One of the most common forms of exercise/activity is walking. Walking is great cardio exercise, plus it relieves stress. To walk, you just need a comfortable pair of shoes with arch support. Most well-known brands of tennis shoes such as nike, rebock, new balance, adidas, puma, and converse, have foot support. Many have a style called a walking shoe made to give your feet the support and cushioning needed.

The set number of steps said to be the healthy average daily amount is 10,000 steps. This is about 3-4 miles a day. If you are going to take your walking seriously, you will need a good pedometer. I have bought several brands and find that most of them are not worth the money spent. The $10 ones are pitiful as every time you jiggle them a little they count steps. I once walked 100 steps while DRIVING 8 miles home from work. Similar ones cost a little more – the last one I purchased was $30 – and you’d think they were better. I walked 7 steps putting it on my waist band. This one would be good if you were going walking if you put it on your waist band and then cleared it. It would count the steps you took, which you could then record. But it is useless for all day wear.

I researched until I found one that I can carry in my purse or pocket, or hook it on the waist band, which would accurately count the steps no matter what activity I was doing that day. The brand is OMRON. The one I purchased cost $35 at the time and was an excellent investment. You enter your weight, the time, and your step length in inches. It tracks your steps, your aerobic steps, calories burned, and miles walked. And it keeps the record for 7 days. It even starts a new day at midnight.

I put my pedometer on when I get out of bed, and take it off when I go to bed. It counts every step during the day. Your steps add up faster than you think. When I started, I kept track of the number of steps I do normally during the day for an entire week. Then I averaged them (added the 7 steps a day and then divided by 7) for my standard or starting point. From there, I decided how many steps I wanted to increase my walking by per day. The end of the next week I averaged them again to see if I met my goal. Up it each week until you get to 10,000 steps averaged a day.

As for speed, walk at a speed that is comfortable for you. As you become more and more used to walking, increase your speed. As you become more accustomed to walking at a brisk walk, start ‘power walking’. This mainly just means to bend your arms at the elbow to a 90 degree angle and swing them rather than letting them hang down by your side. I think of it as a jogging position without jogging – just walking briskly. To increase your calories burned, you can add wrist and/or ankle weights. Starting with 2 pounds is a good idea. You can increase the weight later.

There are walking tapes, cds, and dvds you can put in what used to be called a ‘walkman’ – basically a portable player with ear phones. You can listen to these tapes as you walk. The beat of the music helps you to keep walking at a steady pace.

Walking outside is wonderful – unless there is a thunderstorm, a snow storm, or above 100 degrees F or under 10 degrees F. Or if you have allergies (you get my drift, right?). On those days you can go to a shopping mall and walk the mall, or an inside track at a gym. There are tapes and DVD’s which have walking and powerwalking programs. Most of these will have markers as which time they will announce how far you have ‘walked’. The one I have gives the distance at every 1/2 mile.

Walking is an exercise nearly everyone can do, and do without buying special equipment. I do recommend that you get a good pair of walking shoes and a good pedometer. The pedometer I like the best and that I have used for over a year is Omron Premium Pedometer.

I have been researching and have combined several charts for calories burned per different exercises/activities. I have it put together on a spreadsheet so you can enter your weight (in pounds) and the minutes expended to come up with the calories you burned. Since it is in a spreadsheet, you can put several activities in and it will give you the total calories burned at the bottom of the spreadsheet. I also have a converter to convert kg to lb. Then enter the pounds value in the spreadsheet.

You can download the spreadsheet – right click here and save to your computer. It is in the 2003-2007 excel version and can be opened in Google documents also. If you do not have excel or have an older version of excel, you can get the excel viewer for free from microsoft. Click here.

Leave a comment an let me know how you like it!

I need your help.  There comes a time in anyone’s life that their mind is blank.  Now is one of those times for me.  I am a little stuck on what to write on next.

I do have some ideas.

1.  Review different types of exercise equipment/dvds

2.  Review different types of supplements said to ‘help’ exercise

3.  Review different types of exercises like the ones I listed in 8 Types of Exercise Workouts

4.  Find some charts of calories burned per exercise

5.  Alternate ways of getting in walking/running

Please, give me your ideas and what you would like to see in future posts.  Leave a comment.

Do you every have trouble getting your exercise in.  You realize that a couple days have gone by – you missed going for that walk or getting to the gym, or turning on that low impact ‘Sweating to the Oldies”

I ‘should’ exercise.  I ‘should’ go walking.  I ‘should’ do my low impact DVD.  I should, should, SHOULD.

Now that is not going to get me anywhere.  If I should, then I probably have the mindset that I am not going to, also that someone expects me to, and I don’t have a choice.  In fact, it irritates the rebel in me.

But I do have a choice – to exercise (increase my activity) or not to exercise.  It is my CHOICE – and it is your CHOICE.   So, I choose to exercise (or I don’t).  I choose to find the time to do it.  I choose what type of exercise I want to do.  I choose the time I will do it.  I choose how long to do it.

So, I choose to – but why?  It is because I deserve to:

1.        Be healthy

2.       Be more energetic

3.       Be more relaxed

4.       Be more fit

5.       Lose those extra pounds

6.       Be able to play with my grandchildren without getting winded

7.       Be please with my looks when I am in front of a mirror

8.       Have my clothes fit

9.       Have more self-confidence

10.   Be able to tie my shoes without going through contortions

The list can go on and on. But by listing my choices, I am able to answer myself.

Me: It’s time to exercise

Myself: I don’t feel like it, I am tired.

Me:  I choose to exercise because it makes me feel energized and more relaxed.  And I deserve to feel that way.  I deserve to be more healthy and fit.

Myself:  Well, when you put it that way – let’s get going!

What is your reason to exercise or increase your activity?  Leave a comment.

When we decide to exercise or become more fit, the first decision is what type of exercise to do.

1. Activity – I would call this your normal activities that you do more of like playing with the kids, playing sports, walking, shopping, etc.

2. Aerobics – these are available in low impact, intermediate, and advanced programs. Find one you like (Richard Simmons has quite a variety) and have fun doing.

3. Water aerobics – most Y’s, community colleges, and some fitness clubs have classes available. The resistance of the water help to burn calories without putting stress on the joints and heart.

4. Exercise - I classify sit ups, jumping jacks, squats, toe touches, everything they have you do in gym class as exercises. There are a lot of DVDs with exercise workouts available – and some target a specific area such as abs and thighs.

5. Speed walking, jogging, running, bicycling – Some people enjoy this. Basically, your legs muscles are strengthened, you burn calories (thus lose fat), and increase your endurance. You can get more exercise by adding wrist and ankle weights. These are good for your heart also. The only draw back is once your body becomes used to the amount you do, you have to increase the amount you do. At that point, you need to add some other type of exercise to round out your workout plan.

6. Resistance - This can be done in a myriad of ways. You can do resistance just by the way you tighten your muscles, putting an imaginary resistance – like pulling an imaginary rope. There are resistance bands you can buy, and weight machines. Resistance exercise is very effective.

7. Weight lifting - Weight lifting will not only define you body, but also burns calories more quickly. It can help skinny people fill out and overweight people slim down. I would suggest you get a good workout plan such as Tony Little’s or Vince Delmonte’s for the guys and Shannon Clark’s for the gals. Their workouts are formulated for the whole body (you don’t end up with Popeye arms) and if you following their coaching, they are safe. Remember to have a spotter when doing the more difficult routines.

8. Yoga - Yoga is a great way to become more limber while relaxing not only your body, but also your mind. Yoga appears to be an easy type of workout – unless you remember that all the martial arts use a form of Yoga in their workouts. Whew, that could be quite a workout!

When decided which type to start on, keep in mind your present physical condition, your weight, your age, and your goal. One thing is for sure. You workout will never help you until you actually start doing it.

What type would you choose and why?