Walking For Health

Walking is an often-recommended form of exercise. It doesn’t require any special equipment and is suitable for most individuals. Shape Up America proposes a goal of 10,000 Steps each day. That’s a lot of steps, but here’s how to get started.

SAFETY FIRST:

1. Discuss any health-related concerns with your health care pro vider before starting an exercise routine.
2. Listen to your body – pain is your body’s way of telling you there is a problem.
3. Invest in a good pair of walking shoes.
4. Healthy exercise should be balanced with a healthy diet.
5. If you exercise outdoors, avoid midday heat and drink plenty of water.
6. Walk with a buddy. (It’s more fun!) But if you must walk alone, carry some form of identification. Shoe tags are available at places like Luke’s Locker for about $4.
   

GETTING STARTED:

1. Wear a pedometer daily for two weeks while following your normal routine.
2. Keep a log of the steps taken each day.
3. At the end of two weeks, take a look at the range.
4. If you are comfortable, make the higher number your first daily step goal. To avoid injury, do not select a number greater than your highest number of steps.
5. Every two weeks review your log and, if you are feeling com fortable with your routine, add 500 steps.
6. The goal is to keep exercising, so take it slow and steady. You may or may not reach 10,000 steps. It doesn’t matter. Just keep moving!

Note that a pedometer must be clipped firmly above the hipbone to work properly. While it works best while walking on regular terrain, it is fairly accurate on a treadmill, but not very accurate on other forms of gym equipment.

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Last updated: 2005-06-06