How to Get Your 10k Steps in When Sitting for 8+ Hours a Day?

written by Ana

posted on March 15, 2023

As you can imagine, with full-time studying, part-time writing gigs and working in a research lab analyzing data, I spent a whopping 8 to 10 hours a day at my desk every day.

Being a health writer, I know how bad a sedentary lifestyle is for all sorts of problems. In the articles or social media posts that I write, I often talk about walking at least 6,000 steps a day.

But do I really do what I preach?

At first, I thought that I definitely hit the recommended steps count but then (being obsessed with data and numbers) I decided to dig into the stats from my fit watch and was shocked.

On Monday, I only walked 193 steps!!

That’s scary.

Monday is a busy day for me spent in meetings and setting up a plan for the week.

But less than 200 steps? That’s shocking.

I definitely need to get more steps in during my work days. Think I’m doing a good job during the weekends by going on hikes or hitting the gym.

So, if you also want to move more, let’s come up with an action plan together. I’ll share how I’m going to try to walk more in the next few weeks.

Analyse your walking data on your phone or smart watch

You need to know what time of the day is the most challenging to get your steps in and see when you could possibly go for a walk.

After I looked at my data, I saw that I do some walking in the morning but that’s mainly around the house when making my bed, preparing breakfast and getting ready for the day.

So, let’s analyse my day to see where I can fit more movement.

I’m a morning person. I like to get you at around 6-6:30 every day. I first go to the bathroom and do my skincare, then drink a glass of water and do journaling for 10-15 mins.

I also like to squeeze in 15 mins of reading first thing in the morning.

I try to get an hour of very focused work done from 7 to 8 am, that’s when I feel most productive.

I sometimes do some stretching exercises, so, as you can tell, the routine is quite sedentary. I usually have breakfast with my partner at around 8 am before he heads to work and at around 8:30-9 I’m back at my desk.

From 9 to 13 I’m pretty much constantly sitting at my desk working and studying and have my lunch break from 1 to 2pm.

If I make lunch, that usually takes me around 25 mins, then I eat it in front of the TV watching YouTube videos and spend the rest 10 or 15 mins of my break washing dishes.

From 2 to 5 it’s the same drill – work work work.

Then my partner gets back home and we eat dinner together. On the days when we workout, we hit the gym first. I also noticed that on the days when I do strength training workouts, I hardly hit my daily step count.

During and after dinner we usually binge on a few Big Bang Theory episodes and I read a book before going to bed at around 10pm every night.

So, I’ve been tracking my steps count for a few weeks now and on average, I get around 5,322 steps a day.

That’s not too bad at all, but probably because I do around 10+ steps on Sundays because I like to get out of the house on the weekends.

But I definitely need to move more on the days when I’m studying and working.

So, that’s what I’m planning to do to hit my daily steps count.

Go For a 30 mins Walk Before 9am

After I saw that on the days when I have to go to the office or uni campus I hit my daily step goals all the time, I’m thinking it could be a nice idea to imagine that on WFH days I still go to the office every morning.

My imaginary office doesn’t have to be far away. Think if I walk for 30 mins first thing in the morning it can easily help me to hit half of the steps count for the day!

My partner works from the office and he usually walks to his workplace and it takes him half an hour. When I looked at his smart watch data, he hits 8k steps just by walking to and from work!

So, I decided to join my partner for a brisk walk every morning when he goes to work. We will walk halfway, and then I’ll head back home.

That should help me to walk for 2,000 to 3,500 steps.

Do a 10 mins HIIT Workout Before Lunch

I also saw another opportunity for fitting in a little walk – that’s my lunch break.

What if instead of watching another 15 to 20mins YouTube video sitting in front of the TV, I do a quick HIIT workout with jumping jacks, burpees, high knees and other exercises that can help me to get more steps in?!

And to be fair I can probably run a YT video in the background – it’s a win win!

So, my plan is to try to meal prep or at least have half of the lunch sorted beforehand – e.g. roast chicken breast or salmon the night before to have it for the next day’s lunch.

That way I can spend less time making lunch and instead do a workout first, as soon as I start my break.

Then, I’ll eat my lunch (probably on the couch finishing watching a YT video that I started during the workout) and then do the dishes.

I’ll try that today and will track my steps to see how many I can get in.

Take 5-10 mins Breaks Every Hour You Sit at Your Desk

I was visiting my friend the other day and we decided to do some work and I saw that she had this app running called Stretchly telling her to have breaks every 20 mins.

It tells you to look away from your screen and times your breaks.

It sort of blocks your screen when it pops up and if you skip a break, it will do it again. Of course, you can adjust the settings to make it work for you.

I think it could be a great tool to help me to remind me to take a 10mins break every hour that I work at my desk!

I downloaded the app right away.

I noticed that on the days when I do get regular breaks I tend to go down the stairs to the kitchen and make tea, tidy up, do some chores around the house and while doing these – I’m walking.

It’s interesting to see how many steps I can get in during these little breaks throughout the day – I’ll let you know once I do the counting!

So, every hour of work I’ll try to do a 10 mins break to walk up and down the stairs from my office to other rooms to do some chores around the house and maybe some stretching.

Walk to and from the Gym on the Days with no Cardio

This was a shocking discovery for me. Turns out that when I hit the gym and do weight training, for example, I hardly get any steps in! That makes sense though if you don’t do any cardio.

So, my plan is to walk to and from the gym on the days when I’m not planning to do any cardio at the gym. My gym is 15 mins away from home so I can easily walk for half an hour and get an additional 3000 steps in!

That should hopefully help me to reach my daily steps target of around 8,000 steps!

That’s my plan for the next few weeks and I’m excited to see any differences in how I feel by getting more movement in my life.

I’ll let you know how it goes in the next blog post!

Thank you for reading this blog post and we hope you found it useful!

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Better awareness, better results

A&A

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