A trainer motivates you, checks your technique and tells you if you are on track. The pockets trainer that I have in mind doesn’t usually cost more than about 30 bucks. It is a pedometer.
In a University of Michigan study, it was discovered that people who wore pedometers walked an extra 20 to 40 minutes in the course of their day. The people in the study lost a small but very steady amount of weight., which amounted to about 5 pounds of fat a year.(Reference Annals Family Medicine, 6: 69-77, 2008)
A pedometer measures the amount of steps or strides you take per day. Stride length varies from person to person, so the distance registered by your pedometer is approximate. Yet this little tool can encourage you to go from sedentary to active with one of the most natural types of exercises known to man; walking. The best and most simple approach to getting healthier is to increase the number of strides you take per day. A sedentary individual only takes about 1500 to 2000 strides per day. A healthy and great amount of strides would be about 10 000 to 15000 thousand steps per day.
Calorie burning benefits come from increasing the number of strides you take per day. Cardiovascular benefits would not truly come about unless your heart rate is elevated continuously for at least 5 to 8 minutes at a time. Therefore general weight loss and a calorie deficit are guaranteed if you do not consume more calories while you increase your level of activity.
By knowing how many steps you have already taken in your day with your little pedometer trainer, you might just be motivated to take the stairs more often, walk to the connivance store more- or even just walk around the house a little extra while you are cleaning.
Fitness and weight loss are cumulative over the course of your day. The pedometer just helps a person see that losing body fat can be as simple as taking more trips to the car to get your groceries, parking a little farther from work or just cleaning the house a little more intensely.
So pick up your own personal motivator and reminder to keep fit. A little pedometer can be picked up almost at any major chain that has an exercise equipment section. Walking is just so simple and effective there are even exercise videos that use it as their base and warm-up.
So just take an extra step towards a healthier you- and add a couple more steps each day. Remember to always consult your medical doctor before beginning any king kind of change in lifestyle or activity.
Christina Serpa is an Internet fitness expert and published author- she has over 12 certifications and her Naturopathic diploma. She is co-founder of [http://www.corefitnessworkouts.com] an Internet video workout resource and [http://www.bodyphysix.com] a personal training and corporate wellness business in Canada. She has over 10 years of experience in the health and wellness industry. She has obtained both an exercise science and Leisure studies degree.
