Monday, September 28, 2009

Brothers' Weekend and the Pedometer Health Plan

I am just back from a Brothers' Weekend in Lionshead where my brother Glen lives. Lyle came up from North Carolina. We hiked the Bruce Trail, went sailing, played cards and we laughed. Brothers' weekend is an Estill brother tradition that was started by my older brother Mark. The 4 of us went on 25+ weekends together all around North America from Algonquin canoe tripping, sailing off the Carolina coast, cabin in the Poconos, cottages, Vegas etc.

This is the second Brothers' weekend we have been on since Mark died in December. The last one, was not the fun of this one. As a matter of fact, I was not really looking forward to this weekend but it was a blast. Perhaps we are starting to heal.

I was wearing a pedometer and inspired Lyle to go get one. (I love it when I have that impact on people) The idea is simple. Walk 10,000 steps per day. Wearing the pedometer and tracking steps reminds us to do it. There are even books on the topic (although I have not read them) like "Pedometer Walking:Stepping Your Way to Health, Weight Loss and Fitness"

I have used different pedometers and they all calibrate a bit differently so all counts are not equivalent (EG if you compare to me, yours might be + or - 10%).

Mine does not add steps for cycling so total exercise can be a bit off (EG if I cycle for an hour, I get no steps credit). Same with weight lifting.

Over the past 16 days, I have averaged 11,925 steps per day. Theoretically, I am training for a marathon so should be higher than average. The previous 16 days I averaged 13,213 and the 10 days before that I was 14,245.

I find I get about 3500 or 4000/day just for being me (my all time low is 2,000/day and twice I have been over 30,000 steps). So to get over 10,000, I need to pace for 65 minutes or walk for 50 minutes (for me, walking is faster) or run for 35 minutes. Usually, I do a combination of all to hit my number.


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