Can I still make progress if I can't get 10,000 steps in per day?
The simple answer to this question is: yes. Of course it is possible to make progress with your fitness even if you don’t get 10,000 steps in per day. However, it is important to add some context, and expand upon this answer further…
First of all, why 10,000 steps? You’re probably thinking there’s a connection between 10,000 steps and distance travelled, or a correlation between daily steps and lifespan? Well, not really - or at least it definitely wasn’t the case when the idea of ‘10,000 steps per day’ was first spread to the public. No, the origin of the 10,000 steps per day rule actually lies in marketing.
You see, in the lead up to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, there was an increased interest in general health and fitness in Japan. At this time, the company Yamasa introduced the world’s first wearable step counter, called the ‘Manpo-kei’, which translates - you guessed it - to ‘10,000 steps.’ The device was hugely popular, and soon a huge number of people in Japan were focusing on getting their steps in every day to better their health. It didn’t take long for this trend to spread around the world, and with it, the idea that 10,000 steps per day was ‘optimal’ for health.
But why 10,000? Well, there doesn’t seem to be any specific reason why the company chose that number. They simply wanted to pick a number that they felt reflected an active lifestyle, which they believed would lead to a reduced risk of heart disease. There are some suggestions that they settled on 10,000 as the Japanese symbol for the number almost looks like someone walking/running - though there’s no hard evidence that this was the case. Either way, that’s the number we ended up with. So that begs the question; is it actually the right number?
No, it isn’t. There is no singular or universal number of steps per day that equates to optimal health or fitness, so becoming fixated by the mystical ‘10,000 per day’ is simply not necessary. This is not to say, however, that there is no merit or benefit to getting in your 10,000 per day. Plenty of studies done since the 1960s have shown health benefits for individuals getting in 10,000 steps per day - including a study which showed superior weight loss for individuals who got 10,000 steps per day compared to those who only got 5,000 steps per day (not that that should surprise anyone). The reason I mention that study, though, is that (as others have pointed out) comparing 10,000 to 5,000 doesn’t mean 10,000 is optimal (what about 12,000 vs 8,000?), nor does it mean there’s no benefit to be had if you get less than 10,000 steps in per day!
So, while it turns out that doing 10,000 steps per day probably does mean you are a pretty active person, and is likely to be beneficial to your health, it’s not a pre-requisite to be considered to be leading a ‘healthy’ lifestyle. Depending on your lifestyle and schedule, getting 10,000 steps in per day might just not be realistic or feasible - and you might gain more benefit from trying to add activity in other areas than worrying about your step count.
‘Progress’ is subjective, and unless your goals are to complete long runs or walks/hikes, then getting 10,000 or more steps in really isn’t relevant at all to your goals. If you want to get stronger in the gym - setting PRs on squats on deadlifts - then how exactly is walking a load of steps going to help you achieve that? Similarly, if you want to build muscle, then doing tonnes of walking isn’t going to be the pivotal factor in achieving that, but rather a high protein intake, eating around maintenance or a slight calorie surplus and, pivotally, a consistent training program where you train all muscles groups.
Even in the case of fat/weight loss, a high step count (specifically 10,000 or more) is not necessary to see progress. Even if you are relatively inactive you can still lose weight - it just means adjusting the controls on your calorie intake to a lower activity level. The idea that 10,000 steps is necessary in order to get fitter or healthier is inaccurate, and more harmful than helpful. Even if we decide that steps are the only thing that matter (they aren’t), there’s nothing to say that it’s ‘10,000 or nothing’ to see progress. For example, if you currently average 2,000 steps per day, and decide to increase that to 6,000 steps per day, you are still going to see health and fitness improvements and benefits.
10,000 steps is a good indicator of being a reasonably active person, that is true. What is not true, however, is that 10,000 steps is a pivotal part of making progress in your health and fitness. Progress, improvements and health benefits can be found in many areas, and daily steps is just one of those areas.
