A good start to my day with a couple of laps walking up the locally famous 1000 Steps (and adjoining tracks) on the edge of Melbourne Australia. Just over 10,000 steps with 500m (1600ft) of ascent.
Aside from being beautiful it's an efficient way to burn some calories with the steep track and weight vest burning a lot more calories than the same steps on flat ground.
Instead of going a few hundred metres to the train station after work tonight I took the chance to get some proper walking in.
An excellent walk through this always interesting city. Nothing serious - 8.4km and 11,000 steps.
TLDR: Not all steps are created equal. The type of walking makes a big difference to the exercise value.
There's been some discussion in here recently about whether all steps have equal value. For instance whether getting steps pacing around your living room is the same as getting them walking outside. I thought these two walks of mine illustrated nicely why not all steps are created equal.
The first , three days ago, was around my neighbourhood and local area. The second, from earlier today, was in a nearby national park. Both the walks were roughly 10,000 steps but quite different distances. The neighbourhood walk was about my usual distance for 10,000 steps. The national park walk was very steep and rough so took lots of small steps, particularly going downhill.
The other differences are very clear:
Walk 1: Steps: 10,386. Ascent 57m. Average heart rate: 81bpm. Exercise load: 14. Active calories burned: 322.
Walk 2: Steps: 10,696. Ascent 639m. Average heart rate: 118bpm. Exercise load: 59. Active calories burned: 693.
Clearly the second walk had a much greater exercise benefit than the first despite being basically the same number of steps.
Of course these are quite different types of walks, but these extremes industries illustrate the point effectively - not all steps are created equal.
After work yesterday I felt like a coffee and snack and had to go the chemist as well. I could get all those things in my local shopping centre, but I felt like a longer walk than that.
So, I walked and got my coffee in a neighbouring suburb, walked to a different suburb for the snack, and walked to the chemist in a third suburb.
Why walk for 3 kilometres when you can walk for 12?
Just on 17,000 steps for this walk and 32,000 for the day.
We are enjoying some glorious weather in Melbourne at the moment and today was just right for an afternoon walk beside the Yarra River.
20,000 steps (part of 35,000 for the day) and just under 16km (10 miles).