Getting Started
Walking is a very safe form of exercise, but if you have any health issues that might hinder a walking program, consult your physician first.
Make sure that you have a good comfortable pair of walking shoes and wear comfortable weather appropriate clothing. Don't forget your pedometer to count your steps.
If you have been previously sedentary, don't try to walk 10000 steps the first day. Wear the pedometer for a few days to find your basic activity level. Then slowly increase the number of steps you take each day.
The first step is the hardest. Take it.
Tips For Getting in 10000 Steps a Day
- Walk to work or school. Save gas and get some exercise. If you live too far too walk, park away from work and walk the last bit. You may be able to save on parking fees.
- Take the stairs rather than the elevator.
- When you drive to the store or someplace else, don't take the closest parking spot. Park at the far end of the lot and walk in.
- Find a park in your neighborhood. If you enjoy walking there, you are more likely to walk. Find hiking trails near your home and take regular hikes.
- Walk with a friend. Encourage and support each other.
- If you need to go someplace that is not too far away, put away the car keys and put on the walking shoes. Walk there.
- Find shoes that can double as dress/work shoes and walking shoes. Then you will always be ready to walk.
- If you have a desk job, use your breaks for a walk. Go down the hall or around the block. You will come back to your desk refreshed and reenergized.
- Don't email or call your coworker down the hall. Walk down and talk in person. Save the email and phone for your more distant contacts.
- If you smoke, quit. When you feel the urge to smoke, take a walk instead. By both quitting smoking and starting walking, you will increase the health benefits.
- Select a convenient time and work it into your daily routine. Make it a priority. Are all those other things crowding out your exercise time really more important than your health?
- Take family walks after dinner.
- Schedule rest days. Rather than walking 10000 steps every day, average 10000 a day. The hard days will help you improve and the easy days will help you recover from the hard days. Take the easy day on a day when your schedule is most full.
- Set goals and work to achieve them. Goals provide motivation to continue. Set both easily attainable short term goals and impossible sounding long term goals. That gives you both the positive lift of reaching a goal and another goal to strive for.
- Train for a marathon. It sounds like an impossible goal, but a good goal will keep you motivated. You don't have to run it; you can walk the distance. Organized marathons are beginning to encourage and support walkers, who do not want to compete but want to walk the distance. If you plant to try walking a marathon, make sure to select one that is walking friendly and does not have a time limit that precludes walking.
To learn about losing weight by walking see:
10000 Steps to Healthy Weight Loss
Paul A. Heckert - I have a Ph.D. in astrophysics, over 30 years experience teaching physics and astronomy, and over 60 published research articles.
