We’re officially in the heart of summer. It’s time to hit that summer bucket list! If getting more exercise is on that list, an easy way to track your progress is with a pedometer. Wearing a pedometer works like keeping a food log. It’s mindful mission monitoring. It’s that little voice on your shoulder (or, in this case, your hip) reminding you to take every chance – large and small – to get up, and get moving.

You could spend a beautiful summer day cruising the Internet for all kinds of info about the history of pedometers, or, you could let Positive Tracks do that for you. First, a very brief history: they were first invented by Ancient Romans, depicted in 15th century paintings by Leonardo DaVinci, modernized by Thomas Jefferson, further tweaked into Hike-o-Meters in the 1930’s, and popularized as “Manpo kei” (10,000 steps meter) in Japan in the ‘60’s. In 1994, Surgeon General C. Everett Coop founded “Shape up America”, recommending 10,000 steps a day for general health and fitness. From then on, the 10,000 steps day thing stuck.

So that’s the why. Here’s the how. We’ve gathered totally painless, mostly brainless, and, dare we say, wicked fun ways to add more steps to your daily total. Read on, walk on, and happy height of summer!

Be more efficient and multi-task!

•    Pace like it’s your job. That’s right, pace, while you are: muted on that phone meeting; watching TV; brushing your teeth; listening to your favorite radio program; waiting for dinner to cook; an appointment to start; a commercial to be over; the bus to arrive; a soccer game to end; a meeting to start; an order to be filled.

•    Schedule social or business meetings around a walk instead of a conference table.

•    Take a walk making that touch-tone-from-hell, or endlessly long call you’ve been dreading.

•    Before hittin’ the hay, give every room the Martha treatment—pick up, straighten, fluff, toss, put away stray items, find those lost chargers and that ice cream dish from last week.

purchase Seroquel online Be less efficient, and enjoy the scenic route!

•    Make many small trips to put things away versus one arms-laden voyage.

•    Leave your shopping cart at the end of the aisle and walk back and forth to put items in.

•    Use the restroom/coffee maker/water cooler one floor down (or up) instead of the one down the hall.

•    Drink lots of water so you make lots of trips (see above) throughout the day.

•    During errands, park or walk to the farthest spot instead of the closest. Park between two stores and walk to each instead of driving between.

•    Be European and walk to the store for something fresh every day. Baguette? Oui oui!

Put a number on it!

•    Walking Slow (2 mph)  – 67 steps per minute (SPM)

•    Walking Medium (3.5-4 mph) – 115-152 SPM

•    Walking Fast (5 miles per hour) – 242 SPM

•    Inline Skating – 364 SPM

•    Jump Rope 303 SPM

•    Bicycling: Slow- 121 SPM; med-242 SPM; fast-364 SPM

•    1 mile = 2100 average steps.

•    1 block = 200 average steps

•    10 minutes of walking = 1200 steps on average

•    20 minutes animated vacuuming: 2,000 steps

•    Outing to a zoo or amusement park: 4,000+ steps

•    Walking the dog for 20 minutes: 2,000 steps

•    Bus your own dang table…in multiple trips: a few steps and great Karma

•    Check out these step equivalents for various other activities

Rethink Your Venues

•    Got time to kill between meetings, calls, appointments kid’s activities? Instead of reading or checking your phone, take a walk around the block.

•    Always always take the stairs vs the escalator or elevator. Duh.

•    Get off the bus or subway one stop early. Or get a little crazy, and make it 5!

•    At the airport, find your gate, then go explore.

•    Same deal at the stadium. Find your seat then take a few tours.

Be Prepared for Bonus Time

•    Build extra credit steps into your routine and keep walking shoes/clothes in your car or at your desk for unexpected delays or down-time.

•    If you have the time, take the scenic (or at least less direct) route.

•    Make it a habit to go for an after-dinner stroll. (Keeps that metabolism fired up to deal with dinner!)

•    Be early for an appointment and walk around the block instead of adding to interminable time in the waiting room.

•    Take a daily afternoon brainstorming walk.

•    Schedule a Power Hour, where you accumulate as many steps as possible during one hour of the day. See how many more steps you can get during the same amount of time in following days!

•    Set the alarm on your computer to go off every hour or two, then take a quick tour around the floor (or even up and down the hall) when it alerts you.

•    Set your alarm clock 15 to 20 minutes earlier and take a quick loop around your neighborhood before heading to work.

•    Every hour, on the hour, take a 10-minute break with the sole (get it?) goal of squeezing in max steps.

Get Smart!

•    Use your walk time to listen to podcasts, audio books, and your favorite radio programs.

•    Solve world hunger, or slightly smaller issues. Walking is an ideal way to let your mind synthesize thoughts and information, and come up with creative solutions. Hey – are you getting overtime for that?

Make It Social!

•    Spend time with friends while window-shopping or taking in an art exhibit instead instead of, or in addition to, drinks/coffee/dinner.

•    Next time you need to call home or catch up with a friend, find good cell coverage and chat while you walk.

•    Start a walking group or keep an email list of likely candidates for spontaneous walks. You don’t have to start out as great friends but you’ll probably end up with new ones.

•    Go ahead – make it a game, or better, a heated competition. Take off the gloves, and put on the shoes, to see who can log the most steps accomplishing routine activities: making a coffee/copy/restroom run; reaching a common destination; getting lunch. (See inefficiency, above.)

Comments are closed.