Welcome to Muscle Building Tips

How to Use It

A pedometer is a small, inexpensive device that clips on your waistband and counts the number of steps or distance you take in the course of a day. Use it to gauge your improvement. If you cheeck it in the afternoon and find your total low, you may be motivated to go out and walk a mile or two. Pedometers are pretty accurate. There is no one best pedometer for everybody, so choose by features and style.

Steps or Distance?

Pedometers can be set to give you the number of steps you take or the distance you travel, or sometimes both. The problem with measuring distance is that you have to measure your stride lelngth, which can be a little tricky. A way around this is to wear your pedometer to a quarter-mile track and walk around the track on the inside lane. Check your steps, multiply by 4, and you will have the number of steps that equals a mile for you.

Pedometers in Health Promotion

Pedometers can be used in health promotion. It's easy to use a pedometer to measure progress in steps or distance walked, which is associated with weight control and other measures of health. Most people enjoy using pedometers, so compliance is high. If you work on health promotion for a company or community organization, you can buy bulk pedometers and start a program.

What Pedometers Are Good For

You can use pedometer for either walking or running, but remember you take fewer steps running a similar distance. This is because of a longer stride. It may be best to use the step counter for walking and the distance function for running. The counter will register on some machines like stair steppers or upright bikes, but these have their own displays. Steps taken don't reflect the amount of work in weight lifting or gardening, so give yourself credit for those types of exercise even if you don't meet your step goal that day.

10,000 Steps

A benchmark sometimes used for achieving general health and fitness is taking 10,000 steps a day. This includes walking for fitness as well as doing chores, walking to the store, etc. To judge your progress toward this goal, you need a pedometer. Pedometers can be set to count the nuumber of steps you take and, often, the dstance you travel as well. Left, right is 2 steps. On average, 10,000 steps is about 5 miles.