Running Cadence

What it is and how to find yours

Cadence is the number of steps you take in a minute, also called step rate. Count your steps for 30 seconds and double the number, or read it off your watch. Compare cadence only at a similar pace, because it rises with speed. Some papers count strides (a left step plus a right step), so 85 strides per minute is 170 steps per minute. This guide gives steps per minute throughout.

There is no right number

Your cadence follows your speed and your size. In 30 experienced runners on a treadmill, mean cadence rose from 169 steps per minute at a 10:00 mile pace to 178 at a 7:00 mile pace¹. In a 2020 outdoor study, 21 experienced recreational runners preferred 165 on average at an 8:49 mile pace, and the taller runners preferred less².

Do not chase 180. When researchers measured the cadence at which running cost the least energy at one speed, it averaged about 170 steps per minute in 14 runners, with a spread of several steps either side (a 2015 study)³. In that 2020 outdoor study, moving each runner from their preferred rate to their own best rate was predicted to lower median heart rate by only 0.5 beats per minute². Your own cadence at a given pace is usually close to your cheapest, so raise it for a reason (below) and not for a number.

What a higher cadence does

Raising step rate shortens the step and, in a 2015 lab study, brings the foot closer to your hip at landing³. A 2022 systematic review of 37 studies, most of them of immediate effects, found strong evidence that raising step rate reduced how far the knee bends, moderate evidence of shorter steps and lower forces at the hip and knee, and limited evidence of lower braking and kneecap joint stress. It found very limited evidence of higher perceived effort, and the longer-term effects remain largely unknown⁴.

Cadence and injury

Whether raising cadence prevents injury is not settled. The 2022 review found only two injury studies and concluded there is insufficient evidence to say what changing step rate does to injury⁴. A 2025 systematic review of 18 studies read it more favorably: its narrative synthesis suggested a preventive effect for patellofemoral pain (pain around or behind the kneecap) and tibial stress fractures, and it said high-quality prospective studies are still needed⁵.

The trials are in runners who already have kneecap pain. In a randomized trial of 30 such runners, 10 per group, a two-week program raising cadence 7.5 to 10 percent reduced running pain more than no intervention at 6 months, as did a program aimed at reducing impact⁶. A larger 2018 randomized trial of 69 runners found no added benefit: education alone, education plus exercises and education plus 8 weeks of gait retraining all improved by similar amounts, even though the retraining group raised its step rate and lowered its impact loading⁷. So a higher cadence is one tool for kneecap pain, alongside education and strengthening, and not a stand-alone fix. If you have no pain, there is no clear reason to change yours. For persistent pain, see the guides on runner's knee and stress fractures.

How to change it

A metronome app or your watch's cadence alert works. Across 20 studies (483 runners), step rate training over several sessions raised step rate by about 12 steps per minute on average⁸. The size of change to aim for is small:

• Find your usual cadence on an easy run first.
• Move by 5 to 10 percent at most, which is the range the trials above used, and let each step settle before the next.
• Hold the new rate on easy runs with the metronome or alert.
• Judge it by feel, a slightly shorter and quicker stride, and not by a number on the watch.