Cadence Change Prescription

Translate a planned cadence increase into target steps/min and step-length factor.

Description

Cadence-change arithmetic translates a chosen percent increase into a target cadence.

Cadence-change arithmetic translates a chosen percent increase into a target cadence. At fixed speed, step length decreases in inverse proportion.^[1]

Translate a planned cadence increase into target steps/min and step-length factor.

When to use Cadence Change Prescription

Use this tool to translate a planned cadence increase into target steps/min and step-length factor.

Prepare the measured movement, timing, load or preassigned score requested. Keep protocols, units, paired measurements and caller-selected thresholds consistent.

How to use Cadence Change Prescription and understand its results

Prepare the measured movement, timing, load or preassigned score requested. Keep protocols, units, paired measurements and caller-selected thresholds consistent.
Enter currentCadenceSpm, plannedIncreasePercent using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read targetCadenceSpm, cadenceDeltaSpm, stepLengthFactorAtFixedSpeed. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
currentCadenceSpm	Current cadence spm	number	Required
plannedIncreasePercent	Planned increase percent	number	Required

Enter positive steps/min and nonnegative planned increase. Return target, delta and fixed-speed length factor.

target=current(1+increase/100); stepFactor=current/target

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
targetCadenceSpm	Target cadence spm	number
cadenceDeltaSpm	Cadence delta spm	number
stepLengthFactorAtFixedSpeed	Step length factor at fixed speed	number

json

{
  "input": {
    "currentCadenceSpm": 160,
    "plannedIncreasePercent": 5
  },
  "output": {
    "targetCadenceSpm": 168,
    "cadenceDeltaSpm": 8,
    "stepLengthFactorAtFixedSpeed": 0.9523809523809523
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

The increase is supplied; no safe or optimal cadence prescription is derived.

Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Cadence Stride Speed Solver: Solve one missing gait speed, step cadence, or step length from the other two. For a complementary task, use Running Vertical Oscillation Screen: Compare running vertical oscillation to stride length and a chosen ceiling.

References

Cadence Change Prescription — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Cadence Stride Speed Solver
Solve one missing gait speed, step cadence, or step length from the other two.
Running Vertical Oscillation Screen
Compare running vertical oscillation to stride length and a chosen ceiling.