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Were They Tougher in the Old Days, Part 3: “Much Ado About Step-Counts” by Mark Hatmaker

 


[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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