[From the upcoming book Unleaded
Conditioning: Old School Principles for the Modern Warrior.]
I highly recommend consuming the 2 prior
pieces in this series.
Were
They Tougher in the Old Days? Work Rate
And…
Were
They Tougher in the Old Days, Part 2: The Common Man & Woman
For a podcast
version.
In Summary…
In Part 1, we examined the difference between
work rate of combat athletes “Then” and “Now.
In Part 2, we examined the differences
between caloric intake and weight/obesity of the general population then and
now—that is, non-athletes and wound up discovering that more often than not
these folks ate far more of the “wrong” things than we do and were still significantly
leaner.
I CAN NOT stress enough, have a look at those
two articles in tandem with this one so we can seat the whole perspective and
not be swayed [or unswayed] by an argument half-presented.
10,000 Steps
Today many tout the efficacy of 10,000 steps
per day as a general indicator of health.
The more steps the better.
But we must ask is “better” a relative construct?
Is 10,000 steps the magic number?
Hell, is it even science?
Turns out the 10K is kinda sorta a big con.
Timeline of a Con/Misunderstanding
·
Tokyo
hosts the Olympics in 1964.
·
The
company Yamasa Tokei Keiki looks for products to cash in on the fitness
awareness trend that followed in the wake of the Olympics.
·
In
1965 they market a product called the Manpo-kei.
·
The
Manpo-kei is a pedometer designed to give you a rough step count for a given
route or day.
·
Humans
are goal-driven animals. Simply saying, “Here, this counts your steps” means
little as we have no context for “Is this a good number?” “Is this one a
little shy of good?” “What should I be shooting for?”
·
So,
the Manpo-kei was accompanied by an ad campaign that recommended 10,000 steps
per day.
·
10k
is a very specific number.
Numbers are signifiers of exact quantities,
the 10k was based on science, right?
Nope, it was chosen arbitrarily because it
sounded catchy.
It worked, as many of us are still working to
fulfill the goal of an ad campaign designed in another nation 60 years ago.
It would be akin to smoking cigarettes
because of a 60-year-old ad slogan.
"Not a Cough in a Carload"
(Chesterfield) or "More Doctors Smoke Camels."
Both real slogans by the way touting purported
health benefits.
Now, before one assumes I am stating that walking
is bad for you—I assure you I am not.
I am simply asserting that the “science” of
cigarette ads had as much “science” as the Manpo-kei ad.
“So, Old Man, is walking 10K steps per
day bad for you?”
No, on the contrary, it’s likely a net
benefit health wise.
“That’s a relief, I hear its also good for
fat loss.”
Hold your horses, I said getting 10k steps is
a net positive for health. Biomarkers such as cardiovascular health, blood
pressure, resting heartrate etc. These all do indeed improve.
But…
Walking 10K steps [unless one is morbidly
obese] likely tops out on weight-loss returns as the conditioning effect rears
its head. We adapt to this standard form of locomotion quite easily.
The science says that walking can indeed be used
for metabolic syndrome [a cluster of conditions that include obesity, cardiovascular
events, increased stroke risk and increased incidence of Type-2 diabetes.]
But…the 10k number likely isn’t enough.
Tuns out the Manpo-kei
ad was exactly that, an ad and not science.
It takes significantly more steps to make the
impact into weight loss and the risks associated with metabolic syndrome.
Those step numbers being closer to 12k+ with around
15k being an overall better science-based ballpark.
So, how much walking is 10,000 steps per day?
Well, various factors can compound this—height
of the walker, stride length, terrain etc.
But, in a nutshell 10k is around 5 miles per
day.
12k is around 5.68 miles per day.
And 15k, the step rate that actually has a
higher association of fat loss is an approximate 7 miles.
“So, Old Man, are step counts of any
value?”
Sure. They can give us a ballpark of where we
are compared to where we wanna be.
Many are surprised when they use a Fitbit or Smartwatch
that tracks their steps and find out how immobile they actually are.
The average American male walks 5,340 steps
per day, compared to 4,912 for females.
That’s well under the fake ad number required
by the Manpo-kei.
·
4,660
fewer steps for the fake science for men.
·
5,088
fewer for women.
And waaay under the 15k number that may
actually make a dent in weight loss and metabolic syndrome.
·
9,660
short of the goal for men.
·
10,088
for women.
Notice both of these are an entire Manpo-kei
goal under the actual science.
“OK, I hear ya. Now you’re gonna do that
thing where you shame we moderns and compare us with folks from the 19th-century.
Go ahead, whatcha got?”
Well, this may surprise you—just as the lean ones
of yore ate more of the “bad” foods in “Olden times” the step counts—in some cases
are, indeed, massive, in others far less than one would assume.
The Average 21st-Century Man &
Woman walks an average of 2 miles per day.
Well, under the Manpo-kei goal and even further
under the scientific step goal.
If we excise the “hard” occupation mileage
numbers [miners, trackers etc.] and only use what historical-anthropologists
suggest for our 19th-century common man and woman, the mileage comes
to 3.7 to 9 miles per day.
“Wha? Wait, you mean these lean ones
eating far more ‘bad foods’ than we do were, for the most part not too far off
in step counts/mileage?”
Yep.
“Does this mean a minor in some cases [and
major for some others] alteration in my step count can give me 19th-century
lean results?”
Maybe.
You see, there was something else roiling
under all this step count and eating whatever you damn well please activity.
Something likely far more significant than total
step-counts and mileage and calories consumed.
“And what was this more ‘significant’
factor, Old Man?”
That, my friends, is for Part 4.
You can read the info, wait for articles, or
you can get to work with a conditioning program designed around the Old School
Ways.
See the Unleaded
Conditioning Whole Hog Programs to get goin’!
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