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Buy a Pedometer

Karl Palachuk

Karl W. Palachuk
February 2, 2008

I don’t get to exercise much these days. With my rheumatoid arthritis, I can’t jog because it’s too jogging. And elliptical trainers will just speed up the eventual knee replacements. I can’t lift weights because I can’t grip the bar.

But I can walk!

Therefore, I bought a pedometer so I could keep track of my walking. Here’s what I discovered.

1) I’m pretty lazy.

I live a pretty sedentary “office” life. It’s one step to the file cabinet from my work area. It’s maybe five steps to the printer. Eight to the conference table. Twenty to the break room. Thirty to the bathroom.

I walk to the car. I walk to someone’s desk.

But mostly I don’t walk much at all.

2) I walk about 2500-3000 steps on a normal day.

3) For me, 3000 steps is about a mile.

4) When I go for a 1/2 hour walk, I walk about 3,000 steps. About one mile.

That almost exactly doubles my exercise for the day.

The good news is, when I go for my regular morning walk, I get that extra mile in all at once.

So, given that I can’t do much else, it’s a very important walk.

You might think that this little bit of exercise is useless, but more and more, research shows that almost any level of exercise is beneficial. Even fifteen minutes.

Excercise improves circulation, and it’s good for the heart, the skin, the brain, and general flexibility.

Move it or lose it.

Last year, several research reports were leasted on small amounts of exercise. The news is pretty simple: It’s all good.

So you can’t run a marathon: You can still walk for half an hour, or an hour. The more the merrier.

You can buy a pedometer for about $10 – $20. Give it a try!

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