How Averaging 15,000 Steps Per Day at Age 81 Affects My Life

That’s how I cope with the inevitable age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia).

A typical view in my hilly senior community. Photo by author

Three years ago, I published a Medium story entitled “How Has Averaging 13,000 Steps Per Day Affected My Life.” That was my daily average over the entire previous year. Being painfully aware of the effects of sarcopenia, I decided to up my game to prevent further muscle loss. My average daily step count over the past year is now 15,000 steps.

At my advanced age, I feel the need to do all I can to stay in shape. My main daily physical activity is taking long-distance walks in my San Francisco Bay Area senior community. Beyond sheer joy, walking has done wonders for my health and well-being. My wrinkles and gray hair betray my chronological age, but inside, I feel much younger.

As a youngster, my physical profile was hardly stellar. From age 1 into my 20s, I suffered from severe asthma at a time when no inhalers or other mitigators existed. I would spend entire nights wheezing and coughing. During my school years, I was exempted from PE. Running even a few yards to catch a bus left me breathless.

My life changed once I got rid of my asthma through breathing exercises. For many years after that, the disease’s only vestige was an allergy to cat fur, but eventually, I got rid of that, too. Today, I am totally asthma-free.

I have been walking long distances for many years now, but I became more ambitious about my daily steps ever since the Health app, which faithfully records them, appeared on my iPhone. I gradually increased my goal from 10,000 to 11,000 to 12,000 daily steps, and as of 2022, I boosted it to 13,000. I’m now at 15,000 steps, which is recorded at 5.4 miles (8.7 km).

My average daily steps taken and stairs climbed during the past year. Screenshot from the author’s iPhone

The enormous joy I derive from my walks stems largely from my environment. I live in a beautiful, very large senior community nestled in a hilly area east of the San Francisco Bay. There are thousands of mature trees, beautiful gardens, and great views everywhere, with a bonus of constant, happy bird songs. We have tons of wildlife, from squirrels to turkeys to ducks to geese to owls to hawks to deer. They often make their appearances during my walks.

A newly minted goose family confidently and lawfully crosses a street during one of my walks. Photo by author

Since numerous residences are built on hills inside the community, many outdoor staircases lead up to them. At first, I gingerly climbed some of those stairs to add variety to my walks; I then gradually increased their number and finally reached a daily average of 416 stairs (26 floors at 16 steps per floor). After learning that running up the stairs provides greater health benefits than just climbing them, I’ve been running up all those stairs. There is no question in my mind that I can do this thanks to my long walks.

One of the many outdoor staircases I run up every day. Photo by author

And here’s yet another benefit: Since walking is a weight-bearing exercise and bicycling is not, I find it easy to cycle. I easily do 20-mile (32 km) rides on an inexpensive, non-electric bike twice a week with a group of friends, and until 2022, I did annual “century” charity rides (100 miles or 160 km in one day). I later picked a new charity that only offers rides of up to 100 km (62 miles), so I rode a “century” in km last year.

While I regard my long walks as the foundation of my good health, the stairs and bike rides are also helpful. I also do strength exercises at the gym and (mostly) eat right. I’ve received all 12 Covid vaccinations and take annual flu shots. (Since 2021, I’ve experienced two bouts with Covid and one flu episode, all with very light symptoms.) My rewards for this healthy lifestyle are immense: Not only am I in far better shape than I was at age 20 — admittedly, a low, asthma-ridden threshold — but I am in no pain and don’t take any medications, whether prescriptions or OTC. Life is good!

Of course, walking 15,000 steps per day is not for everyone. With a longish Starbucks break in the middle of my walk and running up all those stairs, it takes me almost 2.5 hours to complete it. Presumably, not many working people can take that much time for daily walks. It also helps to live in a Northern California-type climate, where I can walk and bike outdoors almost every day.

Furthermore, running up outdoor stairs would be impossible in flat areas like most of Florida, much of the Midwest, and many big cities. For those living in such environments, there are always indoor stairs, treadmills, and Stairmasters.

Needless to say, no one should start a walking program at 15,000 steps per day. This is an ambitious goal that requires a gradual buildup. But the rewards for long-distance walking — both in enjoyment and in health — are truly immeasurable. They can even include overcoming physical handicaps.

An X-ray some years ago revealed that I have no cartilage left in my knees; it’s literally bone-on-bone. But I learned that the more you walk, the more synovial fluid lubricates your knee bones, drastically reducing any pain: “Motion is Lotion.”

Also, walking and stair climbing strengthen the muscles around the knee, reducing the load it must carry. It also helps to keep your BMI within the normal range to reduce the load on your knees, which I do. Consequently, my long walks, stair climbing, biking, and gym workouts are virtually pain-free.

A scan indicated that my bone density is 1.007; anything above -1 is considered normal, so this is an unusually high bone density, likely due to my combination of strenuous workouts.

Hence, in a cycling accident that cost me 4 front teeth (see my Medium story ‘Cyclists — Beware of Parking Lots!’), I flew over the handlebars and landed on a parking lot’s hard pavement. Yet none of my bones fractured. At my age, many people have brittle bones that often break during falls, potentially leading to catastrophic results.

If this story inspires readers to increase their daily walking distances, climb stairs, and work out at the gym, my goal in writing it will have been achieved. It’s never too late to start. I was a couch potato into my fifties!