4-Meter Gait Speed
Your usual walking speed over 4 meters (about 13 feet). One of the most studied predictors of survival in older adults.
How to do the 4-Meter Gait Speed at home
- Mark 4 meters (13 ft 1 in) on a hallway, with a couple of steps of room before and after.
- Walk at your normal, comfortable pace — not a race. Start a step or two before the first mark.
- Time from the first mark to the second. Do it twice and record the faster.
- Speed = 4 divided by the seconds (4 m in 4.0 s = 1.0 m/s).
Norms by age
| Age | Men — mean m/s | Women — mean m/s |
|---|---|---|
| 20–29 | 1.36 | 1.34 |
| 30–39 | 1.43 | 1.34 |
| 40–49 | 1.43 | 1.39 |
| 50–59 | 1.43 | 1.31 |
| 60–69 | 1.34 | 1.24 |
| 70–79 | 1.26 | 1.13 |
| 80–99 | 0.97 | 0.94 |
Source: Bohannon & Williams Andrews 2011 meta-analysis of comfortable walking speed, grand means by decade and sex (41 studies, n=23,111), PMID 21820535. Below 0.8 m/s is the EWGSOP2 cut-off for low physical performance, PMID 30312372.
Why it predicts survival
In 34,485 community-dwelling adults aged 65+ pooled from nine cohorts, each 0.1 m/s of faster usual walking speed carried a hazard ratio of 0.88 for death; at age 75, predicted 10-year survival ranged from 19% to 87% in men and 35% to 91% in women across the range of speeds, PMID 21205966.
What a real improvement looks like
+0.10 m/s or more. Day-to-day scores wobble; the program counts an improvement only when it clears a published threshold for change (chair stand +2.0–2.6 reps and TUG 0.8–1.4 s from an anchor-based physiotherapy trial, PMID 21335930; gait speed 0.10 m/s "substantial change", PMID 16696738). Single-leg stance uses a program convention of +5 seconds because no published threshold exists.
Twelve weeks of the right training moves these numbers: aerobic training raised VO2max by 3.78 mL/kg/min in a meta-analysis of sedentary older adults, PMID 25901000; resistance training raised leg-press strength by about 29% in adults over 50, PMID 20385254; balance training improved balance measures with the best results at 11–12 weeks and three sessions a week, PMID 26325622.
Train the number
Stronger for Longer is a free 12-week walking, strength and balance program that tests this measure at weeks 0, 6 and 12. No supplements, nothing to buy.