Pedometers and Your Weight
April 10, 2011
A pedometer will measure the number of steps that you take in a day. It is a small gadget that you can clip on to your pants or slip into your pocket and measures the movements or vibrations from the steps that you take.
Ideally they should sit around the side of your hip where the vibrations are felt the most. When you look at just 1 step, the average around 50cm or less, 10,000 will mean walking about 5km.
The Queensland Government has started a steps movement of 10,000 Steps
The idea is to get everyone to take 10000 steps in a day. Now for many of us that can be very difficult if you are seated at the computer and expected to stay there. If you do move around, then you will be seen as not working or being unproductive.
Here are some tips to help get you moving a little further than usual so that you can hit your 10000 steps:
- Build up to the volume gradually. Pushing 10k steps tomorrow if you have not done any volume like this for a while is silly.
- Park a little further away. Choose a carpark that is further away, it will probably be cheaper and you may be able to clock a couple of hundred steps here.
- Park your car at the top of the carpark. Use the stairs to get down. This would add at least a hundred more steps and possibly work a bit more sweat.
- Find a toilet that is on another level in your building and utilise those toilet breaks to get at least >20 steps.
- Walk at a relatively fast pace, do strolls or wondering. Really get your body moving.
- Do not take large steps. take smaller, faster steps, engage all your muscles in your lower legs when walking.
- Lump sum steps can be done in about 30-60 minutes if do not manage any during the day.
Is it really enough? Can you be healthy at 10,000 steps or 5km? Chances are you will be struggling to hit 10k steps a day, but it is about all the little excuses you can give yourself to make yourself walk just a little further each and every day.
A habitual change is always difficult, but it is really about the conditioning for that new change which would make it all worthwhile in the end.
Pedometers are very cheap to purchase. Make sure though that it does measure the exact number of steps as there are dodgy ones that could register more steps that you are actually taking.
Get yourself a pedometer and get walking!
The Effects of Exercise
May 23, 2010
What can Exercise do for you? Well, get your pop corn and get ready for a long 3 hour epic. I won’t bore you with all the details, but because I am so passionate about it, I will scratch the surface a little bit for you.
Depending on your current situation, exercise will
- Reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis.
- Improves your cardiovascular fitness.
- Improves metabolism which will reduce your risk of being overweight.
- Increases endorphin release.
- Improve your productivity
This simple activity is becoming more and more scarce with the way our society is changing. We were designed to move, hunt and gather. Today we mostly sit, push buttons and walk to the supermarkets for our foods.
All the diseases mentioned in the first point are classed as diseases that can be prevented if we only changed our lifestyles. Sedentary-ness, malnutrition, lifestyle and sometimes genetics are possible factors of how we develop these dangerous and deadly diseases that are claiming many lives by the hour. All of which can be fixed with a little bit of a lifestyle adjustment and a bit of exercise.
The Department of Health has a Find Thirty Everyday campaign that recommends for a 30 minute activity everyday. In an attempt to get the public moving and more active again. The message is clear. We are not moving or getting active enough. But is it really enough to get us losing the weight? Probably not. But it is a good start.
Metabolism is a fantastic thing. It is the amount of energy needed to keep your body running or you alive. There are many factors that can affect your metabolism. Learn how to maximise your energy burning potential by raising your basal metabolic rate. I will cover this in another blog post later on down the track.
As a fitness professional, we have probably heard of the many excuses or barriers put up by folk who do not want to exercise. These may be because exercise is too hard to do, hurts too much, do not have time for it, it costs too much, the trainers yell too much, the exercises they make me do are too difficult and the best of the lot, just could not be bothered. These are all lame excuses. They do not work anymore and the only person you are kidding is yourself. Sedentary folk need to understand that there is a problem, realize that there is and take the appropriate action.
Everyone needs to exercise. No matter where you come from, what sort of lifestyle you may have, cut the ridiculous and get exercising.
