Many people enjoy going for a walk, and the brisker the better. Walks often include being out in the fresh air and sunshine, and frequently with your pets. It is also a way to spend time with those you care about as you talk about your day, free of charge.
If you tend to walk frequently, you may notice that you walk faster than those around you and frequently need to go around others because they are so much slower than you. You may be wondering why exactly you are so fast? Below we will explore seven reasons why you walk fast.
Why Do I Walk So Fast?
1. The Effect of Age
If you are a younger person, then chances are that you walk faster. From the ages of 20-50, the average speed is anywhere from 3 miles per hour to 3.2 miles per hour.
However, after 50, walking speed tends to decline steadily due to shortened stride. In fact, between 80-89, the average walking speed is somewhere between 2.1 and 2.7.
2. You Are Walking with Another Man
If you are walking with someone then that can affect your pace. If you see a couple, they tend to be walking more slowly and taking their time as it is time they are spending together.
A woman walking with another woman also tends to slow down their walking pace. This is likely for the same reasons that couples tend to walk more slowly and reflects intimacy.
If a man is walking with another man, however, then their speed tends to increase even more than the usual fast pace.
The reason for this is that men do not tend to feel a sense of closeness or intimacy with their male friends and thus do not feel the need to slow down the pace to connect more.
3. If You are Alone
If you tend to walk alone regularly, then you have much more freedom. You do not have children you have to coral and keep moving along which can slow you down.
You also do not have to try to keep pace with a slower walking partner or have anyone you want to slow down with to increase that sense of intimacy.
Those who walk alone tend to set their own pace and when you do not have distractions then you will focus on your final destination.
Having an end goal in mind gives you the incentive and your walking pace will increase to reflect that and get you to your destination faster.
4. You are Running Late
Many of us have had the following happen: We underestimated how long it would take to drive somewhere, had to park far away, and are trying to make up the difference by walking fast.
Or perhaps your flight is late in arriving and you only have a short window of time to make a connecting flight.
In a desire to make up for lost time and get where we need to, we will increase our walking speed accordingly. Sometimes this works in our favor and sometimes it does not.
5. If You Are a Man
If you are a male, then you likely walk faster than your female walking counterparts. The reason for this tends to be attributed to the size difference between males and females.
Males have longer limbs, and therefore their strides tend to be longer. With longer strides comes increased distance covered in a shorter amount of time.
6. You Live in The City
If you have ever been to a large city, like New York City, London, or Hong Kong, you have likely noticed there is a certain energy to it. The people there tend to hustle and move quickly.
It stands to reason then, that if you live in a large city then you also tend to walk faster than those who live in the suburbs or the country.
There are many different theories about why this might be, but the most common one is because the cost of living is higher, they are moving faster to make up the money.
Essentially, for those who live in large cities, time is money, and the faster they go the more money they can make.
7. Your Energy
Some people have a lot of energy. For some, it is something they are born with, and they thrive in high energy and a fast pace and move quickly whatever they are doing.
For others, it is something they have built up after practice. Maybe they wanted to build up energy and stamina and thus increased their walking pace to match that desire
Whether intentional or done subconsciously, the result is much the same: a person with a lot of energy who enjoys walking quickly from place to place.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on why leg day is so hard, why you are so bad at running, and why ballerinas are so skinny.
Conclusion
Walking is something that we tend to do without giving it much thought, but you may notice that you tend to walk faster than the people around you. There are a variety of reasons for this, including whether you are a man or woman, are walking with other people.
Other reasons include your age as younger people tend to walk faster, a high energy level means you are faster, whether you are running late and have to get somewhere quickly, and whether you live in a big city where “time is money.”