Is my walk brisk enough?
Start walking at your normal pace, then tap once for every step for 15 seconds. Or count your steps and type them in. Then tell it whether you could talk or sing.
These tools are for adults 18 and up. How much exercise does a teenager need?
What your result means
At 100 steps a minute or more, with the talk test saying you can talk but not sing, your walk is brisk, and every minute of it counts toward the 150 a week. Under 100, it's a light walk. It still helps your health, it just doesn't add to the 150. At 130 or more, if you can only say a few words, it's hard, and each minute counts as two.
What to do next
If you came in under 100, take shorter, quicker steps, walk to the beat button, or find a hill, then test again. If you're brisk, remember how that pace feels so you won't need to count next time, and put your weekly minutes into Your week.
How it works
Your steps in 15 seconds times 4 is your steps a minute. In a treadmill study of 76 adults aged 21 to 40, 100 steps a minute marked moderate effort 91.4% of the time, so that's the line for brisk. 130 steps a minute marked vigorous effort 70.7% of the time, so here it only counts as hard when the talk test agrees.
The talk test is CDC's: at moderate effort you can talk but not sing, and at vigorous effort you can't say more than a few words without pausing for a breath. Under 100 steps a minute, a walk still helps your health. It just doesn't add to the 150 minutes.
Read it the right way
The cadence lines were set in adults 21 to 40. For older adults, go by the talk test too. How fast is a brisk walk?
3 sources
- Tudor-Locke C and others, Walking cadence (steps/min) and intensity in 21 to 40 year olds: CADENCE-adults, International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2019europepmc.org
- CDC, Measuring physical activity intensitycdc.gov
- US Department of Health and Human Services, Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition, executive summary, 2018odphp.health.gov
