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Hi Friend,
In last Monday's email, we talked about “the miracle exercise” and revealed some of the amazing benefits the simple act of daily walking delivers. Check these out:- Banish body fat
- Boost blood flow
- Improve sex performance
- Slash heart disease dangers
- Better brain function
- Deeper sleep
- Reduce death risk.
We also explained why 10,000 steps is the magic number to shoot for, then went on to show how even 5,000 steps (about 30 minutes walking per day) can make a significant impact to your health and wellbeing.
And finally, we promised to share some simple daily walking hacks to painlessly boost your step count — you will find them below!
Here goes:
1. Make Walking a Habit.
Make daily walking a habit. Hmm... Sounds simple, right? Not so fast, tiger.
Science shows, changing habits is far from easy. When a habit occurs, the brain goes onto autopilot as it lazily follows its traditional way of doing things. Only by deliberately fighting a habit (and by finding and substituting new routines), can the old patterns be broken.
Here is where gateway habits come rushing to your rescue: create new routines, and the new way of doing things becomes as automatic as your old habits.
This is why sedentary people who catch the exercise bug often become more productive at work. The new habit — as though creating a cascading domino effect — causes widespread changes in other areas too.
Research reveals, it takes approximately three weeks to change a habit. So don’t rush this. Show some patience and give change the required time.
2. Eat an Elephant.
"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!"
This pearl of wisdom nicely sums up step number two. Forget trying to take on too much and gulp down your new walking goal in one sitting — if you do that, you risk severe indigestion! Instead, reduce your daily walking target into easy-to-manage baby steps.
Confronted by some humongous elephant is enough to strike fear into even the bravest hearts. It can also be terribly demotivating and beat you down before you've begun. So make it easy on yourself. Break your challenge into tiny bite-size pieces and nibble at your daily walking that way.
3. Seek Out "Extra Step" Opportunities
This follows on from our elephant tip. You'd be amazed by how many steps you can add to your daily routine by doing a little extra here and there when the opportunity arises.
S.J. Scott writes about this in his book "10,000 Steps Blueprint”. He outlines some simple ways you can boost your step count, including:
- Pace around when talking on the telephone,
- Use the stairs and avoid escalators,
- If you're able to, leave your car at home and walk to work,
- Spend some of your lunch hour walking outdoors,
- Get up early and take a stroll before breakfast.
4. Get it Measured
If you’re anything like the average guy and gal, you might be shocked by how little daily walking you actually do. I know I was. Until I began measuring my activity levels, I believed I was easily meeting the 10,000 steps a day target. Sadly, the truth told an entirely different story.
Things changed for me the day I downloaded a pedometer app to my smartphone. Having never tracked my walking before, I was thrilled to see my numbers recorded in plain sight. However, I was also less than thrilled by how little total weekly activity I was actually doing.
Some days were good and I comfortably hit the 10,000 steps daily target (in many cases, I exceeded it). While on other days — particularly during lazy weekends — I huffed and puffed to reach a woeful 3,000 steps.
Getting a pedometer changed all that. Armed with a step counter on my smartphone, I strived to make regular walking an integral part of my daily routine — especially at weekends. And my target? 10,000 daily steps.
Seeing the figures recorded makes a huge difference to your performance. It’s true what they say: “What gets measured, gets managed.” And while this principle is often applied to business situations, it works equally well in health and fitness circles too.
You can download a pedometer app to your phone for free. Not only is it a great place to start, but it gives you a reasonably accurate idea of your current activity levels.
But what if you don’t have a smartphone?
No problem. There are loads of activity trackers available at affordable prices. I particularly like the Fitbit range which includes everything from an inexpensive clip-on device to sexy, state-of-the-art wrist wear. But whatever you decide, make sure you have fun with this and enjoy the fitness and health benefits that come your way.
Until next time,
Squat for Glory!
Lee
P.S. Did you miss last week’s email? We've got you covered. You can now find it posted on our site.
To discover why daily walking is the miracle exercise, click the link below... |
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