How to Calculate Walking Pace

Walking is a great exercise. It doesn't take any special gear and it's easier on the joints than running. If you've been walking and you're not seeing good results, you may not be walking fast enough. You should be walking at a brisk pace, about 5--10 percent less than your maximum walking pace (MWP). Another way to look at it is that you should be walking fast enough to increase your heart rate, but not so fast that you can't maintain it for 30--60 minutes.

Things You'll Need

  • Stopwatch
  • Computer with Internet access
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Instructions

  1. Finding Optimum Walking Pace

    • 1

      Find a long stretch in which you can walk uninterrupted, preferably with notable benchmarks along the way, such as houses or street corners.

    • 2

      Begin walking at your normal pace, stopwatch in hand.

    • 3

      Increase your pace incrementally until you can go no faster without breaking into a run. Start the stopwatch and note a visible landmark.

    • 4

      Keep up this pace for as long as you are able to, preferably until you reach another landmark. Reduce your pace and click the stopwatch.

    • 5

      Use Google Maps, Google Earth, or some other tool to measure the distance you traveled while the watch was running. In Google Maps, find the street where you were walking. Right click on your first landmark, and select "get directions from this location." Then do the same for your endpoint and select "get directions to this location."

    • 6

      Divide the distance you walked by the time it took. Since you'll be comparing this answer to your actual walking pace later, it doesn't matter if the result is in feet per second, meters per minute, or miles per hour.

    • 7

      Multiply the result from step 6 by 0.9, and also 0.95. This range, 5--10 percent lower than your MWP, is your optimum walking pace. While walking for exercise, you should ideally be within this range, or only slightly under it.

    Calculating Actual Walking Pace

    • 8

      Walk your normal route. For the sake of this calculation, start and end your stopwatch at intersections, businesses, or specific addresses, so you can use Google Maps as before to calculate distance.

    • 9

      Keep up the same pace for your whole workout, if possible. Stop your timer near your endpoint landmark.

    • 10

      Use Google Maps, Google Earth, or another method to determine the distance you traveled while the watch was running.

    • 11

      Divide the distance traveled by the time on your stop watch. Is the result within your optimum walking pace range? If it's too low, your walking may not be as effective as it should be. If it's too fast, then there's a good chance you will not able to keep it up long enough.