How to Measure Your Stride

You’ve picked out a pedometer, but when you use it, the distances it reports are dead wrong. Why? Probably because the pedometer doesn’t have an accurate measurement of your stride—it must be calibrated. There are a multitude of ways of measuring your stride, and we cover the most common and popular methods below—along with which would work best for you.

• 10 Simple StepsThis method of measuring your stride is very quick, easy and is ideal if you tend to walk in short bursts around the office or house.
• The Short-Distance WalkIf most of your walks tend to be short jaunts around the block or through your neighborhood, this is how you’ll want to measure your stride.
• The Long-Distance WalkThis method generates the most accurate results if you typically walk for a half hour or more at a time.
• Measuring Distance ToolNeed to figure out how far you walked along a route? Use this took to plot your route and we’ll calculate the distance for you.

For our purposes, a stride is a single step. Some people count a stride as two steps, but most pedometers consider it one step and this website considers it one step. If for some reason you need the distance for two steps, just double your results after measuring the length of one step.

Once you’ve measured your stride, don’t just use it to accurately configure your pedometer. Hop over to your measurement settings on Walking 4 Fun to accurately set your stride here as well.