By Jay M. Dennis
Walking is one of the easiest and best exercises there is to reduce your risk of disease, help you lose weight and live longer. You can walk all year and anywhere - your neighborhood, the mall, local parks, on a tight rope (although the tight rope method may not be best for everyone ) . A great way to keep track of your walking is with a pedometer - it helps keep track of how many steps you take per day.
But how many steps per day should you walk? 4,000? 6,000? 10,000? Where does this number come from? More importantly, can I really walk that much in one day? Does it really correlate to better health or weight loss? Is this another fitness myth or is there really any research that shows it works? Why am I asking all these questions when I should be giving the answers? Well, keep reading.
The long standing guideline has been 10,000 (*magic number alert*) steps per day. But there was no scientific data to back this up. Luckily, new research has shed some light on this.
Trying to maintain your health?
The CDC recommends 150 minutes of moderate activity per week. This can be broken down to five 30 minute exercise sessions. Research has shown that 100 steps per minute (a brisk walk) is considered moderate exercise. So by walking 3,000 steps in 30 minutes, you have just exercised moderately for one session this week. Add four more and you are good to go. See how easy that was? Just aim for five exercise sessions of 3,000 steps in 30 minutes every week. This could easily be accomplished in one of the many exercise classes we offer at the Community Center.
Trying to lose weight?
Think about this: 2,000 steps is roughly one mile. One mile burns roughly 100 calories. If you want to lose one pound per week, you need to burn 3,500 calories per week. Or walk 35 miles. Or five miles per day. Which is 10,000 steps.
Stop by the Fitness Center to see how you can get a FREE pedometer. And be sure to pick up a Walking Packet to learn a realistic way to build up to 10,000 steps a day.
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