How to Measure One's Step or Stride

A step is the distance of one leg while walking. This is the distance from the heel print of one foot to the heel print of the other foot. A stride is typically the distance of two steps, or the distance from the heel print of one foot to the next time that same heel touches the ground. Here is how to take measurements of both step and stride.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

1. Measure your step or stride in mid gait. Take a few steps before you measure and a few steps after you measure. Your first and last steps are not usually reflective of your average step and stride length.

2. Walk through water to measure your step or stride. Make a puddle of water on the sidewalk and start your walking a few feet before the puddle. Walk up to and through the puddle and then continue walking a few feet beyond the puddle. Go back to where the puddle was and measure the distance between your wet foot prints to get your step or stride measurement.

3. Set up a short measured area for walking, somewhere between 20 and 50 feet. Start walking before the measured area so you can get up to speed in your natural walk before entering the measured area. Continue walking through the area and count the number of steps it takes you. Divide the number of feet of the area by the number of steps you took to determine the length of your step. Double this number to measure your stride.

4. Mark a starting line on the ground and then walk up to the line. Without changing your gait, continue walking past the line until you take 10 steps beyond the starting line. Mark the area on the ground where your heel touches the ground on the 10th step. Measure the distance of the 10 steps and then divide the number by 10 to get the length of your step. Double that number to determine your stride length.

5. Check your results by any of these methods by using the mathematical formula for averaged stride length. If you are female, multiply your height, in inches, by .413 to get your average stride length. If you are a male, multiply your height, in inches, by .415 to determine your average stride length. Regardless of your gender, divide your average stride length by 2 to determine your average step length.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are measuring your step or stride for use with a pedometer, be sure to read the directions to see which one they want you to use.

• To make matters more confusing, some pedometers use stride length to mean the same thing as step length. If your pedometer asks for stride length but the distance it is giving you seems to be double what you walked, cut the stride length in half. They are probably referring to stride length as if it is the same as step length.