Header Technical

Exercise level and training

Running regularly (i.e. walking, jogging or running) for the average person seeking to maintain or lose weight and/or to develop the capacity to enjoy entering fun runs, means running at least 3-4 times per week because a minimum exercise program should involve 30,000 to 40,000 steps per week in addition to a basic 3000 to 5000 steps per day simply walking around.

The run2rhythm running music is all about exercising correctly. If you know you’re paces then you can select the appropriate music to exercise to while using the most appropriate mode of exercise, i.e. walking, TechniJogging or running as specified by your physiotherapist or qualified Track & Field coach.

Any non race walker using walking as a mode of exercise will accumulate approximately 7500 steps (+/- 300 steps) in an hour. Someone who is TechniJogging will record approximately 9400 steps and someone running at medium intensity will record approximately 10,000 steps.

Mode of Exercise

Heart Rate Zone

% of 10k Pace

Steps per Hour

Walking Easily
Walking Moderately
Walking Fast (Not Race Walking!)
Aerobic Recovery Running
Aerobic Conditioning Running
Aerobic Threshold Running
Lactate Threshold Running

>50% MHR
~50% MHR
50 to 60% MHR
50 to 60% MHR
55 to 65% MHR
65 to 78% MHR
78 to 83% MHR
83 to 87% MHR

30 to 45%
30 to 45%
45 to 55%
55 to 73%
74 to 86%
87 to 91%

~ 6,720 steps
~ 7,500 steps
~ 8,400 steps
~ 9,400 steps
~ 9,800 steps
~10,300 steps
~10,800 steps
~11,400 steps

With running, the problem is that very few people can sustain an even rhythmic pace over time. Most tend to start too fast and never get to complete the full period they planned, i.e., they run too fast and stop at 20 or 30 minutes instead of completing the original 60 minutes. They also tend to think the value of the exercise is the same.

The facts are different. If you were exercising to improve structural (muscle/skeletal) strength, to lose/maintain weight or to improve simple general endurance, 1-hour of walking or slow running would be better.

Energy is expended every time we move and weight is controlled by the amount of daily (i.e. every day) movement. A person running at high intensity for 30 minutes would record about 5400 steps, which is the less than the amount of energy expenditure required to walk at a moderate pace for 60 minutes. A person running at low or medium intensity for 40 minutes would accumulate only 6720 steps, the equivalent of someone walking fast for 48 minutes!

If you were exercising to improve fitness the 30 minutes of high intensity running would be better than exercising for 1-hour. But you should NOT have been planning anything other than 30 minutes of high intensity exercise in the first place. Furthermore you would need to be comfortable doing at least 1:30 hours of moderate intensity or aerobic conditioning running before considering something as hard as 30 minutes high intensity running.

running music exercise level and training