Most of us analysis the Average Walking Speed or workouts we spend doing for three to six hours a week, still, we don’t dedicate even as much scrutiny to the moving we do at all time. Like, walking for an instant as a beginner, if the average walking speed for any healthy person is roughly 3 mph, could you improve its benefits by a third simply by walking 4 mph?
In case you are looking to burn calories, improve flexibility, or you’re just curious about how your average walking speed stacks up to the typical human, here are some insights on how rapidly people walks per day.
What’s The Average Walking Tempo for Men and Women?
unexpectedly., some people tend to walk slightly faster in their 40s than they do in their early 20s and 30s. From a cross-sectional study published in 2011, adults who are between 40–49 age range walk an average of 3.11 to 3.2 mph as opposed to 3.0 to 3.04 mph for those in their 20s and 3.0 to 3.2 for those in their 30s.
However, while it might be sensible to assume men walk considerably faster than women on average, it isn’t necessarily so. Men and women walk at similar speeds in their early 20s, 30s, and 40s, with men averaging only slightly faster speeds during those decades (within 0.2 mph.)
At their early 50s, 60s, and above, both men and women start to slow down. The gap between men and women widens until their 80s when it narrows again. The following chart shows the differences in average walking speeds for men and women over the decades. But while the brisk pace of a 40-something doesn’t last forever, the slowdown isn’t as drastic a difference as you may think: Even 70-somethings truck along at more than 2.5 mph.
| AGE | SEX | MPH |
| 20–29 | Male | 3.04 |
| Female | 3.0 | |
| 30–39 | Male | 3.2 |
| Female | 3.0 | |
| 40–49 | Male | 3.2 |
| Female | 3.11 | |
| 50–59 | Male | 3.2 |
| Female | 2.93 | |
| 60–69 | Male | 3.0 |
| Female | 2.77 | |
| 70–79 | Male | 2.82 |
| Female | 2.53 | |
| 80–89 | Male | 2.17 |
| Female | 2.1 |
Source: PLOS
Brisk vs. Slow Walking for Health and Weight Loss
Yet while it might be gratifying to clock your speed and find that you’re trucking along faster than average, there’s no one-size-fits-all standard for walking speed. “It’s very much dependent on age, heart rate, and level of fitness,” explains Dr. Bianca Beldini, DPT and co-founder of Sundala Wellness in New York City.
“Technically, if one walks to lose fat, they would be in heart rate zones 1 and 2,” she says, which is 50 to 70 percent of max heart rate. “The Karvonen formula (220 – age = max heart rate) is a common, easy way to determine heart rate zones, and the fat-burning zone is considered 60 to 70 percent of max heart rate.”
(It’s important to note that, while it’s called the “fat-burning zone,” it’s not actually the ideal zone for losing fat; rather it’s the zone in which fat is most used as an energy source during exercise. So while you might see results from walking initially, you’ll need to quickly increase the intensity of your workouts to continue losing fat and improving your fitness.)
Using the Karvonen formula, says Beldini, a 30-year-old’s max heart rate is 190 beats per minute (bpm). So he or she would want to stay between 114 and 133 bpm (60 to 70 percent) in order to build an aerobic base, improve cardiovascular function, and burn fat. A 55-year-old’s ideal zone, on the other hand, would fall somewhere between 99 and 116 bpm.
That’s not to say that slightly slower speeds are a waste of your time. Aerobic conditioning is important for cardiac function, circulation, and lymphatic movement. And you can still build an aerobic base between zone 1 and low zone 3, which is a bit slower than your “optimal” walking speed for weight loss and fat burning.
For a more accurate measurement of your ideal zone, Beldini suggests wearing a heart rate monitor or a watch-based heart rate tracker to chart bpm, rather than relying on your treadmill’s readout.
How Far Do Most People Walk in a Lifetime?
According to a present study in the journal Nature found that Americans walk an average of 5,000 steps a day. Theoretically, if you took 5,000 steps every day throughout your entire life and lived until age 80, you’d walk nearly 146,000,000 steps in your lifetime.
A study from an international group of researchers, 10,000 steps per day, or about 5 miles, is a “reasonable target for healthy adults” — and most of us aren’t hitting it. So whether your motivation is weight loss, enjoying time in nature, staying limber, increasing energy, or just good ole bragging rights, the mandate is clear: walk more, however quickly you happen to do it.
A Weight Loss Plan to Burn up to 8 –16 Pounds of Fat in Just 14 Days!
Try this recommended 2 Week Diet program. It is a fast weight loss program that has helped thousands of clients lose an average of 8-16 pounds in 14days and comes with a risk-free, 100% money back guarantee.
The benefits of the 2 Week Diet:
• 8 – 16 pounds of body fat disappear in due time by using some of the fastest and most proven fat-burning techniques.
• About 2-3 dress sizes dropped in 2 weeks…
Click here to get started with YOUR 14-Day Fat Loss diet today!
If you enjoyed this post on What Is the Average Walking Speed or have any questions, please leave a comment below and don’t forget to like and share.
