Steps Away to Becoming Physically Fit
You may have a two thousand dollar piece of exercise equipment in your basement as evidence of your good intentions, but if you’re truly interested in losing weight and becoming fitter, a better investment might be a twenty-five dollar pedometer. A pedometer is a little device that you can clip on your belt. The basic idea is to count steps and take more of them.
The 10-thousand step movement using pedometers started in Japan in the 1960s, but it’s been popularized in the United States, in part by Catrine Tudor-Locke, Ph.D., author of the book Manpo-kei: The Art and Science of Step Counting. There’s nothing magical about 10-thousand steps; there was no research to back that up as the appropriate number. It’s simply the Japanese term for pedometer, manpo-kei or “10-thousand-step-meter.”
The idea is to exercise, and anything that motivates you to get moving is a plus. Many Americans exercise primarily to lose weight and that in itself is a healthy goal. But the health benefits are well documented, protecting against heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and many cancers.
Of all exercise options, walking is the most popular, and it’s certainly the most accessible. Virtually anyone can do it. If you have the self discipline to follow the U.S. Surgeon General’s guidelines and get out for a brisk 30 to 45-minute walk nearly every day, there is no reason to change that. If you can meet your exercise goals by having a treadmill in your basement, more power to you. Most Americans, however, are not so easily motivated, and that is the reason for the pedometer.
In one study, sedentary women who were instructed to walk 10 thousand steps a day walked more and were more likely to meet their fitness goals than another group instructed to walk briskly 30 minutes most days of the week. Both groups carried pedometers, but all pedometers in the 30-minute group were sealed until the study was over. Those in the 10 thousand step group were able to monitor their total at any time, and they walked about two thousand steps a day more than the group told to walk for 30 minutes a day.
If you decide to invest in a pedometer to help motivate yourself, log your steps every day, and you will have a constant reminder of how active you’ve been. If you’re trying to add to your total, you may park at the far end of the parking lot or take the steps rather than the elevator.
A popular weight loss book, The Step Diet by Drs. James O. Hill and John C. Peters recommends that you establish a baseline by wearing a pedometer for several days while performing daily activities, and then add two or three thousand steps to that baseline number while cutting your daily calories by 25 percent. Every two thousand steps will use up about 100 calories so don’t expect dramatic weight loss unless you’re calorie counting as well. But if your pedometer is accurate, and you’re faithful to your plan, you are guaranteed to increase the number of calories you burn each day.
Any physical activity that promotes weight control and improves circulation has health benefits. Physical inactivity, combined with a poor diet, account for 16 percent of deaths in the United States. Cardio respiratory fitness is influenced by intensity as well, which can be increased gradually once the step count has been increased. The Canadian Health First study found that both a 10-thousand step pedometer group and a group exercising for 39 minutes a day at moderate intensity improved their fitness level compared to a control group. However, the moderate intensity group increased their respiratory fitness by 10 percent compared to 4 percent for the 10 thousand step group. “Once the daily step count is higher, then the addition of some briskness is recommended,” the author said.
Moderate intensity was defined as breathing hard but still able to speak one or two full sentences at a time. Intensity is measured by heart rate, but for most Americans the challenge is getting enough steps, day in and day out. If you’re buying a step counter for yourself, you may want to spend a little more ($15 to $50) and get a pedometer capable of lasting a few million steps. If you’re buying for a class or large group, there are promotional devices of adequate quality that cost as little as $5.
Lower cost pedometers, including those given away by fast food restaurants, are not always very accurate. If you’re planning to make step counting a long-term commitment, it makes sense to buy an instrument that is nearly as dedicated as you are.