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Behold my new toy:
Let me tell you, it’s not always so easy.
Day One: I went to the park and, after a lengthy jog/walk workout, coupled with my normal daily activity, I surpassed 12,000 steps. Jackpot! Score one for me!! I believe that, being a weekend day, I had more time to fit in more steps.
Day Two: As I have a desk job, the majority of my day was spent, as you might have guessed – at my desk! It does little for boosting the number on my nifty machine. By the end of the day, when I was ready to leave job number 2, I had yet to reach the 10,000 point. I was several thousand steps short. Ahhh!! Seeing that I work in a gym, I decided to just hop on the treadmill. I walked for 30 minutes. That still didn't do it. UGH!! I only got to 6,818 total steps for the day.
Day Three – Success!! I hit 10,036 steps. What helped was a 40-minute long cardio session (Stair Master/Elliptical/Treadmill). Also, being conscious of the device, I attempted to get up and move more. I added in steps wherever I could. A little extra effort paid off.
Though it’s still early on here, I would have to say that normal daily movement will, most likely, not cut it.
I see, so far, that I have to fit in extra fitness. It’s through my workouts (cardio done at a good pace) that I am getting up to the high numbers. On day two I did lift weights at the gym, but that doesn’t involve much walking. I actually popped the pedometer off for that time frame since I thought it would only get in my way, especially during ab work. I ended up missing the mark – and I don’t feel like that bit of time would have saved the day. Even adding in that 30 minute treadmill session wasn’t enough. Maybe an hour would have done it.
And also, while the pedometer does work, it surely is helping me strive to get off my rear more than normal, I do have one complaint: it’s bulky.
Seriously, with the clip to keep it attached to my hip, it’s insanely big. It’s fine under a sweatshirt or a looser top, but throw on a tank top, like I did, and it looks as if you’ve got some weird growth. It’s annoying.
Overall, it does not work so well under clothes which are more form fitting.
Other than that, I think it’s a great motivator. It’s almost like a game, seeing how many steps you can take.
Have you ever tried a pedometer? Did it help get you moving more?
4 comments:
Working for a hospital system has its advantages, particularly in the realm of Wellness. It's actually one of our core values here, a combination of wellness and work/life balance. As such, they allowed us to make teams of 5 or more and compete against other departments/teams/etc. on who could walk the most steps in a three month period. There were incentives, of course. A pretty ingenious way to get people moving. We had to set a goal -- 5K steps per week or whatever we wanted -- and see if we could do it. I low-balled it with 5k per day. Most days I more than doubled it. They passed out these interesting pedometers called Actipeds. They clip to your shoe and are read by a little scanner that you just have to walk by. I know you can get it for home, not sure the cost, but you can plug the reader into a USB port on your computer and scan from home. It can hold up to 10 days worth of steps and is pretty darn accurate without the disadvantage of extra steps caused by a little jostling. Not exactly stylish, but pretty cool.
Anyway, this is my first time to your blog. Very well written; I linked over from your comment on Charlotte's blog.
Joshua - that sounds like it would really get you moving. I love the idea of competing. Oh, and prizes too!! Love that even more.
I really like the idea of a pedometer, but I would much prefer one that is smaller. One that could be hidden better. The one I have, it just doesn't work under most of my clothes. I prefer to keep it under wraps too - I don't want the whole world to know I am wearing it. It also is not very stylish!
And Charlotte is the best!! :-)
That was the beauty of the Actiped. It has the diameter of a dollar coin, is about 1/2" thick, and can clip to your shoe and, perhaps, be covered by the just slightly too long workout pants. Honestly, most times I forgot I was wearing it. And I couldn't really see it.
Their site: http://www.actihealth.com/
The only con is that it only registers impact movement, so it's not good for elliptical or bike. At least, that's what I heard. I never tried it on the elliptical, but since it senses the impact from step to step, I can't see that it would register elliptical movement since you're not really stepping.
I actually have an extra Actiped that I'd send you, but it's sort of useless without the sensor to read it. Sorry.
pedometers are kinda fun. i wore one at one point when i was trying to lose eight and it def. helped me. i'm not sure i could fuss with it at this point in my life though :(
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