FIRST THINGS FIRST: DETERMINING YOUR STRIDE LENGTH
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How to Determine Your Stride Length
When walking, your stride length is the distance from
the toe of your front foot to the toe of your back foot
(or the heel of the front foot to the heel of the back
foot).
Before you can program stride length into your step
counter, you must determine your stride length. To
do this, you must walk or run a given (measured)
distance while counting the number of steps it takes
to travel that distance. (Your goal here is simply to
find your average stride length.) There are several
methods of doing this:
1. Lap-Around-Track Method
This is the most accurate method:
1. Go to a college or high school track.
2. Find out the distance of the track. (Most outdoor
tracks are 440 yards or 400 meters, although
some indoor tracks are 200 meters.)
3. Walk around the inside lane once, counting the
number of steps you take. (Or, let your step
counter do the counting for you!)
4. Convert from meters to feet, if necessary.
A 440-yard track is 1,320 feet, a 400-meter track
is 1,312 feet, and a 200-meter track is 656 feet.
5. Divide the length of the track (in feet) by the
number of steps you took.
Example: Terry took 520 steps around a 400-
meter track. The track equals 1,312 feet.
1,312 feet ÷ 520 steps = 2.52 feet per step
Terry’s stride length = 2‘ 6”
TIP:
The most
accurate way
to measure
your stride
length is to
figure out how
many steps
it takes you
to walk a
measured
distance.
You can
measure a
distance using
your car, but it
won’t be as
accurate as
using a track.
You can also
use a treadmill
if it’s calibrated
accurately
(which isn’t
always the
case).
