Steps to Miles Calculator
The Importance of Walking
Regular walking can be an excellent way to improve our health and overall fitness. Walking a couple of miles every day can be equivalent to regular light exercise, while we are just moving between locations for our work, home, or free time activities.
Experts agree that a person should try to walk 10,000 steps a day on average in order to maintain good physical health.
The specific areas that get the most improvement from walking are our heart, lungs, and muscles.
Health Benefits of Regular Walking
Based on the number of steps you do every day, experts have agreed on the following conclusions:
Sedentary Lifestyle: less than 5,000 steps a day
Health Impact: A sedentary lifestyle is associated with increased risks of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes.
Recommendation: Aim to gradually increase your step count to reduce these risks.
Low Active: 5,000 to 7,499 steps a day
Health Impact: People in this range may experience fewer health benefits compared to more active individuals. However, they are less likely to experience the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle.
Recommendation: Incrementally increase your daily steps to reach higher activity levels for more significant health benefits.
Somewhat Active: 7,500 to 9,999 steps a day
Health Impact: This level of activity is associated with modest health benefits, including improved cardiovascular health and better weight management.
Recommendation: Continue to increase step count to achieve even greater health benefits.
Active: 10,000 to 12,499 steps a day
Health Impact: Achieving 10,000 steps a day is associated with substantial health benefits, including reduced risk of chronic diseases, improved mental health, and enhanced overall physical fitness.
Recommendation: Maintain this level of activity to support a healthy lifestyle.
Highly Active: More than 12,500 steps a day
Health Impact: Very active individuals enjoy extensive health benefits, including optimal cardiovascular health, superior weight management, and lower stress levels. They also experience increased energy levels and improved mood.
Recommendation: Continue to engage in this high level of physical activity for maximum health benefits.
Using the Steps to Miles Calculator
Our Steps to Miles calculator is user-friendly and requires the following inputs:
| # | Step | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Biological Sex | Choose between MALE and FEMALE |
| 2 | Number of Steps | Enter the total number of steps taken. For example, if you want to see how many kilometers you need to cross, in order to reach 10,000 steps, you can input the value of 10,000 into this field. |
| 3 | Pace | Select your pace. It is not always easy to know our average pace in kph, so you can use the descriptors to approximate your speed from the following options: |
| 3.a | Very slow walk (<3kph) | Your speed is lower than 3kph, you usually walk significantly slower than the average person on the street or on a hike. This is the usual speed for older people, very young children, or people with certain disabilities of walking. |
| Slow walk (~3kph) | Your speed is around 3kph. You usually walk a little slower than the average walker. This speed is usual for children aged 3 to 6. | |
| Average walk (~5kph) | You walk around the same speed as the average walker in the streets, at around 5 kph. | |
| Brisk walk (>6.5kph) | You walk slightly faster than the average walker at 6.5 kph, yet you do not run or accelerate significantly. | |
| Jog (~8kph) | You are slower than the average runner, but significantly faster than most walkers at 8 kph. You always have at least one foot touching the ground. | |
| Run (~9.5kph) | This is the average running speed at 9.5 kph, typical for the average adult while running. | |
| Fast run (~12kph) | This is the typical sprinting speed of adults at 12 kph. | |
| Very fast run (>16kph) | This is the sprinting speed of athletes and professional sportspeople at 16 kph. | |
| 4 | Height | Enter your height in centimeters (CM) or feet (FEET). |
| 5 | Weight | Enter your weight in kilograms (KG) or pounds (LB). |
After you are done inputting your values, click on CONVERT. Your result will appear below the calculator in a list.
The result gives you several values. It starts off with the most important value, the number of miles you crossed with the given number of steps. You also receive some additional information, such as the number of steps you made per mile walked, how many steps you did per minute, how many calories you burned during your walk, as well as your speed.
Converting Steps to Miles Manually
In order to find the length of your step, you have to first multiply your height by 0.413 for females, and by 0.415 for males. This way, you get your step length in the same unit of measurement your height was in.
Once you have the length of your step, simply multiply it by the number of steps you took, in order to find out the distance you crossed in the unit of your input.
Sample calculation
Chad is a man who is exactly 6 feet tall. He walked 3,000 steps today and would like to know how many miles he walked.
- We figure out the length of his step as 6×0.415 = 2.5 feet, rounded to 1 decimal place.
- Now we just multiply 2.5 feet by 3,000 steps and we get 7,500 feet.
- As such long distances must be expressed in miles, we need to convert 7,500 feet into miles using the conversion rate of 1 mile = 5,280 feet.
- This means, that he walked 7,500÷5,280 = 1.42 miles, rounded to 2 decimal places.
It is crucial to keep awareness of your input and output units and to convert them properly. For this reason, we recommend using our calculator.
If you insist on manual calculations, the following general formula may be used:
TOTAL DISTANCE IN MILES = [(NUMBER OF STEPS)x(STEP LENGTH)]÷(CONVERSION CONSTANT)
The conversion constant needs to be researched for every pair of units. For example, the conversion constant between Miles and Feet is 5,280, as seen above.
Resources
– Mayo Clinic. (n.d.). Steps: The path to a healthier you. Retrieved from Mayo Clinic.
– American Heart Association. (n.d.). Walking for a healthy heart. Retrieved from AHA.