How many steps was that belt speed?
A walking pad shows kilometers per hour or miles per hour. This page turns that into distance, an estimated step count, and a rough calorie figure.
Steps from belt speed
Enter how fast the belt moved and how long you were on it. Distance is speed times time. Steps need a step length, from your height or from a length you measured.
Steps, distance, and a calorie estimate show up here, with the formula filled in.
- Steps
- Distance
- Above rest
Formula for these inputs
How the estimate works
A walking pad reports belt speed. It does not count steps. Distance on this page is that speed multiplied by the minutes you enter. Steps are the distance divided by the length of one step, from one footfall to the next.
If you have measured that length, use the override. If you have not, the estimate is height times 0.42. That is the fraction Barreira, Rowe, and Kang tested in young adults in 2010. They cite Hatano (1993) and Bassett and Strath (2002) for it. Pedometer manuals often call this number stride length. In gait research a stride is usually two steps, so if you measured same foot to same foot, divide by two before you type it.
In that 2010 study the height estimate averaged shorter than the measured distance per step, and the two matched only moderately. A short belt, your shoes, and a slow desk pace can move step length again. The override is there for that reason. Some pedometer leaflets use a slightly different fraction for men and for women. Those splits are not what the 2010 paper tested, so this page stays with 0.42 for everyone and prefers a measured length.
Calories use another equation. Ludlow and Weyand (2016) estimate oxygen use in level walking from speed and height. Kilocalories then scale with body weight. The figure marked above rest subtracts 3.5 ml of oxygen per kilogram per minute, the resting term in that equation. With weight left blank, the page shows only the per-kilogram amount. This is not the active-calorie number on an Apple Watch, which uses its own sensors and model.
Formula
- Distance = speed × time
- Step length = height × 0.42, unless you enter a measured length
- Steps = distance ÷ step length
- VO2 (ml/kg/min) = 3.5 + 3.85 + 5.97 × V² / height
- V is speed in meters per second. Height is in meters.
- kcal = VO2 × body weight (kg) × minutes / 200
- Above rest uses VO2 − 3.5
Sources: Barreira, Rowe, and Kang, International Journal of Exercise Science, 2010, citing Hatano, J ICHPER-SD, 1993, and Bassett and Strath, in Welk (ed.), Human Kinetics, 2002. Calories: Ludlow and Weyand, Journal of Applied Physiology, 2016.
General information, not medical advice. The figures are estimates. Talk to a clinician about health decisions.
Common questions
Why does belt speed not give steps by itself?
Speed and time give distance. Steps need the length of one step. Two people at the same belt speed can take a different number of steps, so the same session is not one step count.
What should I type for step length?
Type the distance from one footfall to the next. Pedometer manuals often call that stride length. If you measured same foot to same foot, divide by two. Ten steps along the floor, divided by ten, is a better input than the height estimate.
Will the calories match Apple Health?
No. This page uses the Ludlow and Weyand level-walking equation. With a body weight, it converts oxygen use into kilocalories above a resting term. Apple Watch active calories use heart rate and a different model. DeskWalker can log the session you actually walked.
Log the session from belt speed
DeskWalker logs walking pad sessions to Apple Health from belt speed.
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