How to Expand a Daily Walking Program

A daily walking program with a pedometer is one of the best exercise programs you can undertake. A walking program really boils down to two simple steps. Figure out how much you normally walk in a day. Then, walk more than that. Thus, a walking program is ultimately about changing your behavior, and one of the best ways to do that is by making a game out of it. You can build extra steps into your day, and generate little hits of positive reinforcement that will make it faster and longer.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A Pedometer
• Comfortable Shoes
• Some Ingenuity

1. Vary your route. Simply varying the route you take will help keep you motivated as you find new sights and new places to explore. You can also make your routes longer than they need to be. Instead of going straight to your destination, work out a route that goes around it and approaches from the other side.
2. Add extra steps to normal activities. Park at the far end of the parking lot. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. These may be obvious, but they add up fast so don't skip them on the grounds that it's just a few steps. Remember this isn't running or aerobics. You don't have to walk for twenty minutes at a time. Add thirty extra steps to a routine task and you've just picked up thirty more steps. If you ride the bus, skip your normal stop and walk down to the next one. On your way home, get off a stop early. If you have an appointment somewhere, don't go straight inside when you get there. Take a walk around the block and then go in.
3. Learn to pace productively. If you have to solve problems or come up with ideas in the course of your day, don't just sit there and bang your head against them. Get up and walk the problem around! Since you can walk without really thinking too hard about it, walking seems to give your mind room to work, while the activity gets the creative juices flowing. Try walking the length of the hall and back, or go outside and walk around the building. See if the ideas don't start to come. And even though you're walking for a different reason, those steps still count.
4. Get a friend involved. Even you walk separately, having someone else to compare your step counts to will inject a little competitive element into your program that will help motivate you to squeeze in more steps. Whether it's your spouse or a friend from work, or whoever, come up with little games. For example, whoever gets in fewer steps over the weekend buys Monday morning coffee.
5. Keep score. Depending on what model pedometer you chose, it's probably generating all kinds of data. At a minimum, it's giving you a daily step count, but it's probably also tracking distance covered, calories burned and more. Record that information. This will let you compare your results to previous days, track longer term goals like average steps per day over the course of a week, and warn you when you're slacking off. Simply jotting down the numbers in a notebook is fine. But if you have a spreadsheet program on your computer that's a great way to record your information because it will let you generate charts. There aren't many better motivating tools than an impressive looking graph showing your step counts trending up over time while your weight edges down.