Reach Your 10,000 Steps Goal with These 3 Surprising Secrets.

Walking is a simple yet powerful way to boost your daily activity levels and improve your overall health. Whether you’re aiming for a step goal or just want to move more, these three top tips from walking expert Joanna Hall will help you cross the finish line.

Key Takeaways:

  • Piggybacking walking onto existing habits makes it easier to incorporate into your routine.
  • Planning out short walking routes from familiar places encourages spontaneous activity.
  • Breaking up your day into active “zones” can help you hit your step goals gradually.

Piggyback an Existing Habit

Reach Your 10,000 Steps Goal with These 3 Surprising Secrets.
Source: techradar.com

We all have habits, whether it’s checking our phones first thing in the morning or grabbing a coffee on the way to work. Hall suggests “piggybacking” a set number of steps or minutes of walking onto these daily behaviors. For instance, if you always have a morning coffee, consider pouring it into a travel mug and taking a stroll around the park.

“It might be that morning habitual cup of coffee, letting the dog out at lunchtime, or getting up from your desk and making a cup of tea mid-morning,” Hall says. “You’re already doing the activity every day, so you already have that pattern and habit established in your body.”

Plan Routes from Familiar Places

Since chatting with Hall, I’ve tried this tip a few times, and it’s quickly become my favorite. “From a place you spend a lot of time, work out a five-minute, 10-minute, and 15-minute out-and-back walking route you can do,” she advises.

This could be your home, workplace, or the house of a friend you often visit. You might even map out routes from the gates of your child’s school or a supermarket car park – places where you often find yourself at a loose end will work best.

Then, next time you’re waiting at this spot or you’re 10 minutes early for a meeting, you can swap the usual endless scrolling on your phone for a quick stroll without worrying about planning a route, getting lost, or taking too long.

Split Your Day into Active “Zones”

Hitting 10,000 steps a day is a common goal, but this five-figure total can feel intimidating at first. To counter this, Hall recommends breaking your day into a series of three- or four-hour zones, then trying to complete a more manageable number of steps in each one.

This ups your activity levels, and can also help your mind and body feel fresher by getting you out of your seat at regular intervals throughout the work day. However, if working arrangements and other commitments don’t allow for this, Hall suggests thinking of activity as a way of “bookending your day” and adding movement of some form into your plans before and after work.

Do You Really Need 10,000 Steps?

A simple answer? No. A 10,000 steps a day target has been popularized worldwide as a holy grail for health, but the reality is that it’s just a number. It supposedly started in the 1960s when a pedometer called the manpo-kei (or “10,000 steps meter”) was released in Japan. When Fitbit and other fitness trackers hit the mainstream, many took up this mantle by making 10,000 the default step goal.

However, a 2023 article by the University of Granada says this figure “had no scientific basis”. The university also led a study which claims to have “provided the first scientific proof for how many steps you need to take per day to significantly reduce the risk of premature death: 8,000”.

So, What Should Your Step Goal Be?

This goal, the study calculates, is equivalent to walking approximately 6.4km a day. The article also says that “researchers have shown that the pace at which we walk has additional benefits, and that it is better to walk fast than slow”.

This is good information to have if you’re looking to set yourself a daily step goal, but it’s also important to consider your current activity levels before you pick a number to gun for. For the best chance of success, you want to set a target that’s a step up from your existing daily step count, but is still sustainable and achievable.

Markdown Section

| Header 1 | Header 2 |
|———–|———–|
| Content 1 | Content 2 |
| Content 3 | Content 4 |

Get Moving, One Step at a Time

Whether you’re aiming for 8,000 steps, 10,000 steps, or just want to move a little more each day, Hall’s tips provide a brilliant blueprint for boosting your activity levels gradually. By piggybacking walks onto existing habits, planning short spontaneous routes, and breaking up your day into active “zones”, you can sneak in extra steps without overhauling your entire routine.

The key, it seems, is to start small and build up over time. “Anything you can do to be a bit more active every single day is going to have benefits,” Hall says. So lace up those sneakers, ditch the “all or nothing” mindset, and start putting one foot in front of the other – your mind and body will thank you for it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, walking is an excellent way to improve your overall health and well-being. By incorporating Joanna Hall’s tips into your daily routine, you can gradually increase your activity levels and reach your step goals. Remember, the key is to start small and build up over time. With consistency and determination, you can make walking a habit that will benefit you in countless ways.

Recent Articles

Related Stories