oes anyone else think step counting is weird? I’m a huge step counter – I’ve been religiously step tracking since the western world caught on to it a few years ago but it’s really quite a bizarre thing to do. Like counting how many times a day you blink. It’s rather strange behaviour really. And the fact that we do it en masse is even weirder. I’m digressing here but sometimes I think it’s important to admit that the human race are a giant pack of weirdos. Now we’ve cleared that up…
Despite this being a strange thing to do, I’ve been walking 10,000 steps every day for the past five years and I cannot tell you how much my life has improved. I sleep better, I don’t gain weight as easily, I’m happier and my body loves me for all the movement I’m getting. If I get to the end of the day and I’m feeling a bit stressed and out of control, 9 times out of 10 it’s because I haven’t done my steps yet. I exercise for my brain, not my body and my brain gets mighty stroppy if I don’t take her out for a spin every day. She doesn’t let me sleep and she makes me feel bad about myself. Not worth it.
I know a lot of people find the whole stepping thing really stressful and if you find it all a bit overwhelming, that’s totally cool. Just do these things but don’t track your steps. Just because you don’t have a little device saying you walked 10,000 steps, doesn’t mean you didn’t do it.
If you ARE tracking and finding it difficult to reach that milestone here are a few things I do to get those steps up.
Aim for a dedicated 30 minute walk every day
Depending on where you live, it might be very easy or very hard for you to get your steps up during the day. When I’m in Melbourne living in my inner city suburb, I don’t even have to try to get my steps up. By the time I walk to the shops, the post office and the gym, I’m totally sorted for the day. When I stay with my parents in Canberra though it’s a totally different story. I have to set aside a full hour to go for a walk around the lake because Canberra isn’t a walkable city. You can’t help where you live but you need to be aware. After your first week of wearing a step tracker, you’ll know how much walking you need to add to your day. No matter what your living situation, you should always aim to get a 30 minute walk in every day as a minimum. It doesn’t have to be strenuous or on a million degree incline, it just has to happen every day.
Say yes to everything
Say yes to taking the rubbish out, walking the dog, going to the post office, moving the car, ducking to the shops, getting the vacuum cleaner out of the garage. Any activity that requires extra steps – put your hand up for them. After a while it just becomes a habit and you’ll be sneaking in extra steps without even thinking about it.
Be deliberately inefficient
Sometimes if I get to the end of the day and I need to up my steps, I’ll take the recycling out one item at a time. Yes, that seems totally idiotic but I pop my headphones on with a podcast playing and run up and down the stairs to slam my last few thousand steps.
Extra tip – avoid pointless walking. I stay at Mr Smaggle’s family farm and I’m surrounded by beautiful fields but I just can’t walk them with no purpose. I have to be going to the shops, or walking to another farm to get eggs, or getting a coffee or going to the beach. Walking aimless circles around the property drives me batty so I avoid doing that.
So with the stepping thing…
[divider type=”standard” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”]
Are you are stepper? Do you have a step tracker? Or do you remain unconvinced about the whole stepping thing?
[divider type=”standard” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”]
P.S Also you should totally sign up for my newsletter. It’s full of cool stuff.
P.P.S Don’t forget Crochet Coach has a free trial offer period at the moment so float on over and join my crochet mail list.