One of the more useful pieces of walking equipment you can acquire is a pedometer. But what exactly is a pedometer and how does it work?

A pedometer is an ingenious little devise that can actually senses your body movements and determine when you take a step. The pedometer then uses stride count and stride length to give you a reasonably accurate measurement of the distance you’ve traveled. There are a number of styles and features to chose from at a variety of prices. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll limit this discussion to the most common model, the simple step counter/clip on.

The typical pedometer attaches to your belt or walking clothing, placed on a direct line with the center of your kneecap parallel to the ground. They are a bit forgiving but the closer to this alinement the better. If too far out of line they will not generate accurate readings.  Once you’ve found a likely spot and aligned it properly ,the next step in the process is to measure your stride length. Methods to establish a stride length vary and you will need to follow the instructions that come with your specific unit. Once this data is imputed, the unit needs to be calibrated. That’s accomplished simply by taking a short walk, counting your steps and comparing it with the reading on the pedometer. If the count is too high, move the pedometer a bit toward you navel and away from your hip. If too low, reverse that, moving it closer to your hip. If it still isn’t giving you accurate information you may need to remeasure your stride. Keep in mind that your stride length may vary from a step taken from a full stop position to one made as part of a sequence of steps during a walk.

A peodometer gives you a standard which in turn allows you to set goals and measure your performance against those gaols. With many people setting goals and working to achieve them is a key component in keeping them focused on continuing their walking benefits and activity. Whether the goal is a daily one of 6,000 steps per day (recommended for health maintenance) or a weekly or yearly total, a pedometer will give you the information you need to monitor how well you are doing. Many people wear them all day long to help them understand their overall level of physical activity.  A second use, a pedometer can convert your walking activity into a caloric burn measurment.  Roughly speaking it takes about 2,000 steps to burn 100 calories.  So if you have that extra piece of pie, you’ll know how many steps you are going to have to take to burn it off.

Faithfully employing a pedometer as a key compoetent in your walking equipment arsnel can be extermely useful, helping you understand your level of phyiscal activity, keeping you committed to you walking activities and integrating you walk into your daily rotune

 Here are a few articles and sites that you may find of interest:

• Get Fit Slowly » Blog Archive » Three Paths to Fitness – Physical … – I spoke with Lauren Muney yesterday. She’s my wellness coach and a sometimes-reader of Get Fit Slowly. She helped me to set some goals for getting out of this funk. Obviously, exercise is a primary factor, so I have a three-pronged plan …

• walking magazine english edition | The Books – walking magazine english edition autumn 2008. Contents. magazine project. magazine studies 4-7 artist’s gesture 8-13. If I ruled the world 50-55 abscence of expression 58-60. artist project. Jae-Oon Roh: Warp point is still a long way …

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