Enter the number of steps and the distance traveled into the calculator to determine your stride length.
Stride Length Formula
The following formula is used to determine an average stride length.
SL = D / S
- Where SL is your stride length (distance/step)
- D is your total distance traveled
- S is your number of steps
Stride Length Definition
A stride length is defined as the total distance or total length traveled with one step. This is different from person to person and will also depend on the speed a person is moving.
How to calculate stride length?
- First, determine an accurate distance that you can walk or run that you know the start and finish of. For example, you may know the distance of one lap of a track to be 400m.
- Next, start walking or running along that distance and measure your total number of steps.
- Finally, using the formula above, calculate your stride length by dividing the total distance by the number of steps.
FAQ
A stride length is a measure of the distance travelled per step a person takes.
Stride lengths will be different for walking an running because you are moving at different speeds.
The optimal stride length for running depends on the distance. For longer runs a shorter stride length and higher cadence is optimal, but for shorter runs a longer stride length is typically better.
A stride length will typically increase as speed increases. This assumes the cadence stays the same. A stride length can stay the same with an increase in speed if the cadence (number of steps per minute) increases.
The average stride length of male runners is around 30-31 inches.
A stride length is important to running because changes in stride length can change both speed and efficiency of running, so it’s important to understand the best stride length for the type of running you are doing.
