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Bodyweight Walking 6-10 miles daily

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dobie

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I saw this on a dan John forum for fat loss. At first glance 10 miles a day would be quite time intensive. Would this kind of mileage be a negative on joints, tendons and ligaments?
At what point with daily mileage might you reach diminishing returns? My guess would be about 6.
Steps in kitchen, etc not included. Talking programmed walking.
 
I used to walk 5 miles every day after work, and I loved it. It took me a little over an hour. I would have loved to double it, but I could never commit that much time to walking.
 
I just finished my 13th consecutive day of rucking w/ a 53lb pack. My first few rucks were ~5.75, which was a good distance for me. Days 11 & 12 were 8.1 and 9.35 miles respectively with no problem. There was a n easy 3 mile day in there, too. Going shopping w/ my wife today so it was an easy 7.35 miles. Barring work commitments, I’m looking to crack 10 miles soon and increase further.

That’s a long way to say if you semi-aggressively build toward it while staying realistic about your capability, to include recovery, ten miles a day is very doable. And it’s highly individual, but I believe for a fit person, diminishing returns would be a good bit more than 6. How many? Depends on the person and he/she would be aware enough to know where that occurs.
 
Fair question-
Why 6? Similar to why 100 swings daily.
Trying to find the so called sweet spot.
 
That doesn’t explain why you’ve said 6 though, S&S at least gives some logic to the (incredibly conservative) 100 swings. What’s brought you to 6 miles? It might be a decent number but why 6 and not 3? Or half a mile daily? 6 is a sizeable commitment; very different to the 100 swings logic (about 10 minutes of “effort” with significant rest).

10,000 steps a day is the popular one, which I’ve found is a normal day plus 30 minutes-ish of walking, or thereabouts.
 
It's a good question. I think about this with running in terms of weekly mileage. I run three times a week, one long (8-15 mi) one medium (5-7) one short (2-4). I'll skip the short one if I need the recovery. It's a hobby for me, I'm not trying to be competitive per se, but I suppose I do expect to get faster and more conditioned over the long term, and I do race because it's fun and a motivator. I normally get around 20 miles a week. Any more feels like it would be counter productive for health since I'm not trying to run a marathon or ultra, for now.

I've heard people say that ultra running and the training that goes along with it goes away beyond the dose needed for cardiovascular health and longevity, and I believe it. There's obviously a different motivation for that kind of lifestyle.

So, then, what is the optimal load? I think you're in the ball park. ~3 miles daily jogging (if you're looking for a daily average split), is at the 20 mi. Weekly mark and isn't overly burdensome to recovery. Since walking is less stressful on the body, it would seem that doubling that total would be reasonable. So, 6 mi/day on average may be close. Only one way to find out.
 
My father walks 10-20 miles daily and has for most of his adult life. No goals, fat loss, speed, etc beyond beating his YOY fitbit stats. He lives up in the Wasatch range so he does a ton of elevation change and is FAR healthier than all of his younger siblings and his parents were at his age (65). His toenails however are the most vile things I've ever seen, but beyond that I don't know if he has seen anything debilitating from his hobby.
 
Wow. 10-20 miles a day is an amazing amount of walking for anybody. If I wasn’t working I wouldn’t have a time issue.
Back to 6 miles a day- I think I recall Stu mcgill making a comment that 90 minutes a day of walking would be where you want to be. For me, 90 minutes is around 6 miles give or take a little.
My goal overall is longevity, joint health and maintaining strength with aging.
 
dobie said:
I saw this on a dan John forum for fat loss. At first glance 10 miles a day would be quite time intensive. Would this kind of mileage be a negative on joints, tendons and ligaments?
At what point with daily mileage might you reach diminishing returns? My guess would be about 6.
Steps in kitchen, etc not included. Talking programmed walking.
Click to expand...
Wow, that’s a lot! Fat loss of the kind that needs even the lower number given is better accomplished with diet, IMHO. I think walking is wonderful and consider myself someone who walks a lot, but I think an hour a day’s worth is plenty and would count everything - that’s what my iPhone does.

I have no doubt that six or 10 or more miles of walking every day will be good for fat loss, but I’d rather just eat less and the lift weights. I’ll add that I enjoy walking, not “power” walking wherein I’d be trying to walk vigorously. It’s a restorative activity for me.

-S-
 
You would have to be walking 12 hrs a day, loaded up, over challenging terrain, in poor weather, for months on end to overdo walking. Be outside and have as much fun moving as much as you can for as long as you’re alive.
 
I don't recall ill effects on connective tissues from walking the Camino de Santiago, on the Camino Frances, which is the most popular route for this pilgrimage.

We started the Camino in Sarria and walked about 13 miles/20 km a day. We hit the Camino about 8AM every day, and walked until close to sunset, at which time we started looking for an albergue (pilgrims' hostel). We took breaks to have mid-morning coffee, lunch, and hit the restrooms. Once we found an albergue, we would do our laundry, wash up, have dinner, then sleep.

Some peregrinos made a workout out of the Camino. Not us. We talked about walking at a brisk pace, but then about 8 km of relentless climbing out of Portomarin got that out of our system. It took us 8 days to get to Santiago de Compostela.

I did feel some muscle soreness in the glutes and hammies. My back was protected by a backpack that had a nice frame and plenty of support. So no back issues.
 
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dobie said:
I saw this on a dan John forum for fat loss. At first glance 10 miles a day would be quite time intensive. Would this kind of mileage be a negative on joints, tendons and ligaments?
At what point with daily mileage might you reach diminishing returns? My guess would be about 6.
Steps in kitchen, etc not included. Talking programmed walking.
Click to expand...
When I was very young, I visited family in Japan for about a month during summer vacation . I walked everywhere. They don't own cars. I estimate 10-20 miles per day between stations and destinations. And I ate quite a bit visiting different families , I ate 2 or 3 lunches or dinners many days. and I got leaner enough that people were shocked when I got back.

I think about that sometimes.
 
dobie said:
I saw this on a dan John forum for fat loss.
Click to expand...
Was this Dan's recommendation, or just something folks were talking about on there? (I think I saw @Dan John post a few days ago, maybe he'll come back and clarify.)
dobie said:
At first glance 10 miles a day would be quite time intensive. Would this kind of mileage be a negative on joints, tendons and ligaments?
At what point with daily mileage might you reach diminishing returns? My guess would be about 6.
Steps in kitchen, etc not included. Talking programmed walking.
Click to expand...
For several years I walked to/from work, and on some days it was to work, to daycare, to home. I got at least 6 miles a day, and that didn't count the walking that happened while working, or the hiking I did in my free time on the weekends. Weekly, I'd log 70ish miles of "purposeful" walking. I did not lose any weight, despite being a fairly blubbery 250-265lbs. I actually did start losing weight when I stopped walking - which coincided with changing training patterns due to two back-to-back injuries and changing eating patterns.

With that out of the way, talking about negative effects and diminishing returns... I think as usual it depends. A 60 year old with arthritic knees is going to quickly run into "issues." I personally find 8+ miles a day to be hard on my ... everything. My knees, my feet, my toes start aching more, and my hips and knees get tight. Chafing becomes an issue often. This is contrary to a lot of what I read, but it wears me down. Long walks are not "restorative" to me anymore than long runs are. Short walks (for me, I'd say under an hour) and leisurely walks can be quite enjoyable and relaxing. Other training I do also effects this. Rather than imagining a hypothetical person in a hypothetical situation, I think it is a lot simpler to simply titrate the walking up and down based on how you're feeling. This in particular allows one to slowly increase volume over time, allowing everything to adapt and grow.

My main problem with the idea of walking 6-10 miles a day is a simple matter of time. When I walked to/from work, that was an easy hour or so - each way. When I had to also walk to day care to pick up my son, that was an easy 30-45 minutes more. I understand some people can walk 4+ mph (I have a friend who claims he sets his treadmill to an incline and walks a 4.5 mph for 30 minutes!), but I'm more of a 3.5 mph when I am trying to go fast. This means we're talking a 2+ hr commitment - every day. This is a HUGE "barrier" to being active - if your goal is 2 hrs, but you only have time for 1 hr - or 30 minutes - you are much more likely to simply not go at all. For you personally this may be a non-factor - "oh of course I would have no problem with skipping days or only doing a mile or two!" - but as a general recommendation I just think it is steering a bit far, especially if the goal is simply weight (fat) loss. This is especially true for busy adults and parents (who are generally also busy adults).

If the goal is primarily fat loss, my first steps (aha ha) would be to assess where the person is currently in regards to lifestyle and diet, and then - with them - decide on a small addition we know we can make that will move them closer towards that goal. With the popularity of step trackers, daily steps might not be a bad thing to work on nudging up and may encourage someone to not only add in or increase purposeful activity, but to also increase their non-purposeful activity.
 
dobie said:
I saw this on a dan John forum for fat loss. At first glance 10 miles a day would be quite time intensive. Would this kind of mileage be a negative on joints, tendons and ligaments?
At what point with daily mileage might you reach diminishing returns? My guess would be about 6.
Steps in kitchen, etc not included. Talking programmed walking.
Click to expand...
It is almost literally impossible to walk too much.
15.000 steps could be the point of diminishing returns. (But going over that they keep coming). HR, fat loss, blood pressure, blood sugar… you name it. We evolved because we walked-ran, we evolved to walk-run. So many health benefits are triggered by this…
10.000 steps is the minimum to keep everything humming.
 
Adachi said:
When I was very young, I visited family in Japan for about a month during summer vacation . I walked everywhere. They don't own cars. I estimate 10-20 miles per day between stations and destinations. And I ate quite a bit visiting different families , I ate 2 or 3 lunches or dinners many days. and I got leaner enough that people were shocked when I got back.
Click to expand...
One summer when I was in my early 30's, I used to alternate 6- and 7-mile runs every day then work all day. I was a fan of Entermann's cakes and would an entire cake - box, fork, Steve, no plate required - every night for dessert.

Adachi said:
I think about that sometimes.
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Yeah, me, too.

Francisco said:
15.000 steps could be the point of diminishing returns.
Click to expand...
The whole issue of diminishing returns is an interesting one, IMO, for many things, not just walking. I would suggest your number is at least twice a high as it needs to be. I've done 5k steps today, about 2 miles, and I'm content with that, plus I did a single set of deadlifts with a light-for-me weight, 225 lbs, as touch-n-go but the kind where the plates just barely touch the ground and I think I did perhaps 7 reps. I feel exercised plenty for the day. Granted it's a light/easy day but I still think that can be enough - I think it's also possible and worthy of consideration in this discussion to talk about being an exercise junkie.

-S-
 
I was watching some medieval history stuff on YouTube and when people were on a pilgrimage, they would walk 10-15 miles a day.

On the one hand, they're doing it day after day, so that's a lot of volume over the course of weeks and months.

On the other hand, they were explicitly walking for traveling, not while working on the side, so that's 3-5 hours a day of walking .... presumably broken up into chunks with rest, etc.
 
With the correct shoes for you, mobility work, and listening to your body, long walks every day can be great. Possibly boring, but great. As with everything though, to get the most out of it you need variability in your volume and intensity in order to really get results, depending on your individual goals.

Long walks are good, but they need to be varied in distance, weight carried, and incline, to get the most out of them. Just getting out and moving is more than many do, however, so that movement alone lends to longevity and less joint pain as people age. When I retired from the Army I had a bad limp from the amount of impact injuries I sustained. Once retired I began combining yoga with long walks and bike rides, and after a little while my limp was gone.

I live in Italy, where walking is in the culture. People go on their nightly walks before dinner, organise weekend community walks, and every sunny weekend the trails are swarmed. The modern Mediterranean diet (what the normal person eats) is not very good at all (unlike what people think in the US), but it's the mediterranean movement culture that leads to their longevity and low obesity rates. My tiny town of <1K is filled with people over 80 & even 90, and every day I see lots of them out walking. Some of them walk 5+ miles most days on the street, on top of the rest of the movement they do.

Moving long distances by foot is what sets us apart as humans and what helped us become the alpha hunters. We can't outrun a gazelle, but we sure can out move it. If planned correctly and time dependent, you can't walk too much IMO. If one is walking too much for their body then they may have too much time on their hands. Ha!
 
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