The top 10 all time walkers are:

Most Steps in One Day

The top 50 Walkers for July 2010 are:

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Depending on your location, it may be too cold or icy at times to walk outside. You may be depending on 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 favourite 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 commericals. 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.

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 dry out after a day or so 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. In order to pick up the most number of steps, it’s important to place it where you’ll have some motion. Some people place it in their sock (be sure to use the lanyard to attach to your sock), but I have the most success with it tucked inside my cycling shorts (another reason for humidity buildup and the need for protecting it). I wear it low tucked inside my shorts so it’s almost at the crease of the waist/hip point. Be sure to keep it vertical and not horizontal.

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 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!

Photo credit: Sugarstacks.com

Photo credit: Sugarstacks.com

Remember to use the WalkingSpree Food Tracker to see how many steps you need to walk to burn off what you’ve consumed.

The plan was launched by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity, American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine. It spans law, policy, schools and medicine with recommendations to construct guidelines to create an environment that would encourage and make available physical activity for all Americans, rural, urban or suburban.

Most research shows that adults and children alike need at least one hour of moderate physical activity a day to stay healthy and keep from gaining weight. Regular exercise reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke and other chronic illnesses.

According to the CDC, “American society has become ‘obesogenic,’ characterized by environments that promote increased food intake, nonhealthful foods, and physical inactivity.” Statistics prove this to be true, with adult obesity in America tipping the scales at 33.8 percent (32.2 percent among adult men and 35.5 percent among adult women). That’s one-third of all American battling the bulge.

Contact WalkingSpree for information on how you can step up wellness and slim down costs for your employees in an engaging online wellness solution.

Congratulations to all of WalkingSpree’s current clients who are providing a wellness culture that is improving the health of their employees in a fun, engaging atmosphere.

History of Workplace Wellness Week

In 2008, the the U.S. House of Representatives passed a federal resolution creating National Workplace Wellness Week. The resolution, which was endorsed by the American Heart Association (AHA), Chamber of Commerce, Partnership for Prevention and many other groups, designated the first full week of April as “National Workplace Wellness Week.” During this week, private and public employers across the country are encouraged to invest in the health of their employees by creating worksite employee health promotion programs, or by sharing their worksite wellness experiences with other employers.

Contact WalkingSpree for information on how you can step up wellness and slim down costs for your employees in an engaging online wellness solution.

If you are using the Omron USB Pedometer (HJ-720IT) to change the time, press SET and hold it down until the hour starts to flash.

Then using the MEMO button scroll through the time until the time is correct.

Please double check that you have the correct AM and PM or your pedometer will reset at noon instead of midnight.

Then use the SET button to scroll through the minutes, weight and stride length until it is back to steps.

Happy Stepping!

WalkingSpree Team

Names will be drawn from all those who meet the Gold, Silver and Bronze step targets chosen at the end of the month. One winner will be chosen for each medal category. Gold: $30.00 Amazon Gift Certificate, Silver: $20.00 Amazon Gift Certificate, Bronze: $10.00 Amazon Gift Certificate.

Gold: 120,000 steps (10,000 steps per 12 events)

Silver: 96,000 steps (8,000 steps per 12 events)

Bronze: 72,000 steps (6,000 steps per 12 events)

Starts: February 13, 2010

Ends: February 28, 2010

The last day for upload is March 7th, 2010.

We’ve combined the January and February newsletter to launch our new newsletter and list some of the exciting new upcoming challenges. Be sure to read the Member Highlight on Jeremy Sapp and his amazing transformation, culminating in running a half marathon.

February is Heart Month.

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) kills almost a million people a year and is the single leading cause of death in the United States. Risk factors include inactivity and obesity.

“…even light-to-moderate activity is associated with lower CHD rates in women. At least 1 hour of walking per week predicted lower risk.” -Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston

Upcoming Challenges

All winners are randomly drawn among WalkingSpree participants who meet the challenge requirements. The winners receive a $30.00 Gift Certificate from Amazon.

January Resolution 5: We hope you all lost the 5 lbs for this month’s challenge. Stay tuned to the announcement of the winner on the WalkingSpree blog in the next two weeks.

February Step into the Olympic Spirit Challenge: Starting Feb. 12th and ending Feb. 28th, you’ll be earning points for different Olympic Sports based on your steps. You will need to download the Step into the Olympic Spirit Calendar to find out the rules. Watch for it’s availability this week on the blog and look for updates in your Eat Smart! this Friday.

March into St. Paddy’s Day: Take a Virtual Walk around the Emerald Isle to find your pot of gold. Everyone who completes the walk by the end of March will be eligible for the draw for the prize.

April 10,000 steps Challenge: Spring is in the air so this is a month to reach deeper and push harder. For every day you reach 10,000 steps in April you’ll have your name entered for the draw.

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The December Walk to the North Pole Challenge was a huge success with thousands of you reaching more than 7000 steps to compete with Santa. Many of your groups reached the North Pole. The winner of the $30.00 Amazon Gift Certificate goes to Linda McKinney (greatgrammy) from WalkingSpree client Whidbey General Hospital.

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Congratulations to all the steps everyone has worked hard to achieve this past month. Remember, if you have any success stories you want to share with us. Please send us your photo of the month. Show us where your pedometer has been by sending us a photo of you wearing your pedometer and at the end of the year, your name will entered into a draw for a prize (to be determined). Please send them to blog@walkingspree.com.

Top 50 Walkers in WalkingSpree for January 2010.

Name: Jeremy Sapp
Heaviest Weight: 354 lbs
Current Weight: 200 lbs
Weight Loss: 154 lbs

Three years ago, Jeremy Sapp weighed 354 lbs and was a couch potato. Today he weighs 200 lbs and ran 13.1 miles in Austin’s 3M Half Marathon in only 1 hour and 48 minutes.

The transformation started two years ago when Jeremy’s wife mentioned a wellness program the company was starting - WalkingSpree’s online pedometer program.

Jeremy recalls, “We said, ‘Let’s see how this works and what happens.’ We got our pedometers, started slowly and were very surprised at how motivating it was to see how people in the contests were doing when we uploaded with our pedometers. It was surprising to me to see how this competitive nature came out.”

They started off slowly, walking around the neighborhood in the evenings. “It was fun. It was good quality time together.”

Then Jeremy started walking around on his lunch hour. And doing more walking on the weekends, “I quickly found out how important good shoes were!”

Six months ago he decided to run the half-marathon.

“I started by jogging and picking up pace with walking. Then running a couple of miles on my long walks and just progressed to running further and further. And then I’d start running 10 to 12 miles each week either when I was on the treadmill or out on the streets.”

The result? Five thousand and five hundred people ran the marathon. The fastest runner came in at one hour and nine minutes. Jeremy finished in the top 20%, coming in at one hour and 48 minutes.

Of course, he couldn’t have done it without the support of his family and friends.

“I absolutely have a supportive wife. And we’re about to have one more in the family. My wife is going to have a baby. March 1^st is our due date…. She’s getting big, like she’s supposed to. She’s walking too!”

Jeremy dreams of walking with the baby tucked snugly in the new jogging stroller his father has purchased. And he also dreams that one day the baby will cheer him on at yet another finish line.

“I think that someday I’d like to do a marathon. I haven’t set my mind on it yet but it’s something to contemplate. Actually, we were sitting around at breakfast and we were talking about how it would be cool to do the Ironman. That would be a lifetime achievement goal to someday be able to do that. Maybe someday the stars will align and I’ll be in Hawaii with my wife and child and family and doing the Ironman.”

We want your success stories.

Success is measured by many factors. Whether it’s weight loss, or improving your blood pressure, managing your diabetes or simply reaching 10,000 steps for the first time, we want to hear about it.

If you feel you or someone you know should be included in a member highlight, please contact us at blog@walkingspree.com