10,000 steps or not??

edda

The cheapest way I know to exercise is walking - and free pedometers help to monitor how much walking you do.

But - when the target is set to 10,000 steps (which seems the norm) how is this measured? Does it depend on the type of pedometer?

The wretched devices can be strapped to one ankle, clipped to a belt, contained in watches or hung round your neck. If (for example), I use one on a belt above my left leg, does this mean I only need to take 5,000 steps??? After all, my left leg is only doing half of the job - isn't it? :question:

tifnstav

They measure the movement of your body and figure out what you've done from there - for instance if your left leg has moved twice then your right leg must have done something too... unless you're hopping, which I don't think they account for.

Be warned though if you use a pedometer on your belt - if you have particularly curvaceous hips (i am blessed with big wobbleys) it can get a bit messed up as it might think that a wobble is a step and count it as double.

I walked up Winter Hill (big hill basically) with a pedometer on and half way up i was very confused that i'd done about 3000. I counted my next 100 steps and the pedometer showed i'd done about 170. I put this down to the wobble factor.

But then again, at least I was moving! Which is not what i'm doing here drinking chocolate horlicks. I'm off to bed. Happy stepping!

Savvy_Sue

tifnstav wrote:

Be warned though if you use a pedometer on your belt - if you have particularly curvaceous hips (i am blessed with big wobbleys) it can get a bit messed up as it might think that a wobble is a step and count it as double.

I gain about 25 steps every time I pull my trousers up and down to use the loo ...

Some of them are more accurate than others. Some of them are supposed to be adjustable, although I've never found the adjustment made much difference. But most of them work perfectly when you're 'watching' them, and then give you lots more steps than you really did, I'm sure of it!

BTW, I bought one particularly useless one recently: it switches itself off if you don't take a step for 10 minutes, and you have to remember to reactivate it! :mad:

Sylv1_2

Hi everyone!

Where do I get a free pedometer?

VickyM_2

To be honesty Sylv1, the free pedometers really aren't worth it - I got one last year and found that as I drove to work I'd done about 20 steps, just through my leg moving as I changed gear. I ended up paying about £9 for one, and found that I had real trouble calibrating it, so while it did tell me accurately how many steps I'd done, it was completely useless on calculating how far I'd gone - I was convinced it was taking me half an hour to walk a mile (and it doesn't, honest).

Vashti

I bought one in Asda for about three quid and it is brilliant. But, after about three weeks I sort of forgot about it, as I walk three miles every day and am fairly active so I know I am doing my 10,000 steps (about five miles) ...seems pretty pointless wearing it to tell me something I already know.