Walk With Me

I've been getting a lot of walking in though. A healthy person needing to maintain their current weight should be getting about 10,000 steps in per day. (this isn't just walking though. Low intensity exercise = 75 steps per minute, moderate workouts = 100 steps per minute, and high intensity workouts = 180 steps per minute). 35 minutes of my Firm video (cardio dance) is about 6000 of the steps I need per day, which since I'm losing weight, to maintain that, I need about 18,000 steps per day. Not quite that many, but close.

Another good way to get some walking in is to walk in place during commercial breaks when you watch TV. Your family might look at you like your a nutcake but you're getting healthier. I did this during a Sci-Fi channel show last night and in one commercial break (they are horrible for running lots of commercials, but in this case I wasn't complaining) I racked up an amazing 500+ steps! In one break! Wow! So I went to bed happy.

Now if you are confused about the intensity levels of your workout, here is a guideline I learned from Weight Watchers. It's pretty good. Low intensity = you are able to hold a conversation but your heartrate is elevated. Moderate intensity = you can still speak to someone, but it is more difficult, you are sweating some and your heartrate is elevated as well. High Intensity = you cannot hold a conversation because you are needing to concentrate on breathing and your heartrate is up. You should also be sweating quite a bit.

As to how many steps a minute you need to lose weight or to just stay healthy? You can go to cornerstonefitness.com and get on the 10k steps program. It's about $8 (per month maybe, I don't know payment details) for the basic program or you can buy a pedometer to the program at $24. Now the pedometer is honestly very basic and if you want to invest a little, the best pedometers will track distance walked, your personal stride length, etc. These can be taylored directly to you. I've used different kinds of pedometers and these truly are worth the money.

With the weather getting colder and wetter, I'm one to wrap up and enjoy it! I love walking in the rain and in some chill. I'm not talking -32 or anything, but a nice 50 degree day is very enjoyable to me. A little cold to take the wee one however and she is my favorite walking buddy. So mall walking or indoor tracks are really worth it.

Happy Walking!

~Chimerawinds