# Pace > Pace tracks your walking speed and step length from week to week, using walking workouts from your Apple Watch. Walking speed is one of the most studied signs of overall health: in a pooled study of nearly 35,000 older adults, faster walkers lived longer at every age. A normal adult walking speed is about 1.2 to 1.4 metres a second. - URL: https://www.getstepup.app/metrics/pace - Author: Dheeraj Kumar Sharma, founder of StepUp - Published: 2026-10-16 - Updated: 2026-10-16 How fast you walk says a surprising amount about your health. Doctors who work with older adults sometimes call walking speed a "vital sign", because it reflects your heart, lungs, muscles, joints and balance all at once. Pace tracks it for you. ## What does Pace measure? Pace shows your **walking speed** and your **step length** (how far each step carries you), and how both change from week to week. Speed is distance over time. Step length is the other half of the picture: you can walk faster by stepping more often, by taking longer steps, or both. ## Where does the data come from? Pace uses the walking workouts your Apple Watch records, along with the speed and distance saved to Apple Health. Because it needs those workouts, Pace needs an Apple Watch. ## What's a normal walking speed? For healthy adults, a comfortable walking speed is usually around **1.2 to 1.4 metres a second**, or about 4.3 to 5 kilometres (2.7 to 3.1 miles) an hour. A brisk walk is faster, and walking speed tends to fall gradually with age. The number to watch is your own. A steady pace over months is reassuring. A gradual slowdown is worth noticing, especially if it comes with feeling less steady. ## Why does walking speed matter? - **Studenski et al., 2011.** A pooled analysis of nine studies of nearly 35,000 adults aged 65 and over found that faster walking speed was linked to longer survival at every age, for men and women. Each step up in speed was associated with a lower risk of dying over the follow-up. The study is observational, and slow walking is often a sign of other health problems rather than their cause. But it's why walking speed is so widely used: it's easy to measure, and it tracks how well the whole body is working. ## What changes your pace? - **Fitness and strength.** Stronger legs and a fitter heart make a faster pace easier. - **Terrain and weather.** Hills, crowds, heat and wind all slow you down. - **Purpose.** A walk to catch a train is faster than a stroll with a friend. - **Pain or injury.** A sore knee or hip often shows up as shorter steps and a slower pace. ## How can you walk faster? - **Build up gradually.** Add a few brisk minutes to your usual walk and lengthen them over weeks. - **Raise your cadence first.** Quicker, shorter steps are easier than over-striding. - **Strengthen your legs.** Squats, stairs and getting up from a chair without your hands all help. - **Walk tall.** Head up, shoulders relaxed and arms swinging make a quicker pace feel natural. ## Pace in StepUp StepUp reads your walking workouts from Apple Health and shows your walking speed and step length from week to week, with a short note on what's changed. Pace needs an Apple Watch and is part of StepUp Pro. Like every StepUp metric, it's calculated and stored on your iPhone. The [walking pace calculator](https://www.getstepup.app/tools/walking-pace) turns any walk's distance and time into a pace, and the [stride length calculator](https://www.getstepup.app/tools/stride-length) shows how to measure your step. ## The short version - Pace tracks your walking speed and step length week to week. - A normal adult pace is about 1.2 to 1.4 metres a second, or 4.3 to 5 km an hour. - Faster walking speed is linked to longer life in older adults. - Quicker steps, stronger legs and a few brisk minutes a walk all help. ## Questions ### What is a normal walking speed? For healthy adults, about 1.2 to 1.4 metres a second, or roughly 4.3 to 5 km (2.7 to 3.1 miles) an hour. Walking speed usually falls gradually with age. ### Why is walking speed important? It reflects your heart, lungs, muscles, joints and balance at once. In a pooled study of nearly 35,000 older adults, faster walkers lived longer at every age. ### What is step length? The distance each step carries you, usually measured from one heel to the other. Taller people take longer steps. A shrinking step length over time can be a sign of pain or reduced strength. ### Does Pace need an Apple Watch? Yes. StepUp's Pace uses the walking workouts your Apple Watch records. Your iPhone alone covers Tempo, which shows your cadence in steps per minute. ## Sources - [Studenski et al. (2011), Gait speed and survival in older adults, JAMA](https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.1923)