Boost Your Steps Per Day — Hint: It’s Not Just About Walking More

If you’ve made a goal to increase your steps each day, it may feel eas­i­er said than done. Life gets busy with work, fam­i­ly, and friends, and set­ting a step goal (let alone meet­ing it) might not be your num­ber one priority.

But get­ting more steps in your day doesn’t have to be a big or time-con­sum­ing change. There are many small ways you can increase your step count — and it’s not just about steps.

While the com­mon belief is that you need to walk 10,000 steps every day — and it’s true that the more you walk, the low­er your risk for mor­tal­i­ty will be — the ben­e­fits actu­al­ly lev­el out ear­li­er than 10,000 steps:

• If you are younger than 60 years old, aim to walk 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day.
• If you are old­er than 60 years old, walk 6,000 to 8,000 steps per day. 

So if walk­ing 10,000 steps feels impos­si­ble, you can still achieve sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fits by walk­ing less than what you think you have to.

Here are 7 ways you can increase your step count each day.

1. Make Walk­ing More Interesting

Walk­ing can be… bor­ing. The view from a tread­mill can be pret­ty unin­spir­ing, and even just walk­ing around your neigh­bor­hood every day can make the activ­i­ty feel like a chore. Make walk­ing more excit­ing by find­ing a new walk­ing trail or putting on an episode of a pod­cast you love.

2. Make Your Home Office Walking-Friendly

If you work from home, you may find your­self spend­ing a lot of time just sit­ting at your desk — but that doesn’t mean you can’t also increase your step count through­out the day. Try cre­at­ing an ​“office” space that is more con­ducive to walk­ing around. Some office fur­ni­ture can even help you increase your steps, like a stand­ing desk or under the desk pedals.

If you’re going to be walk­ing dur­ing the sum­mer heat, check out these exer­cise tips!

3. Get a Good Pair of Walk­ing Shoes

If you want to be some­one who walks a lot, you need a good pair of walk­ing shoes. When think­ing about a good pair of shoes, con­sid­er fac­tors such as where you’re going to be walk­ing most often (pave­ment, hik­ing trails, a tread­mill) and also the dif­fer­ent ways that shoes sup­port your feet (fit, com­fort, and durability).

4. Do an Online ​“Steps” Workout

Many online videos are ded­i­cat­ed exclu­sive­ly to help­ing peo­ple reach their dai­ly step goals. Look for ​“walk­ing work­outs” or try search­ing by how many steps you want to do — or how much time you have. Even a short 5‑minute video can real­ly give your step goal a boost each day.

5. Park Far­ther Away

Think about the dif­fer­ent activ­i­ties in your rou­tine where you try to walk as lit­tle as pos­si­ble — like going to the gro­cery store or going through the dri­ve-through ATM. Some errands you may even be able to do by walk­ing, but if you can’t avoid tak­ing your car, try park­ing a lit­tle bit far­ther away. Walk­ing 100 steps to get from your car to the store instead of 20 can real­ly add up.

6. Throw a Dance Par­ty for One

Get­ting your steps in every day doesn’t mean that your ​“steps” have to be actu­al steps. Danc­ing is a great way to get some steps in as well. In addi­tion to help­ing you hit your goal for steps, danc­ing can also help reduce stress and pre­vent the risk of oth­er health con­di­tions like osteo­poro­sis.

7. Start a Chal­lenge With Your Friends or Coworkers

Tak­ing part in a walk­ing chal­lenge can be a help­ful way to keep you focused on your step count. Hav­ing an account­abil­i­ty bud­dy — and some friend­ly com­pe­ti­tion — can moti­vate you to increase your step count. Make walk­ing a group effort by set­ting a goal with a cou­ple of friends or start­ing a chal­lenge at your workplace.

Improve Your Mind­set, and Increase Your Steps

Count­ing steps might work for some, but for oth­ers keep­ing track of time spent exer­cis­ing might work bet­ter. If mak­ing a goal for steps doesn’t work for you, don’t feel bad — there are many ways to get mov­ing, and many ways to keep track of your activ­i­ty, too.

When it comes to build­ing habits, it’s easy to fall into an ​“all-or-noth­ing” men­tal­i­ty. If you want to increase your step count in the long run, it’s not about walk­ing 10,000 steps and burn­ing your­self out. It’s about mak­ing small changes — in activ­i­ty and mind­set — to make more steps just anoth­er part of your lifestyle.

For more infor­ma­tion about start­ing a fit­ness rou­tine, con­tact your pri­ma­ry care provider, or sched­ule a video vis­it today.