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Although I love being outside and being in nature, it doesn’t always seem so appealing during the colder months. To prevent my step count from dropping on rainy days, I’ve recently started following indoor step-count workouts on YouTube.
I’ve always thought I should aim for 10,000 steps a day, and while that goal comes with a lot of well-established benefits, a 2025 review published in The Lancet It was found that you can achieve significant results even by walking just 7,000 steps a day. Another benefit of a low step-count goal is that it is easier to achieve—certainly so when 10,000-step workout Take about an hour and a half on YouTube!
So I’m testing three of the most popular 7,000-step workouts on YouTube. Spoiler alert: I have a clear favorite.
1. BurpeeGirl: Brisk Walking Workout for Weight Loss – 7300 Steps
This one-hour workout from fitness trainer BurpeeGirl is designed for 30 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest — during which you can see what the next step is.
There are eight rounds in total, and there’s 20 seconds of active recovery at the end of each round, so you can take it out or take a sip of water.
It definitely felt speedy, but you can slow things down to a rhythm that feels right to you. Expect lots of lateral steps and exercises like knee raises and arm raises, presses and twists that really help get the heart rate up.
This was easily my favorite of the three workouts, and I can see why BurpeeGirl has 1.42 million subscribers — and her 7,000 step workout has received 977,000 views so far.
There was no dialogue or guidance throughout, which I enjoyed, as it meant I could listen to my own playlist during the workout, although the video soundtrack is also quite upbeat.
2. Walk of Life: 7000 Steps Challenge – Workout at Home
For my next challenge, I went to the Walk of Life YouTube channel and attempted the 7000 Step Challenge, which has received over 749,000 views so far.
An animated character visually demonstrates each exercise, while a voiceover tells you what the next move is. Exercises include arm kicks, arm reaches, leg taps, skaters and double steps.
My only problem with this workout is that the timing of each exercise felt a little random. The total workout lasted more than an hour, with some exercises performed for 37 seconds, while others lasted 30 seconds – mostly with a 23-second walk and rest period.
The final five minutes is a fast-paced finisher in which the exercises are performed one after another for 15 seconds – with no walking breaks. I’ll always prefer workouts led by real-life humans, but animation and voiceovers are easy to follow.
The music wasn’t to my taste, though—next time, I’ll stick to my playlist.
3. Yes2Next: 7000 Step Walking Workout, Low Impact for Seniors and Beginners
Yes2Next is a YouTube channel that is all about bringing the joy of fitness back to people of all ages. This 7,000-step workout is led by personal trainer April and her 85-year-old mother, Aiko.
The low-impact workout is just under 50 minutes long, and is divided into three sets of five exercises — 60 seconds of walking each, then 40 seconds of walking arm exercises.
The routine was easy to follow with clear guidance from April and tips to maintain good posture throughout. Aiko also demonstrates modifications, showing how this exercise can also be done while sitting on a chair.
Physically, this workout was the easiest of the three, but I enjoyed it more than I thought. I wasn’t even thinking about the music – mainly because working with April and Aiko was so much fun. She has a humor and warmth that permeates throughout, which explains why she has over 600,000 subscribers and this particular video has over 400,000 views.
