Getting in extra steps is one of the easiest ways to improve your overall health and fitness. Here we have 3 different 30-day steps challenges to choose from:
- Build your daily steps – Each day you’ll have a target steps count to reach, the daily steps increase throughout the challenge
- Build your weekly steps – Rather than having a daily steps goal, you’ll have a weekly steps goal – Each week your steps target increases and there’s a 2-day steps boost at the end
- Set a 30 day steps target to reach
I love a challenge and these steps challenges are a fun and easy way to keep me active. I’ve made all of the options flexible so that you can adapt them to fit wherever you are on your fitness journey right now.
Choose your steps challenge to suit your life
Check out each of the steps challenges below and decide which of these challenges will suit your life better. If you like consistency, maybe the daily steps (option one) will be best for you.
If you’re like me and find that some days you can do a lot of steps 12,000 plus and other days you need to do less, go for the weekly challenge or the 30-day steps target (options 1 & 2) as these allow a lot more flexibility.
In the first 2 challenges, you’ll build up your steps throughout the 30 days. This is a really great way to boost your step count without getting overwhelmed.
I love these build-up challenges. When I first started trying to walk more, I set myself a goal to walk to the end of my drive each day. It’s about 20 steps each way. I knew that if I could do that I would end up walking more. I also knew that if I set myself a goal to walk 10,000 daily steps at that point I would have given up within the first few days.
Wherever you are with your activity levels right now is okay.
Many health experts recommend 10,000 daily steps for healthy living. That’s certainly a figure I like to aim for daily. For me personally as someone who sits down most of the day for work, 10,000 steps most days is a good level for me. I feel healthy at this level and anything extra is a bonus.
Whichever challenge you choose, make it fun. Walk outdoors, dance, march on the spot inside. Find ways to get in an extra 100 steps here and there throughout the day.
Check out this blog post for some ideas for adding steps at home – How to walk 10,000 daily steps at home.
Adapt the steps challenge to suit where you are now
Also, note that whilst I have set the target steps for each of the options below, you can adapt them to suit where you are now. For example, if you’re currently averaging at 4000 daily steps, start with pushing it to 5000 steps.
If you’re already doing 10,000 steps a day, push your target up to 11,000 steps in week one.
Option 1: Build up your daily steps
In this steps challenge you’ll aim to increase your daily step count every 5 days.
- Days 1 – 5: 7500 daily steps
- Days 6 – 10: 8000 daily steps
- Days 11 – 15: 8500 daily steps
- Days 16 – 20: 9000 daily steps
- Days 21 – 25: 9500 daily steps
- Days 26 – 30: 10,000 daily steps
Remember that you can adjust the targets depending on your average steps at the start of this challenge. You could start at 10,000 daily steps and build up to 12500.
Start at whatever level you feel comfortable with right now and then increase that daily level by 500 every 5 days.
Option 2: Build up your weekly steps
This steps challenge option is great for you if you need some flexibility to do more steps on some days and less on others. You’ll increase your steps over 4 weeks (28 days) with a 2-day step booster at the end.
- Week 1: 60,000 weekly steps – A rough guide is 8600 daily steps
- Week 2: 70,000 weekly steps – Roughly 10,000 daily steps
- Week 3: 80,000 weekly steps – 11, 425 steps roughly a day
- Week 4: 90,000 weekly steps – Roughly 12,900 daily steps
- 2-Day Step Booster: Add your highest steps day and your lowest steps day together. This is the total number of steps to achieve in the last 2 days. Example: lowest day 6000 steps + highest day 15,500 steps = Total 21,500 over 2 days.
Alternative for the last 2 days. If you haven’t managed to achieve your weekly steps, make a note of how many extra steps you’d need to do to achieve each week’s goal and complete those extra steps on the last 2 days.
EXAMPLE TOP-UP BOOSTER…
- WEEK 1 goal 60,000 steps – Achieved 59,000 steps – 1000 steps to add to the last 2 days
- Week 2 goal 70,000 steps – Achieved 65,000 steps – 5,000 steps to add to the last 2 days
- Week 3 goal 80,000 steps – Achieved 73,000 steps – 7,000 steps to add to the last 2 days
- Week 4 goal 90,000 steps – Achieved 85,000 steps – 5,000 to add to the last 2 days.
- Total steps to complete in last 2 days = 18,000 steps
I really like the weekly target. This means that If I have a really busy work day and I only manage to get in 7000 steps one day I can do more steps another day. Some days it’s a struggle to get in 7000 and others I can easily get in 14,000 steps.
Option 3: Set a 30-day steps target
If you want to be super flexible, set yourself a 30-day steps target. If you want to do an average of 10,000 daily steps that’s 300,000 steps.
Remember that with all of these challenges, you can be flexible with your goals. If you’re currently doing around 5000 daily steps you could set a 30-day target of 250,000 this is around 8333 steps daily but you can start off doing your 5000 daily steps and increase the amount of steps you do each day.
Make the challenges work for you. Why not try them all over the next 3 months? Just imagine how much that will improve your health and fitness levels.
More steps challenges you might like to try
I do love a steps challenge and I’ve created a fair few already here on the blog. Which one will you choose next?
- Water and Walking Challenge – A 30-day challenge
- 10,000 daily steps challenge – 5-day challenge
- 12,000 daily steps challenge – 5-day challenge
- 7- Day steps challenge 70,000 weekly steps
- Walk a marathon Indoors challenge – Ideal for when the weather is bad or if you can only exercise at night when it’s dark outside
30-day mindset challenge for weight loss and healthy living
This is my original challenge. It’s a 30-day weight loss challenge where we focus on building a positive mindset for weight loss success. There’s no diet or exercise plan. I’ll teach you how to use affirmations, EFT, mirror work and more to create that super-positive mindset to lose weight in a healthy way. Go to 30-DAY WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE.
Steps Challenge FAQ
How do you track your steps?
- You can use a special device such as a Fitbit. These are expensive so make sure you’re actually going to use the features long term before buying. You can find cheaper alternatives although I have found they don’t last very long.
- Use a tracking app. There are loads available free and paid (although I find they drain my battery really quickly)
- Use a step counter and pop it in your pocket. I love the WW (Weight Watchers) clip-on pedometer
Do I need to start this challenge on a certain day?
No, you can start this challenge and any of the challenges on this blog whenever you want. And repeat the challenges any time you want to.
Does walking extra steps help with weight loss?
I’ve found some health, and weight loss experts say yes and others say no, but I personally find it really helps – I’ve written about this on the blog in detail – DOES WALKING HELP WITH WEIGHT LOSS?
How do you record your daily steps?
I have a weekly planner whiteboard in my kitchen. I like to track my daily steps on there. Because it’s in the kitchen and easily visible, I can see my progress throughout the week and this helps to keep me motivated.
I’ve also tracked in a notebook or diary in the past which also works well, especially for these 30-day challenges.
SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEWSLETTER & Best place to connect with me
If you enjoyed this blog post, I’d love you to SUBSCRIBE TO MY POSITIVE MINDSET NEWSLETTER for practical and easy-to-follow tips, tools and techniques to feel your best, be your best and create a life you love.
Coach Wendy – Wendy Tomlinson Coaching
Lincolnshire, UK
Mindset Coach
Law of Attraction Practitioner
EFT Master Practitioner
Life Skills Coach
Leave a Reply