We Were Wrong...

One of our Core Values at Train Right Fitness is "Evidence Based" this means that we look first and foremost to the preponderance of peer reviewed research to guide our exercise prescriptions and recommendations. This also means that if the evidence changes that we must be willing to change and adapt our approach to match the best available evidence.

For years the evidence on daily step count (specifically 10k steps/day) and the notion of movement throughout the say was scant to say the very least. As a matter of fact there were articles and evidence to support the contrary. Thus, we never put much merit into or espoused the recommendation of obtaining 10,000 steps per day as it did not seem to lend any health protective benefit.

A brand new meta-analysis published in August 2023 set out to examine if there was indeed a correlation between daily step count and all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality. Researchers reviewed 17 independent studies, spanning a time period of over 7.5 years and included 226,889 participants in total.  

They made the following conclusions

1. There is strong evidence showing that sedentary life may significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and shorten the lifespan.
2. Minimum cut off points for health protective benefits were as follows
   • All-cause mortality - 3867 steps/day
   • Cardiovascular mortality - 2337 steps/day
3. The optimal number of steps and their role in health are still unclear. However, there does appear to be a "more is better" correlation.
4. As little as a 1000 step/day increase lead to a 15% decrease in all cause mortality
5. As little as a 500 step/day increase lead to a 7% decrease in cardiovascular mortality
6. Older adults (60 years and older) seems to need less steps for optimal health protective benefit than younger adults.

Take Home Message

1. Avoiding a sedentary lifestyle and increasing daily step count is critically important to improving our health and decreasing our risk for all cause and cardiovascular mortality.

As you may be aware, one of the main ways we grow our business at TRF is through referrals. We don't invest much in traditional marketing efforts as we would rather allocate those dollars to top of the line equipment/facilities, highly qualified staff members, and fair pricing for our customers. Ghandhi wisely said "if you don't ask, you don't get" so here is our formal ask of you! If you know someone who would be interested in our services or could benefit from what we offer at TRF please take 30 seconds and fill out this link or email us at schedule@trainrf.com.