Step Counter Pedometer

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For walks of an hour or less, drink a cup of water every mile or every 20 minutes. For longer distances, drink when thirsty and be sure to replenish lost body salt with a sports drink, especially when sweating. Drinking and walking do go together – as long as the drink is water before, during and after your walk.

Hydration Guidelines for Walkers

• Plain Water: For walks of an hour or less, plain water is the best drink.
• Add Salt: When your walk is going to be longer than an hour, a sports drink or salty foods such as pretzels can help with water absorption in the body as well as replacement of salt and energy.
• Drink Before You Walk: Prepare for your walk by drinking a tall glass of water (17 ounces or 500 mL) 2 hours before your walk. This will allow time for any extra to pass through you body before you hit the trail.
• Caffeine: Avoid caffeinated beverages before your walk, they cause you to lose fluid, making you thirstier as well as making you take inconvenient stops along the way.
• Salt Before a Long Walk: Before long walks, have a bit of extra salt with your meal or snack so you will have enough sodium to stay in balance.
• Plan for More Water: Carry water with you or plan for water stops along the route where you will be able to get a full drink of a cup of water every 20 minutes. A water fountain may not be able to deliver enough water for you to get a full cup.
• Drink When Thirsty: Older guidelines said to drink before you are thirsty, but new guidelines by USATF in 2003 for long distance runners and walkers say to use thirst as a guide and to drink when thirsty.
• Drinking When Sweating: If you are sweating more than usual, drink more than usual.
• High Altitude: You lose even more fluids at high altitudes, in heat and low humidity and need to drink more than usual. Again, let thirst be your guide and drink as soon as thirsty.
• Flavor Your Water: Make your water taste good so you will want to drink more. Add a squirt of lemon and keep it cool.
• Drinking After Your Walk: After your walk, end with another tall drink of water. After a long walk, do not overdo on plain water, use sports drink and/or salty foods to replenish salts as well
• Walking Water Calculator: Find out how much water you should be taking along or drinking from fountains, etc.

Signs of Dehydration

• nausea after exercise
• dark yellow urine or no urine
• dry, sticky mouth
• dry eyes

Pure Clean Water

• Tap water is perfectly fine for most purposes – in the US and Canada.
• Some walkers prefer the taste of filtered or designer water. Be sure to clean and dry single-use bottles before refilling them.
• Do not drink water from a lake or stream unless you filter or purify it. In many places there are nasty parasites such as Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium in the “unspoiled” mountain streams – because they are in the local squirrels and other animals.

Article Source: Wendy Bumgardner, About.com Guide

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Sweat, pressure points, and shearing forces can lead to blisters. Your socks are your first line of defense against these enemies. They must fit correctly so they don’t bunch up and lead to pressure and shearing forces. They must wick sweat away from your skin. Forget cotton socks. Forget tube socks. Invest in wicking, anatomically designed walking socks and your feet will thank you.

Today’s Socks

Luckily, you can find such socks designed for walking, jogging, and light hiking from several manufacturers.

Thickness and Padding

Socks designed for walking will have light padding in key areas – heel, ball of foot, toes and in some cases the instep. Some socks forgo the padding. My feet do best with a medium-thickness sock, but tend to blister with a single-layer non-padded thin sock.

Double Layer Socks

Double-layer socks prevent blisters by providing wicking and decreasing friction, as the sock layers move against each other rather than your foot moving against the sock. Some find them the key to blister prevention, although I have done best with a single-layer sock. WrightSock is a leader in this type of socks.

>> Click Here To Get Your Walking Socks Now <<

Anatomic Design

To keep the sock in place and prevent bunching, it needs to be shaped like your foot. Many designs have elastic or ribbing to keep them snug. Men’s and women’s feet differ in shape, so a gender-specific sock is wise. For those of us with bunions, you may find your sock is the culprit for irritation rather than the shoe and need to shop for a sock that doesn’t bunch your toes together.

Wicking Fabrics

Say no to cotton. Look for a sock in wicking fabrics such as CoolMax, Dri-Fit, Sorbtek and many others coming on the market. Smartwool uses wool for its moisture management system. The wicking fabrics are the key to preventing blisters.

Article Source: Wendy Bumgardner, About.com Guide

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Blisters are the curse of walkers. You can prevent blisters and you can treat them properly when they develop to prevent further damage. Here are my proven techniques and products to keep your feet intact or to help them heal and quench the pain.

Lubrication
Blisters develop where rubbing from shoes and socks tears the skin. By lubricating your feet you can reduce the friction and prevent blisters.

Keep Your Feet Dry
Wet skin is easier to tear and form blisters, so wicking away sweat and keeping your feet dry are another key to preventing blisters. Use cornstarch in your socks or even use antiperspirant on your feet to keep them dry. But your socks are the real key. They must be of wicking fabric, not cotton, in order to get the moisture away from your skin.

Cover Ups
If an area is already developing a hot spot or blister, or you know it is an area that will, then covering it with a blister pad is the best way to go. Today there are many products that do this well and provide moist protection and healing before or after a blister develops.

>> Click Here To Cure Your Blisters <<

Blister Kits
Be prepared. Before you head out on a long walk, take along a blister kit to be ready to cover up any hot spots or treat any blisters. Here are good choices for compact kits with just what you need, easy to carry along.

How To Treat a Blister
First, stop and put on a cover-up at the first sign of a hot spot on your feet. But if you go too far or it pops out all at once, here are the simple steps to properly treat your blister on the trail.

Still Blistering? Maybe It’s Your Shoes
Your shoes can be rubbing you wrong. Your toes need room to expand into as your feet will swell a full shoe size on a walk. You need to be fit correctly for walking shoes. Find out how and where to get that done with our Walking Shoe Guide.

Maybe It’s Your Insoles
If you haven’t changed shoes, but changed to a new insole or arch support, that could be the culprit in causing blisters. Investigate walking with and without the insert, insole, or arch support. Insoles can reduce the space in your shoe for your foot and toes, leading to blisters.

Article Source: Wendy Bumgardner, About.com Guide

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Stretching will add flexibility and can make your walking more comfortable.

Warm up for 5 minutes at an easy walking pace before stretching, never stretch cold muscles or you risk tearing them. Incorporate mobility exercises designed to take a muscle and joint through its range of motion. You will start at the top of your body and work your way down.

Find an upright pole or fence or wall that will support you for leaning into on some stretches.

Stretches and Mobility Exercises for Walkers

Head Circles: Make 1/4 circles with your head. Start with your ear near your shoulder on one site, rotate your head around to the front, ending with your ear near the shoulder on the other side. Roll your head back to the other side. Repeat 5-10 times.

Arm Circles: With one arm at a time, make backwards arm circle with your palm facing out, thumb pointed up. Repeat 10-15 with each arm. Then make forward arm circles with palm facing in, thumb pointed down, repeat 10-15 times.

Hip Stretch: Stand up, take a half-step back with the right foot.
Bend your left knee and shift your weight back to your right hip.
While keeping the right leg straight, bend forward more and reach further down your right leg.
Hold for 15-30 seconds. Switch side.

>> Click Here To Prostretch <<

Quadiceps Stretch:
Stand erect, holding onto a wall for support.
Bend your knee behind you so that you can grasp your foot, holding your heel against your butt.
Stand up straight and push your knee gently back as far as you can, the hand just keeps the heel in place.
(For some, it is more comfortable to use the hand from the opposite side).
Hold for 15-30 seconds, then switch.

Calf Stretch: Stand an arm’s-length from the wall/post.
Lean into wall/post, bracing yourself with your arms.
Place one leg forward with knee bent – this leg will have no weight put on it.
Keep other leg back with knee straight and heel down.
Keeping back straight, move hips toward wall until you feel a stretch.
Hold 30 seconds. Relax. Repeat with other leg.

Soleus Calf Stretch:From the calf stretch position, bend the back knee so that the angle is changed to stretch the Achilles tendon. Keep your heel down, hold 15-30 seconds. Then switch legs.

Leg Extensions: Facing the pole, hold on with both hands. Bending at the knee, bring one leg forward, then extend and swing that leg back and behind. Repeat 10-15 times, then switch legs. Be cautious of hyperextending your lower back.

Cross Over Leg Swings: Holding onto the pole or fence rail with both hands, face forward. Swing one leg in front of your body gradually swinging higher. Swing about 10-15 times with each leg.

After stretching and mobility exercises, now you are ready to walk the main portion of your walk at your desired speed.

Article Source: Wendy Bumgardner, About.com Guide

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If you add just 2000 more steps a day to your regular activities, you may never gain another pound. So says research by Dr. James O. Hill of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. To lose weight, add in more steps.

Move More
Sedentary people in the USA generally move only 2000-3000 steps a day. Previous studies have shown that moving 6000 steps a day significantly reduces risk of death, and 8000-10,000 a day promotes weight loss.

How far is 2000 steps? It is about a mile. But the benefits for health and for weight management don’t depend on you walking a mile all at one time, but simply adding in more steps throughout the day.

Pedometers Count Steps
By wearing a pedometer all day, you are motivated to add in extra steps whenever you can. There are many little trips that can add up to a mile or two a day – parking further from the door of your destination, taking the stairs rather than the elevator, pace around as you talk on the telephone, take a marching-in-place minute once an hour.

“All in all, it is entertaining to ponder that such a seemingly insignificant gadget may be of practical importance in the war on obesity!” said Catrine Tudor-Locke, Ph.D., Department of Exercise and Wellness, Arizona State University in the conclusion of a report by the President’s Council of Physical Fitness and Sports, June, 2002.

Article Source: Wendy Bumgardner, About.com Guide

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The essentials of a good fitness goal are:

• Realistic: The goal should be challenging, but realistically achievable. Don’t set you sights too low, but also don’t set yourself up for failure.

• Measurable: Your goal should be stated in a way that can be measured. How many miles a week? How many pounds or inches to lose? What 10K distance time? Finishing a marathon by what date?

• Dated: Set dates by which you will attain the goal and intermediate goals along the way.

• Written down: Your goal should be made concrete so you can review it.

• Track your progress: Keep your goal in sight and see what steps you are making towards attaining it.

• Celebrate success: Along the way when you reach new milestones, it is time to celebrate. And when you achieve your overall goals, don’t hold back – reward yourself.

Setting realistic and measurable goals: You will have to know how fit you are now and what is possible. For weight loss, do not set a goal of losing more than 1-2 pounds a week or 5-10 pounds a month, and plan for plateaus along the way. For increasing speed and distance, plan for increasing no more than 10-15% a week in order to prevent injury and allow muscles to repair and build. Visit our Fitness Toolbox for fitness analysis and our Weightloss Toolbox for calculators for basal metabolic rate, calorie burning, meal planning and more.

Dating Your Goals: One of the best ways to set a date in concrete is to apply it to a major walking event. If you want to be able to walk a certain distance or have a speed goal, find an upcoming walking event and register for it. Walking Event Calendarsand Marathon Calendars. Not only will this make the goal concrete, it will also reward you for attaining it, especially if you register for an event at a great destination you’ve been wanting to visit.

Article Source: Wendy Bumgardner, About.com Guide

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For a step counter pedometer to measure distance, you must measure your average step length or average stride length. First, read the instructions on your step pedometer carefully. Most ask for the step length.

Step Length: The distance from the heel print of one foot to the heel print of the other foot. This is the distance traveled forward by a single leg.

Stride Length: This can mean the same thing as step length, or it can mean the distance traveled by the heel of one foot to the next time that same foot strikes down – in other words, two steps, since in that time the other foot has also touched down once. If you set your pedometer for your step length and discover it seems to be halving your distance, read the instructions again – it may want the stride length, which is two steps. Also, the reverse – if you at first thought the step counter pedometer needed the stride length but you seem to be getting double the distance, read again as they may have really wanted the step length.

The Wet Foot Walk
Rob Sweetgall of Creative Walking, Inc. touts this method of measuring step length to set your step pedometer. Create a puddle of water on a stretch of sidewalk or street where you can be walking your natural speed before and after you reach it. Start walking at your natural pace and walk through the water. Keep walking naturally for about 10 more steps.

Now measure the distance from the heel of your left footprint to the heel of your right footprint on several of the wet footprints and average them. If your pedometer is set in feet, divide the inches by 12 to get feet. Step length in inches/12 inches = Step length in feet.

Measured Distance Short Walk
Measure off a known distance – 20 feet or 50 feet. Then get up to speed in your natural walk and count the number of steps it takes to cover that distance. Divide the number of feet by the number of steps. Feet/steps = Step length in feet.

Measured Distance Long Walk
Use a football field, which is 300 feet from goal line to goal line. Count your steps. Divide 300 by the number of steps. Use a regulation track at the local high school. This is tricky because some are 1/4 mile = 440 yards = 1,320 feet, while others are 400 meters = 1,308 feet, so you may have to ask the coach. Walk in the inside lane only. Count your steps. Divide either 1,320 or 1,308 by the number of steps. This should be more accurate than the short walk because your stride will vary over the distance.

Ten Step Measure
Make a mark at the heel of your right foot and then walk 10 steps, marking where the heel sets down on your tenth step. Measure the distance. Divide that distance by 10. This method can be inaccurate because you start and end at a dead halt, which is not your normal stride.

Estimate by Height
These are rough estimates, but useful to check your results by the other methods:

Females: Your height x .413 equals your stride length
Males: Your height x .415 equals your stride length

Article Source: Wendy Bumgardner, About.com Guide

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Do you know that park you car wisely can be a good method to improve your health?

All of us know that we don’t always have the time to exercise on a regular basis. Even if we have enrolled in a gym, often time due to heavy workload and long hours of meetings we have to attend, we can’t even fully utilize our gym session and facilities. Fortunately, with the help of a step counter pedometer, we can make minor adjustment to our daily activities, and incorporate that into our exercise routine. Here is how:

Due to recent oil price uncertain fluctuation and price rise, we have to deal with the rising price of gas, and other things that are directly or indirectly related to it. Owning a car and maintaining a car is another burden that all of us have to bear. Not only driving a car can be dangerous (accident do happen) but it also contributed to air and noise pollutions. In order to save money on gas and car maintenance, reduce road accident, and help save the environment, we can reduce the use of car.

If you stay very near to your office, try to walk to the office and back. If this is not possible, you may think of cycling to work. Use the step counter pedometer to help count the steps you’ve taken or the distance you’ve traveled, that way you can monitor the calories burnt, and the amount of exercise you’ve performed.

If you stay far from your office, try to park further to your office, and walk a little bit more to office and back. Similarly, use the step counter pedometer to count the steps you’ve walked, monitor the steps for the week to make sure you’ve walked the amount of steps as required.

Driving to the store and finding parking space near the store can sometimes time consuming, try park further to the store and walk there. This not only save you time to find parking space, but also help ease up the congestion. Always put on the step counter pedometer whenever you go to the more, let it counts your steps you will be on the way to an active and healthier you.

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A step counter pedometer senses your body motion and counts your footsteps. This count is converted into distance by knowing the length of your usual stride. Wearing a step pedometer and recording your daily steps and distance is a great motivating tool. You can wear a pedometer all day, every day and record total steps. Or you can wear it just when you go out for a walking workout.

Multi-function Pedometers
All step counter pedometers count steps, although they may use different methods to do so. These include (in general order of accuracy): piezo-electric accelerometers, a coiled spring mechanism, and a hairspring mechanism. Beyond showing the step total and/or calculating the distance, features abound. The top features are: Calorie estimates, clocks, timers, stopwatches and speed estimators, 7-day memory, pulse rate readers.

Simple Step Counting Pedometers
The simplest step counter pedometers only count your steps and display steps and/or distance. This is all you need to track to keep yourself motivated. Set a goal of distance or steps for each day. The recommended number of steps is 6000 for health, 10,000 for weight loss when you count all steps during the day. For weight loss, an uninterrupted walk each day of 4000-6000 steps is recommended.

Pedometer Accuracy
The current generation of step counter pedometers uses turned pendulum technology, accelerometers, and/or electronics to count your steps. The unit should be accurate in its count when you wear it correctly – you may have to experiment with where to wear it. Distance accuracy depends on setting your stride length correctly.

How to Wear Your Pedometer
A step counter pedometer should be comfortable to wear all day and be held securely by its clip, an extra safety leash is almost required. The display should be easy to read without removing the unit from your waistband. It should be protected so that bumps don’t punch a button and reset the count. It should easy and intuitive to move between functions.

Pedometer Walking Programs
Keeping records of your steps and/or distance can keep you on track. You can record your daily totals in any log, or get your step counter pedometer and log through one of the pedometer walking programs offered.

Walking Speedometers/Odometers
Timex, Garmin, and others true speedometers/odometers that track your speed and distance continuously using GPS. Nike uses an accelerometer to display continuous speed and distance, but may need to be calibrated for walking vs. running.

Pedometers that Upload and Graph Your Data
For data junkies, what could be better than a step counter pedometer that uploaded your walking data and showed you graphs and charts of your activity? There are several brands available. Some function just as a step pedometer, while others use a footpod or GPS sensor to give more accurate speed or distance.

Article Source: Wendy Bumgardner, About.com Guide

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