counting steps does work
Counting steps is a form of exercise that does work - conditionally. I say that because whether you can actually do it or not depends on a few things.
Right now at the time I write this is a fantastic time for step counting because it's mid-October. It's cooler outside and humidity is down. The middle of September to the middle of November gives me two solid months where I can go walk for step counting almost every day.
The only thing that would prevent a walk is rain. It's not that I can't walk in rain, but if I do that for 30 minutes straight, I may catch a cold.
Weather is the first and more or less only condition to be met for step counting. The only other thing you need to count the steps is a cheap step tracker, a.k.a. a cheap pedometer, which starts as low as 9 bucks and goes up from there.
This is the one I use, and what it tracked after walking with it for 10 minutes:
...and after 30 minutes:
Is this accurate? No idea. The more important thing is that I'm physically moving by walking for 30 minutes.
Presuming my pedometer is accurate, I get in a little over 1,000 steps every 10 minutes of continual walking at my pace.
What do I do when I can't walk?
If it's raining, too hot, or too cold (or in rare instances, too windy) to walk, I have two backups.
The first backup is a basic 15 minute low-impact aerobic workout. I use a Casio watch with timer set to auto-repeat every minute. My watch of choice is my W213, although the WS1000H and WS1600H are also both excellent for doing that.
Side note: Yes, I did consider getting the Casio WSB1000 as that does have a step tracker built in (along with the WS2100H and LWS2200H). I passed on it since I already have a pedometer and have other Casio watches that do the timer thing for me.
My basic routine is stretches and squats. I purposely wear flip flops while doing this routine mainly for squats so my feet stay flat to the floor (better to have feet flat instead of elevated slightly from wearing sneakers for that particular exercise).
The second backup is "dumb dancing".
Whenever I get bored of the basic exercise routine, I just put on a video and then dance around the room for 15 to 20 minutes. The "moves" I do are the dopiest things I can think of, which at times gets me laughing at myself.
What's funny, other than the dumb dancing, is that it's actually more difficult to keep dancing without stopping for 15-20 minutes compared to a basic exercise routine. For whatever reason, doing a bunch of fake karate kicks, fist pumps, fake high-fives and whatnot works my body more than regular exercising does.
For now, the weather is good for outside step tracking. When the weather isn't good enough for that, it's back indoors where I exercise or dance and hope I don't kick over a lamp.
Published 2024 Oct 22
