Walking Stress Score Calculator

Understanding WSS

What Does My WSS Mean?

• 0-40: Light recovery walk - minimal training stress
• 40-80: Moderate aerobic workout - good for base building
• 80-150: Solid endurance walk - significant training benefit
• 150-250: Hard workout - high training stress, needs recovery
• 250+: Very demanding - race effort or very long walk

Weekly WSS Guidelines

• Beginner: 150-300 total per week
• Intermediate: 300-500 total per week
• Advanced: 500-800+ total per week

How to Use WSS

1. Track daily: Calculate WSS for each walk
2. Sum weekly: Add up 7 days of WSS
3. Monitor trends: Watch for excessive increases
4. Balance load: Include easy and hard days
5. Progress gradually: Increase weekly WSS by max 10%

Example Workouts

Easy Recovery Walk

• 30 minutes in Zone 1-2
• WSS ≈ 40-50
• Use for active recovery days

Moderate Base Building Walk

• 60 minutes in Zone 2
• WSS ≈ 120
• Foundation of training plan

Interval Workout

• 10 min Zone 1 warm-up
• 20 min Zone 3-4 intervals
• 10 min Zone 1 cool-down
• WSS ≈ 100-120
• High intensity, shorter duration

Long Endurance Walk

• 120 minutes in Zone 2
• WSS ≈ 240
• Once per week for endurance

Getting Your Heart Rate Data

Using Apple Watch

1. Open Health app on iPhone
2. Navigate to Browse → Heart → Heart Rate
3. Select your walk workout
4. View time in each zone
5. Enter into calculator above

Using Walk Analytics

Walk Analytics automatically calculates WSS for every walk. No manual calculation needed!

• Imports workouts from Apple Health
• Analyzes heart rate zones automatically
• Calculates WSS instantly
• Tracks weekly trends
• Provides recovery recommendations