Average Walking Speed In 2024: Do Age And Sex Affect?

Average walking speed, also sometimes called preferred walking speed, is a simple attribute that describes how fast the average person walks. 

Walking is one of the most common forms of moderate-intensity exercise, and the speed at which you walk on average will vary, depending on a number of factors. Still, there are many health benefits associated with walking at the right place, and if your own pace doesn’t fall into the optimal zone for overall fitness, you might be at risk for cardiovascular disease, cancer mortality, obesity, and more.

What You Should Know About Average Walking Speed

What Is The Average Walking Speeds?

According to the study cited above, slower walking speeds may actually indicate a poorer prognosis for health outcomes and quality of life later on. If your average speed falls anywhere around 0.6 to 0.7 meters per second or below, you might be leading a life slightly more sedentary than you should be. Faster walking, whenever you find yourself out and about, may actually result in better health and a longer life devoid of heart disease.

What Factors Affect Walking Speed?

Many things will play into one’s tendency to walk fast or slow. People walk and exercise according to the following influences:

• Fitness level and fitness needs, including overall muscle strength
• Energy level, and whether they’ve already exerted themselves
• Their environment—whether they’re walking uphill or on difficult terrain
• Body composition, the fat, and the muscles that have already been developed
• Other body measurements like waist circumference
• Age makes a big difference; older adults tend to walk more slowly than younger people
• Metabolism rate, another huge indicator of fitness levels 

Walking speed is measured in many ways, but the following factors^[2] may enlighten you when self-evaluating:

• Speed
• Walking rhythm
• Intensity
• Stride length and distance between feet
• Arm motion
• Breathing and oxygen consumption
• Calories burned

So, now you know what goes into an average pace when walking. How can you measure your own average speed at home or at the gym?

How To Test Your Average Walking Pace

What makes an effective level of exercise and physical activity? Your average walking pace can be found using this handy walking pace formula:

• Pace = Time/Distance

If you spent an hour walking, for example, and you walked one kilometer, your average walking pace would be one km/h. Simple enough, right?

You can also use tools like this online walking pace calculator from Race at Your Pace. Simply record your stats from your daily walking routine and plug them in. No math is required.

What Speed Is Considered To Be A Brisk Pace?

A brisk walk doesn’t have a number inherently attached to it—instead, brisk walking can be described as walking at a faster pace than your average miles-per-hour walked ordinarily.

Brisk walking is one awesome way to get your heart rate into your target range for weight loss.

How To Improve Your Self-Rated Walking Pace?

Improving your brisk walking pace doesn’t necessarily mean speed walking or power walking everywhere you go. You can tone up, lose belly fat, and improve your overall health by

• Making a deliberate effort to exceed your comfort zone for physical activity
• Do your best to push yourself until you’re out of breath
• Maintain your brisk walking pace and heart rate for as long as you can

If you don’t want to walk faster but would like to burn calories at a higher rate, you can try these tips to start walking your way to weight loss:

• Use a fitness band to ratchet things up; ankle weights may strain the ankle joint and leg muscles in brisk walking so best to avoid these.
• Include another moderate-intensity activity to your slow walking routines, such as farmer’s walks and other weighted moves. A farmer’s walk is when you carry weights in both hands as you walk.
• A fasted walk may help you lose weight; it’s one of the best habits you can adopt for gut health, too.
• You can support your workout with supplements and fat burners.

For new walkers, we recommend trying a mile a day. If you started today, you’d have walked seven miles this time next week. After you’re up to speed, you’ll be able to maintain this physical activity easily every week.

Progress is a journey. Why leave your future self at risk? Get your heart rate up with the millions of other avid walkers and us globally, mile by steady mile.

How To Burn More Calories Through a Daily Walking Program?

It’s easy to adopt healthy habits when cardiovascular exercise doesn’t have us keeling over after five minutes. Increase your life expectancy, improve cardiovascular function, lower your blood pressure, and avoid a myriad of other related health problems by learning to be a fast walker. 

Exercise is always worth the effort. Getting the ball rolling with a daily walk is one of the best investments in yourself that you’ll ever make.

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