Move Smart! Making and Keeping Your Step Goals
Before the crush of the holidays and the threat of bad weather dim our resolve to exercise, take some time to set your walking goals. These time-tested strategies will help you keep on track.
Set a Specific Goal: Saying you are going to walk more and get healthier is great, but to be a true goal it needs to be specific and measureable. Determine your daily step goal and go for it and set it up on your home/portal page.
Use Your Pedometer: Not only is your pedometer an accurate way to track your steps and monitor your progress, it is also an excellent motivator. Knowing you have X number of steps to go might be the motivation you need to get moving. Who knows, it might motivate you to get in an extra 1,000 steps over your goal!
Make Time: Set a specific time to do your walking. It will help you develop a routine and thus help you achieve your daily step goals. Put it at the top of your “To Do” list and don’t let other priorities be an excuse not to walk. Remember, you are priority No. 1.
Keep a Record: Your Walkingspree account makes this easy. Review your daily step count and monitor your progress on your Step Tracker. Make sure you upload your steps frequently; say once or twice a week or even daily, to help you keep on track.
Get a Buddy, Be a Buddy: Participants who walk with a buddy walk farther. Be they real or virtual, buddies are a great way to get and give support, and push for “one more time around the block”. You can keep tabs on your buddies and send them gifts by clicking on the “Buddies” link located under the green navigation bar on your home/portal page.
Do you have a tip that works for you? Share it on our Facebook page or post it in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from you!
Beginner 5K Walk Plan
As Walkingspree members, you’re already walking. Some of you are collecting steps throughout the day and others at concentrated walks. Now you can add another layer to your walking by learning how to increase your walking distance, speed and time by participating in a 5K Walk event (3.1 miles or approx 6,000 steps).
Don’t worry about speed at the beginning and instead focus on the time you spend walking. Take each part at your own pace and repeat until you can follow the plan.
Getting Started on a 5K Walk:
Weeks 1 – 2
We’re going to assume that as Walkingspree members, you’ve already been walking for 100 minutes/week and are able to walk daily for 20 minutes at a time.
Check your Getting Started Guide (First Steps: A Walking Primer) on your login page for tips on walking shoes, walking form and other getting started with walking tips.
Week 3: Walk at a Moderate Pace
Time: Add 5 minutes a day so you are walking 25 minutes, 5 days a week. Weekly total goal: 100 – 125 minutes.
Measure your Intensity
- Talk test. If you’re so out of breath that you can’t carry on a conversation with the person you’re walking with, you’re probably walking too fast and should slow down.
- Perceived exertion Scale. You rate how hard you think you’re working on a scale that ranges from 6 (no exertion) to 20 (maximal effort). Aim for at least moderate intensity (12 to 14) as you walk.
- Monitor your heart rate (pulse). To find out if you’re exercising within the range of your target heart rate, stop exercising to check your pulse manually at your wrist (radial artery) or neck (carotid artery). Another option is to wear an electronic device that displays your heart rate. Your target heart rate will depend on age. Resting heart rate average is 72 beats per minute.
Check your Getting Started Guide (First Steps: A Walking Primer) on your login page for more tips on monitoring your intensity.
Week 4: Add a Long Day
Time: Add 5 minutes a day to walk 30 minutes, 4 days a week, at a moderate pace. Weekly total goal: 125 – 150 minutes.
Start building mileage by adding a long day. Every week, add one long day on your fifth day. This should be a 40 minute walk at an easy pace.
Week 5: Adding Speed
Time: Walk 30 minutes a day on four days a week.
Long Walk: walk 45 minutes at an easy pace.
Building speed: During your short walks, focus on your form. If you have not been using arm motion, this can help improve your speed (do not carry weights while walking as that can cause injury).
Week 6: Build on your Mileage
Time: Walk 30 minutes a day four days a week, paying attention to form and speed.
Long Walk: walk 60 minutes at an easy pace.
Weeks 7 and 8: Adding Intervals
You’ve done great and by now you could complete your 5K walk. This is a good time to add intervals to your walk as they help build stamina, speed and endurance.
For your long week this week, walk 60 minutes at an easy pace.
Week 9 and Beyond
Why not try turning your long walk into a dry run for your event every other week. Try to increase your pace and walk at 80% of the speed that you hope to walk for the 5K event. You can also try adding another 15 minutes to your walk to increase distance.
Treadmill Walking 101
When you have worn out your shoes, the strength of the shoe leather has passed into the fiber of your body. I measure your health by the number of shoes and hats and clothes you have worn out.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Some of you may turn to your treadmill to get your steps in. It’s important to have proper technique and safety to get the best out of your treadmill walk.
1. Begin standing with one foot on each side of the treadmill. Step on the treadmill and start at a slow rate of speed and slowly increase the speed. Be sure to know where the red emergency switch is located on most machines.
2. Do not hold onto the side rails or front console. You often see people holding on and leaning back while walking. This is incorrect posture and could be dangerous.
3. Stand up straight, head up, eyes forward, arms swinging in stride with your feet. Stride with your front heel striking close to your body while your back foot remains on the ground longer to give a powerful push-off. This back foot push off is what gives you speed and power, and will help you burn more calories.
With permission from diabeteshealth.com
Big Screen Treadmill Interval Walking Workout
Interval workouts alternate very fast and slower-paced walking for a great cardiovascular workout and a high calorie burn.
Start your treadmill workout during a favorite tv show or movie. Decide your walking fast pace points in the show and slow pace points in the show. For example, if you’re watching The Biggest Loser, walk at a very fast pace during each part of a challenge on a show, then slow way down during the commercials. If you’re a sports fan, go fast during breakaways on hockey and slow down when the whistle blows. Soap opera fan? Up and down with every kiss, fight or gun shot.
Total time: 47 minutes.
Spinning your steps: Cycling with your pedometer
I’m an avid cyclist. In the winter, I’m in spin class and as soon as the weather is nice, I’m outside racking up the mileage on my road and mountain bike. And of course I wear my pedometer on the bike. Over time, I’ve learned some tricks about using it with my pedometer that I wanted to share with all of you. NOTE: this is for use with the Omron HJ720IT WalkingSpree pedometer that is accelerometer based and not pendulum.
There’s no doubt that the pedometer will not pick up all revolutions on a bike. I did a mountain bike race that was 13 miles long and I obtained 15,000 steps for that event. If I had walked that fair, it would been have closer to 19,000 steps (based on my stride). So yes, I lost approx 4,000 steps but that’s still 15,000 steps that I obtained that if I hadn’t worn my pedometer, I wouldn’t have had at all. Of course, there are also plenty of times where I was not pedaling, ie. riding downhill, coasting over rocks/roots, etc. Even when I’m road biking, I don’t obtain the full spin equivalent and again coasting at times does not cause a step.
1. Prepping your pedometer:
If you’re like me and your bike ride involves a pretty grueling ride and likely a lot of sweating, you’ll need to protect your pedometer. The humidity can build up in your LCD display, so I cover my pedometer with a zip lock bag and then use an elastic band to seal it off. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. At the end of a 60 km ride, excited to check out my steps, only to be viewing a blank LCD display with humidity bubbles behind it. (note: it will often dry out after a day or so (you can place it in a bag of rice to help it dry) and continue to work just fine, but let’s avoid it in the first place).
2. Wearing your pedometer:
You have a couple of options here. The most important aspect is that your pedometer needs to be snug against your body. Hanging loose in a pocket will not pick up steps. In order to pick up the most number of steps, it’s important to place it where you’ll have some hip/leg and or foot motion. Some people place it in their sock (be sure to use the lanyard to attach to your sock). I have learned that the only location that gives me a decent number of steps is to place the pedometer approx halfway between the belly button and the side hip area (so it’s approx pocket area and at the leg/waist bend) and then tuck it straight up and down with the lanyard side attachment pointing directly up. So it looks like the pedometer is upside down. Basically playing around with that area there to determine how far down you need to place it to get the best steps. It’s important to do your own testing to see what works best. Seat height placement can also impact steps if you using the leg/waist bend area with a higher seat providing less steps. I do find with road biking that I have to place it lower towards the front hip bend. Since it’s tucked under the spandex essentially, it has to be covered to protect it from humidity. I personally have not found placing it on the sock/foot to be practical with my bike clips. If you’re not into wearing spandex, then make sure that it is snug in your shorts. On a bike, leaning over, pockets tend to slide to the side with the pedometer and will not pick up steps as well.
If you are on a recumbent bike or stationary bike, you may have to experiment with placement in relation to the hip motion. A recumbent bike may work better with the sock location. Some of have used a knee brace and tucked the pedometer under that.
3. Aerobic steps:
Aerobic steps are continuous steps taken at a minimum of 10 minutes with a 60 step/second pace. On a bike, you’re not likely to attain aerobic steps for your whole ride. This is because of periods of coasting and cadence changes. So it depends on the route you’re tackling, so don’t be surprised if your 2 hr ride doesn’t have 2 hrs of aerobic steps even though you know you’ve aerobically worked for 2 hrs. However, your steps should be fairly close to being accurate give or take a few depending on hip movement during hill climbs, coasting etc.
So even though it may not capture all the steps, it does capture a lot of them (mountain biking seems to capture more than road biking). Anyone doing a decent amount of cycling is going to get several thousand steps and that all contributes to their step total.
Ideally you want to be putting your pedometer on first thing in the morning and taking it off only when you go to bed, so it captures a full day’s worth of activity. There are many times throughout the day where you are walking and not participating in a sport/activity alone such as cycling. It all adds up over the day!
So if you’re looking for another way to get in your steps, I highly recommend jumping on your bike and hitting the open road or trails!
Increase Your Steps
There are so many ways to increase your steps that the list is endless. However, there are a few things that you can do at work, home, with your family and in the community to increase your steps. The best thing is that no major skills are required, just put on your favorite pair of walking shoes.
At Work:
Stairs instead of the elevator
Walk at lunch
Take the long way to the restroom, water cooler or coffee machine
Plan a walking exercise challenge at work – get the boss involved in the rewards
Park your car as far away from your office as you can
Walk when on the phone and using a speaker or cordless phone
Invite a fitness instructor to come into your work for a lunch hour workout
At Home:
Take the family for a walk and explore your neighborhood
Walk a dog
Avoid using the remote control and get up and change the TV channel yourself
Walk your children to school
Make walking a challenge in your family and offer rewards
Get up and walk during TV commercials
When grocery shopping return the cart to the store and avoid leaving it in the lot
Plan active weekends
Make several trips up and down the stairs for laundry etc.
Get active in the community – take dance lessons or join a team
Interval Walk:
A great way to increase your steps and the intensity of your walk is to interval train. It involves incorporating light intensity walking with a more intense walk. You determine the intensity and how long you hold each interval. For example, try walking moderately for 5 minutes and then increase the intensity for 2 minutes. Return to moderate intensity again for 5 and repeat. Try it for 30 minutes. As you improve, try walking longer or even try running. You will burn more calories, make more steps and improve your cardiovascular health.
Remember, try to spice up your walking routine and avoid making it a routine. Also let your WalkingSpree Walking Buddies know what you are doing and blog your progress. Whatever you do have fun with it.
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