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Use a pedometer as your low-cost personal trainer
Three nights a week, Roslyn Hayes grabs her MP3 player, snaps on her pedometer and steps out the door for a brisk walk around the neighbourhood. The combination of upbeat music and the positive feedback she gets from her step counter has her hooked on walking. “Wearing a pedometer makes walking fun,” says Hayes, a 49-year-old dental hygienist from Windsor, Ont., who confesses to a love of gadgets. “I’m constantly checking it to see how many steps I’ve taken and trying to beat yesterday’s total.”
That’s the beauty of a pedometer – by recording the total number of steps you take each day, it constantly sets a benchmark for you to exceed. Across the country, people of all ages are clipping these inexpensive (about $20) easy-to-operate tracking devices to their waistbands and pushing themselves to walk a little more than they did the day before.
The numbers don’t lie
Many of us think we are more active than we really are, but statistics reveal the sorry truth: almost half of Canadians walk less than 30 minutes a day. There’s no fooling a pedometer. The number on your hip reports just how
energetic or sluggish you’ve really been.
“I actually use mine as an inactivity monitor,” says Lee-Anne Kennedy, a registered nurse and diabetes educator who runs Steps Count, which bills itself as Canada’s top pedometer company. “When I check it and see I have only 2,000 steps, I know I’ve been sitting too long and that it's time for me to get up and get moving.”
Experts often cite 10,000 steps per day as a standard target, but Kennedy believes this may be too lofty a goal for many. People who are inactive may take only a few thousand steps a day. She suggests you gradually increase your current activity level by 500-step
increments and set regular goals for yourself.
Walk the talk
Consciously adding extra steps to your day – walking instead of driving to do errands, striding across the office to deliver a message instead of emailing – can significantly affect your day’s overall total and ultimately your health. Every step counts – playing fetch with the dog, kicking a soccer ball with your kids and moving around while preparing dinner in the kitchen all add up.
When it comes to the benefits of walking, there are literally hundreds of studies that prove this simple exercise can have long-term positive effects on your health. Using a pedometer to help you reach your health and fitness goals is as straightforward
as putting one foot ahead of the other.
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