While complete inactivity is for sure bad for performance as well as overall health, I can guarantee you from my own personal experience that there is definitely a big effect of diminishing returns when it comes to daily activity level or step count.
After years of fighting RED-S and compulsive exercise disorder I had to see on my own body that doing too much is just as bad as doing too little - if not even worse; especially for long term health and the ability to exercise and be active at all...
Your recommendation of a 7 000 steps baseline sounds, however, like a very reasonable and healthy approach. For sure better than the 20-30 000 I averaged per day on top of multiple hours of running and/or cycling! 😅
As a rule of thumb I try to not go beyond two short walks per day or one slightly longer one. Not having a car and living in Europe where you don't need one for daily chores, I try to take the bike for everything else to not overdo it with the walking and pounding.
Interesting study. Out of personal experience, I think the downsides of inactivity go beyond the metabolic changes. Most stretching or mobility sessions could be skipped, if people just kept some general movement in their day to day life.
While complete inactivity is for sure bad for performance as well as overall health, I can guarantee you from my own personal experience that there is definitely a big effect of diminishing returns when it comes to daily activity level or step count.
After years of fighting RED-S and compulsive exercise disorder I had to see on my own body that doing too much is just as bad as doing too little - if not even worse; especially for long term health and the ability to exercise and be active at all...
Your recommendation of a 7 000 steps baseline sounds, however, like a very reasonable and healthy approach. For sure better than the 20-30 000 I averaged per day on top of multiple hours of running and/or cycling! 😅
As a rule of thumb I try to not go beyond two short walks per day or one slightly longer one. Not having a car and living in Europe where you don't need one for daily chores, I try to take the bike for everything else to not overdo it with the walking and pounding.
Interesting study. Out of personal experience, I think the downsides of inactivity go beyond the metabolic changes. Most stretching or mobility sessions could be skipped, if people just kept some general movement in their day to day life.
Interesting…but a nine person study? Hope it gets replicated with a larger group.
I know. That’s sports science for ya…