk will both keep your pace and make America great again.

R C Belaire said...

FWIW, two songs I like on walks are R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" and Hootie/Blowfish "Hannah Jane." I hit about 110 steps/minute pretty consistently.

Ann Althouse said...

"Stacey Abrams says that fetal heartbeats aren't real"

Didn't she say that the the beats weren't from what counts as a real heart?

ALP said...

Preachin' to the choir. At 5' tall I pass by taller people all the time when I walk. I tell people walking for fitness to 'walk like you are going to catch a plane and you'll be late if you don't hustle.' Walking is a miracle exercise when done right. Anything less is 'strolling'.

ccscientist said...

What if people in better health simply walk faster? No evidence that walking faster improves your health.

Ann Althouse said...

"You had a post where you asked for recommendations to break through a wall on your run. I can’t recall if you were trying to beat a certain time or pace. Did you achieve that goal?"

I can't remember having a "goal" other than to improve the time it took to reach my vantage point. I'm not interested enough in keeping track to pay attention to that. I'm interested in getting out and paying attention to nature — the changing plants and animals and the varied sunrises. I would like to pay as little attention as possible to the athletics of it.

But this post is about matching step speed to music that has a particular beats per minute, and I will try to push myself to walk faster some of the time, if I like the music, because I don't like to fall into a slogging sort of walk. I do think that deliberate slow walking is perfectly nice. I often walk just as a way of getting out for a change of pace and concentrating on getting through a real book in a linear fashion (i.e., listening to an audiobook).

Jersey Fled said...

"Didn't she say that the the beats weren't from what counts as a real heart?"

Actually she called them a "manufactured sound" that was built into all ultrasound machines.

Lurker21 said...

"There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks," Abrams, who is running against incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, told the audience. "It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman's body."

Joe Smith said...

'Yeah, my first question was, "Steps for men or for women?"'

I have short legs for my height but am still a fast walker : )

Ted said...

Exercising with greater exertion makes you healthier.

Healthier people are able to exercise with greater exertion.

It seems like a closed loop, but the simple way to get into it is by pushing yourself a little harder every day.

Beasts of England said...

Try playing ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ at 100bpm and you’ll be sorely disappointed. 130bpm minimum.

Lucien said...

I like the theme from "The Great Escape" or the "Colonel Bogey March" from "Bridge on the River Kwai" for marching rhythms. "Panzerlied" works, too.

n.n said...

"There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks," Abrams

A pump by another name... That said, six weeks to baby meets granny in state, if not in process, where absent human rites performed for social, redistributive, clinical, political and fair weather causes, and, of course, Her Choice, a human life evolves in the safe sanctuary of her mother's womb and her father's armed comfort.

Mommy, where does "our Posterity" come from?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

In search of nature. Ann - you got the right attitude.

dbp said...

According to Garmin, my pace for today's 6-mile run was 180 steps per minute. Is that good?

DAN said...

So many people seem to want to live nearly entirely in the physical world, like the commenter above talking about sheathing neurons and signaling lactate. How about this? Slow down and think. About people, not things. Exercise that daily. I walk a mile or two a day, sometimes fast, with fast music, and sometimes more slowly, slow enough to hear pieces of conversations on sidewalks, or birds, or stuttering sprinklers on a neighborhood driving range. Sometimes I slow down enough to remember a scene out of the past or my parents' past or a confusing line from a book. (Robert Penn Warren talks about "the awful responsibility of Time". How about that one?) A couple of days ago, I thought of something my ex-wife said forty years ago and, maybe, started to understand something I didn't understand then. I even stopped walking, picturing her face, realizing she wasn't angry but rather sad when she said it.

Narr said...

Military quick-time is 120 steps per minute, and double-time 180. An average pedestrian should make 3 miles an hour easily, at less than 120.

The French Foreign Legion's odd, slow, swaying march is not for amateurs.

Howard said...

100 steps per minute at 30-inches per Step is a little under 3-mph.

reader said...

I am a fast walker in general (shopping and such) and on actual walks even faster (124 steps a minute this morning). My Fitbit often incorrectly categorizes my walks as runs. When my sister sees me walking quickly she will hum the music from the Wizard of Oz for the Wicked Witch (gotta love her).

I’m in a phase now where I don’t listen to music while I walk but let my thoughts skitter around.

Carol said...

I'm doing 120 steps per now and thought I was slow!

Cycling was my thing but it feels more precarious with all the new traffic and construction. Should probably give my bikes away but it's hard to admit.

Best exercise is a good long ride.

Carol said...

KC and Sunshine Band are fun. Love when they come on the radio.

Pure serendipity.

Eddie said...

Sounds like Zone 2 training, which I've had some success with.

Dagwood said...

I'm thinking CPR to the rhythm of "Another One Bites the Dust" might be counter-productive.

Scott said...

Please Please Please dear God - make "Soul Sister" go away!

n.n said...

Fat and lethargic and healthy at any rate are sex-agnostic, genderless, equitable and inclusive, present and progressive comorbidities, of diverse diseases and conditions.

typingtalker said...

Where can I get podcasts with 100 beats per minute click tracks ... ?

Ann Althouse said...

I listened to one of the playlists and found it pretty easy to walk at that pace.

I’d never paid close attention to “I Will Survive “ and was surprised at the subtle ambivalence. At 2:30 to 2:40, she experiences a break in confidence, stops, and says “oh” in a way that must mean she wants to take the guy back. Please verify my interpretation.

William said...

Mitch Miller is actually pretty good walking music and, with earphones, no one will witness the shame.....I have read that form follows function and function follows form. If you walk briskly with arms swinging vigorously, it indicates good health, and if you wish to attain good health, you should walk briskly.....I used to walk around the jogging track around the Central Park Reservoir. Most people there are in earnest pursuit of fitness. They keep track of their time and are always striving for improvement. You pick up your pace on the jogging track...Recently I've switched over to the Great Lawn. Toddlers discover, some for the first time, how much fun it is to run upon a lawn beneath a big sky. Their mothers are even happier and prouder to watch them. There are some ball fields where they play slow pitch softball. There's nothing more summery than hearing the sound of a bat making solid contact with a softball....I walk slower when I circle around the Great Lawn, but, so far as I know, there are no fitness gains that attain immortality.

Jamie said...

My husband is a couple of inches taller than I am, but I shoot for about a 4mph walking pace (walking the dog, stopping for her potty breaks and to make her heel across streets, brings it down to 3.5-3.75) for about 5 miles a day, and on the rare occasions when my husband comes along, he can't keep up. Literally his legs won't move that fast.

My neighbor, at 5'4" or so (several inches shorter than I am), and my usual walking buddy, can. I have wondered whether hip configuration is the difference.

I know my husband's base aerobic capacity is better than mine despite his not getting nearly as much exercise as I do; when I used to run, before my one bad knee told me to quit already, he could join me once every couple of weeks and keep up easily with my lame pace (like 10-11 min/mi) without even getting out of breath. So it must be something else.

I can say for certain that I am aware that I'm just swinging my legs - putting no effort into working the glutes, for instance. My strides could be longer, but they're certainly fast. I keep telling myself I need to switch up what I'm doing... and then I tell myself, "Next week."

PM said...

Wife and I live next to a mountain with 204 miles of trails. We're up one or another every single day. Hoka calls us on our birthdays. Well they oughta.

Robert Cook said...

I was a speed-walker for about 13 years or so. At my best, I could walk the full loop of Central Park (a tad over 6 miles) in a little under 60 minutes. The speed walking probably saved my life.

I got into it because I had a girlfriend at the time (early 1990s) who wanted us to enroll in a speed-walking class at the NY Road Runners Club. (Over time, I kept up with it, and she didn't.)

One night in early 1998, I went out to Central Park with the intention of doing a 5 mile walk. However, I found my walking that evening to be terribly laborious...and slow! I felt I was striding through a bog of syrup. I decided to cut it to 4 miles, (the middle loop of the park). It took me nearly an hour to complete it. Other than the trouble and effort of that walk, I felt fine when I got home. However...two days later I awoke with a cold, (I thought). Going down for a brief nap after breakfast, I came to from deep unconsciousness 6 hours later! My "cold" was worse. I was bedridden for days, from Saturday to Thursday. I finally dragged myself out and went to my doctor without an appointment, just a phone call alerting him I was coming. He saw me last, and he determined after examining me that I had pneumonia and was "extremely anemic." He sent me off to the emergency room at Mount Sinai. There, they determined (by the next morning) that I had hairy cell leukemia. I learned later they hadn't been sure I'd live through that first night. But, I did, and I was back at work 8 weeks later. My oncologist told me at one of our last appointments that he believed the only reason I had survived was that my speed-walking had made me so physically fit that my body made the most of the steeply low hemoglobin count in my system at the time I was admitted, about 3.0 g/dL, (where the norm for men is 13.0 - 17.7 g/dL), which is apparently "not consistent with life," as the medical phrase has it).

So, yes! Walk...walk a lot and walk as fast as you are able!