We all (hopefully) know the recommendation for adult/youth daily physical activity (PA), right?
If not, here it is: 60 minutes, daily and to make sure it's moderate-vigorous in intensity.
Do you get 60 minutes of daily activity? Every day?
Due to the nature of our jobs and academic majors, I'd like to hope we are all as active as we think we are, but have you recently ever really tracked this? For the next few weeks, we will use several means to track our PA and I hope we all are well within that 60 minute recommendation.
But think of all of the other people out there who do not love sport, movement, fitness, Physical Education, or have an active job. Part of our role as movement specialists is to make sure people know what is going on with their own bodies and use their bodies to achieve/maintain a healthy, happy life. We will all not work with athletes every day, and so some of our students and clients will need to start with the basics--one step at a time. That's were pedometers can be a really useful tool to track a basic measure of PA: steps.
In your comments below, share how you have (or not) tracked your PA. What methods of tracking your PA do you prefer and why?
Lastly, if you had to guess how many steps you take on an average weekday, how many would you guess (place this guess in your post as well).
When I was a competitive athlete I use to track my work outs and how mileage. Now that I am in the coaching role I do not track my activity like I use to. My work out time is limited and varies from each week. I would like to get back on a routine to where I could track and log my activity.
ReplyDeleteI keep track of my physical activity in my head, funny as that sounds. I do not like to write things in logs thats too much work. I usually do 30 - 60 minutes of cardio-respiratory and 30- 40 minutes muscle strength/endurance 6 days a week. So for me its simple math in my head.
ReplyDeleteI don't keep track of the exact amount of my physical activity, but I know that everyday I get at least 60 minutes, easily. I work 6-7 days a week and it varies everyday at work, but I always get at least 30 minutes of PA at work. Some days it's more like 4 hrs of PA and everything inbetween. Out of work, I know that I get at least 30 minutes of PA on Mondays and Wednesdays, when I am on EMU's campus just walking from building to building. I play hockey once a week so that gives me a guaranteed hour of PA on Sundays and I try to hit the gym for 90 mins, 3x a week. Unfortunately, I used to get a lot more PA. When I was in high school, I used to log at least 3hrs of PA 5-6 days a week. I think that it is a good idea to have students wear the devices and track their PA.
ReplyDeleteI do not keep a record of my PA, but I go through the same routine 6 days a week. I wake up early and go for a 3.5-4 mile run which is followed by a series of weights and stretching. I would like to start using different technological means of keeping track of my PA so that I have a better representation of what I am doing. I do keep track of my time while running, but I do not pay too much attention to it. I also have a job that is physically active in itself so I am getting more PA there. I would guess that with parking so far away from my classes along with all other daily movement, I would get around 10,000 steps per day.
ReplyDeleteI haven't really tracked my PA except for using a pedometer that I got for free in the mail, but I only walked around my house to see if it worked. I workout out 6 days a week and walk a lot at work so I am for sure getting my 60 min a day. I actually prefer the pedometer because they are so easy to use. I don't know exactly how much I walk per day but someone who I work with wore a pedometer to work and walked like 200,000 steps in an 8 hour day. So I usually work 6 hour days so between that and class I would say somewhere around 100,000-125,000 on days that I work.
ReplyDeleteAs for keeping a record of my PA I do not. Keeping a weight lifting journal is something I tried but it was to inconvenient. I do feel like tracking your workouts does help push you, but I haven't found an easy way to do it.So I just remember what I have done in previous weeks and go from there. I swim a few times a week and write down the distance and time to keep track. I also play in a soccer league which gives me about 50 minutes intense PA. I would estimate that I walk around 12,000 steps during the week because of walking to and from my apartment to class. However, during the weekend that number would drop lower.
ReplyDeleteI do not record my PA with a pedometer, but I do get a least 30 or more minutes in physical activity each day. My routine is 10 minute run early morning, 10 minutes exercise push ups sit ups, and 10 to 15 minutes playing basketball with people or myself at the Rec IM in the afternoon. My guess would be around 14,000 steps per week day walking.
ReplyDeleteI do not keep track of my PA on paper or anything, I just keep track by my daily routine, I have a workout plan, 3 days per week of strength training and 5 days of carido which ranges from 1- 4 mile runs on those days. and that is on top of the little things like taking the stairs, parking further away from places to get extra walking in. If I would guess I would guess about 17,000 steps on an average weekday for me
ReplyDelete