How to easily track your walking data? Here is an overview of the solutions available to you to obtain quantified data on your steps and to use them in your training plans.
Recording your walking data is a good way to track your progress and measure your level of effort. In order to compare your outings, it is essential to know for each of them the total time, the average per km, the distance traveled or the calories burned.
If you are following a training plan for a competition, easily analysable gait data is an undeniable help. Put simply, recording your stats is a way to stay motivated and track your progress towards better fitness or weight loss.
Basic Walking Data
Some people like to deeply analyze their walking stats while others just want to know if they are exercising enough for health, fitness and weight loss.
Here are the essential basic data to follow during your outings:
- Walking time: Log your time spent walking briskly or doing other moderate-intensity exercise. For health, it is recommended to do 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity 5 times a week.
- Walking Speed: Record whether the outing was an easy walk or a brisk walk.
- Number of steps per day: track the total even if it is not necessarily necessary to walk 10,000 steps per day.
- Distance traveled: record the kilometers traveled.
- Calories burned: Record the calories burned during workouts as well as your daily calorie expenditure.
If you use a pedometer bracelet or a walking application, most of this data is recorded each time you go out.
With a GPS cardio watch, other information can be collected such as maximum heart rate (HR max), GPS traces, VMA (Maximum Aerobic Speed), etc.
In general, watches with pedometers automatically detect your daily activity time by indicating a minimum goal of 30 minutes per day.
But all this data will only be useful if it is analyzed and used to achieve your daily and weekly goals.
Gait data analysis
Analyzing your walking data will provide a wealth of information about your activity level and will be particularly useful for:
Know your level
Collecting data during sports outings is a good way to know your current fitness level. You can analyze your average walking speed for each outing or the number of kilometers covered over the week.
If you’re having trouble meeting your weekly goals, you can always revise them down. If, on the contrary, you have no problem reaching the goal, you can decide to do more in the next session.
Track your performance
Walking stats track your performance. You can tell if you have maintained the same intensity of effort over several kilometres. You can tell if you walk faster with a walking partner.
By looking at the history of your rides, you can make comparisons and know if you are walking faster than when you started. You can also find out if you are regular in your sessions.
stay motivated
Analyzing walking data is one way to motivate yourself. You can use them to achieve very specific goals, whether for fitness walking or Nordic walking. This data can also help you follow a training plan to improve your speed or resistance.
Solutions to save your Walking data
There are several solutions for recording your walking data. GPS watches are very popular options because they record time, speed, distance or number of steps. The smartphone application is the simplest and most economical solution.
- A pedometer application on smartphone:
available on iPhone and Android, this type of application displays the distance traveled, the walking speed and the number of steps taken.
A pedometer app is great for getting a daily activity summary and setting daily step goals. - A pedometer on the belt:
this small electronic device allows you to count the number of steps and is used to monitor your physical activity. It displays the number of steps, calories burned and distance traveled. - A watch with a pedometer:
a pedometer watch allows you to know the number of steps, the distance traveled and the calories burned thanks to its integrated accelerometer. It offers more features than an app.
Another advantage of the watch compared to an application, you can consult your speed, your heart rate or your number of steps directly on your wrist without taking out your phone. - A GPS cardio watch:
a heart rate watch without a belt records a lot of data while walking. For example, it indicates the number of calories burned based on heart rate.
However, with a heart rate sensor on the wrist, the reliability of the measurement varies from one individual to another. A watch that slips on the wrist can give an inaccurate heart rate measurement. A cardio belt is much more reliable.
In summary
Recording your walking data can help you pursue health, fitness or weight loss goals. Without getting obsessed with numbers, it’s a great way to stay motivated.
It’s always interesting to achieve your goals and see your progress. This is an opportunity to compare your statistics with your walking partners and friends. It can also help prepare for a competition.