
I’ll admit it—I’ve never tracked my steps. I don’t wear a fitness watch, I don’t count calories, and I don’t like the idea of letting a device tell me how I’m moving. I believe that your body should be the feedback system, not a screen on your wrist—but that’s a topic for another blog.
Recently, though, I decided to track my steps for a week. The reason? A discussion with a client who was fully convinced that walking 10,000 steps a day was enough for health. She saw it as the gold standard of movement, a simple, attainable goal that checked the box for daily activity.
I disagreed.
I believe 10,000 steps per day isn’t actually a high number—it just seems that way because our modern lifestyles are so sedentary. Humans are built to move dynamically—walking, climbing, squatting, carrying—not just pacing back and forth to hit a step goal. But in a world where sitting dominates our routines, 10,000 steps has somehow become a challenge rather than the baseline.
Where Did the 10,000 Steps Rule Come From?
Contrary to popular belief, the 10,000-step rule wasn’t originally based on science—it was a marketing strategy. In 1965, a Japanese company called Yamasa Clock created a pedometer called the “Manpo-kei”, which translates to “10,000 steps meter.” The number wasn’t chosen because of research—it was picked because the Japanese character for 10,000 (万, “man”) looks like a walking person.
Since then, research has confirmed that increasing daily steps can improve cardiovascular health, reduce all-cause mortality, and enhance overall well-being (Saint-Maurice et al., 2020). However, newer studies show that even 7,000–8,000 steps per day can yield significant health benefits, especially for older adults (Paluch et al., 2021).
That being said, there’s a major caveat to relying on 10,000 steps as a long-term goal: If you keep walking the same number of steps, at the same intensity, on the same terrain, your body will eventually adapt. This is the law of diminishing returns in action—the more your body gets used to a repetitive stimulus, the less benefit you get from it over time.
At first, increasing your daily step count can lead to improved endurance, weight management, and overall health benefits, but if your walking routine never changes, your body will plateau. What once felt like a challenge becomes easy, and without progression, the improvements stall.
So, how do you overcome these plateaus? The answer lies in progressive overload—the idea that to keep improving, you need to increase the difficulty of your workouts over time. That’s exactly what we’ll explore next.
What Tracking My Steps for a Week Taught Me
For seven days, I tracked my steps without trying to hit a certain number—just to see what my normal movement patterns looked like.
Monday (1/13/25): 20,145 steps
Tuesday (1/14/25): 22,781 steps
Wednesday (1/15/25): 23,837 steps
Thursday (1/16/25): 18,997 steps
Friday (1/17/25): 18,005 steps
Saturday (1/18/25): 21,730 steps
Sunday (1/19/25): 10,589 steps
📊 Weekly Average: 19,441 steps per day
Looking at these numbers, one thing became clear: 10,000 steps is not a high target—it’s just high compared to how little most people move. Even on my lowest day (Sunday), I still crossed the 10,000-step mark without going out of my way to "get my steps in." On most days, I far exceeded that number. PLEASE NOTE: that I did 1 hour of resistance training 6 of these days in addition to these steps.
And here’s the key takeaway: the number of steps a person should aim for depends entirely on their goals, limitations, and lifestyle. A 25-year-old and an 85-year-old will not get the same benefits from walking 10,000 steps a day. A young, athletic individual likely needs far more movement, while an older adult may benefit from a more gradual and targeted approach.
10,000 Steps as a Starting Point, Not a Goal
While 10,000 steps can be a great goal for a complete novice, it shouldn’t be the standard for everyone—it should be seen as a minimum average. If you’re new to movement, hitting 10K steps can be a fantastic way to build an active lifestyle. But it shouldn’t remain the goal forever—your movement should evolve as your body adapts.
Think of it this way: If all you do is walk 10,000 steps every day at the same intensity, your body will adapt, and progress will stall. Within as little as four weeks, your endurance, strength, and fitness level may stop improving because your body has no reason to get better—it’s already efficient at what you’re asking it to do (Fisher et al., 2019).
How to Overcome Plateaus and Keep Progressing
If walking is your primary form of exercise, you need to progress it just like you would in the gym:
✔️ Increase intensity – Walk faster, add hills, or carry weight.
✔️ Add variety – Mix in strength training, mobility drills, or interval walking.
✔️ Challenge movement patterns – Instead of just walking forward, include lateral movements, lunges, or balance work.
The Real Takeaway
Walking is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, but it’s not enough on its own to create lasting strength, mobility, and resilience. Movement should be intentional and progressive. Instead of focusing on an arbitrary step count, think about what your body truly needs to move better, feel stronger, and prevent injury.
At Triad Wellness, we take a personalized approach to fitness. Whether you’re an active professional, a retiree looking to stay strong, or someone recovering from an injury, we create goal-driven movement routines that evolve as you improve.
Want to build a movement plan that truly works for you? 📩 Click the link to schedule a No Sweat Intro today. Let’s make movement work for you.
#SmartTraining #Beyond10KSteps #TriadWellness #StrengthAndMobility #MoveBetterLiveBetter #PhiladelphiaFitness #ProgressiveTraining
Bibliography
Saint-Maurice, P. F., Troiano, R. P., Bassett, D. R., et al. (2020). Association of Daily Step Count and Step Intensity With Mortality Among US Adults. JAMA, 323(12), 1151-1160.
Paluch, A. E., Bajpai, S., Bassett, D. R., et al. (2021). Daily Steps and All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of 15 International Cohorts. JAMA Network Open, 4(9), e2123000.
Fisher, G., Hunter, G. R., Allison, D. B., et al. (2019). Step Volume and Intensity Predict Cardiometabolic Risk in Older Adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 51(6), 1133-1139.
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