100,000 Steps Completed

RE: 100,000 Steps Completed

beacon_dave — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 01:28:10 GMT

"As the UK seems about to enter the Lockdown phase or Covid-19 I might not be able to get much more walking in so now I am thinking I might make my own walking treadmill."

So far they appear to be encouraging walking during the lock down phase so long as you practise 'social distancing'. However, quite how you are supposed to safely maintain a 2m clearance from the next person on the average UK pavement (sidewalk) I'm not sure.

With your background in robotic engineering perhaps you could recreate the 'leap of faith causeway' from Elephants Dream ? [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-6e5f914b-5e93-4dfa-883c-95e192eb4683/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]

Elephants Dream (2006)

https://youtu.be/ePVe9FzuFfQ?t=246

Is there a mechanical linkage which emulates a natural walking gait ? Treadmills appear to take up a lot of space.

Hooking it up to Google Streetview would likely make indoor walking a lot more interesting, especially if you could match the machine's resistance setting to the elevation data of the route.

For the more adventurous, you could perhaps convert a staircase into a stair climbing treadmill so that you have to climb more steps than normal increasing the exercise.

RE: 100,000 Steps Completed

jw0752 — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 20:41:29 GMT

Hi Dave,

Your estimate of steps per time aligns with mine. this is about 3 miles per hour for my stride. I took my numbers for today and did the math and I have 3.578 k steps in 30 minutes average. One of the things I like to do when I walk is to try to calculate different math problems in my head. How many meters per second am I traveling?, How long is an average city block in feet? If I widen my step by 3 inches how many fewer steps will my walk take?, etc. This makes the time go faster and helps to keep the gears in the head as well oiled as the joints in my legs ( I hope).

John

RE: 100,000 Steps Completed

jw0752 — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 14:25:41 GMT

I also endorse the benefit of walking each day. The wife and I usually take a 5 km walk in the morning and then I go out after dark and walk another 5 km between 10PM and Midnight. It has been a challenge lately as this is the first year I have attempted to do this in our winter months which at times are quite brutal here in Wisconsin. Thanks to some good ski and winter gear it has been possible though. I have found that an app on my phone works very well for counting my steps. I have run a couple of spot checks to see how accurate it is and I have been completely satisfied. It also keeps track of long term trends and interesting statistics as well as providing an audio cheer when I check it after meeting the daily goal of 10k steps. Keep up your walking Dubbie as it helps to keep you a few "steps" ahead of the Reaper.

John

RE: 100,000 Steps Completed

beacon_dave — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 20:53:26 GMT

I use an Omron 'Walking Style IV' device at the moment which gives pretty consistent results. I originally bought it as I just wanted a basic pocket watch but it is hard to find one these days, and this was the nearest I could find at the time in a sensible package and price range.

https://www.omron-healthcare.co.uk/activity-monitors/Walking_style_IV_Blue.html

However it has been useful to see how far I walked day to day, and also the recovery progress over a year from an injury. My record so far is 34,738 steps in one day.

RE: 100,000 Steps Completed

DAB — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 18:10:15 GMT

Well done.

I need to up my activity since the Senior center is shuttered for the next three weeks.

DAB

RE: 100,000 Steps Completed

genebren — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 15:25:06 GMT

Walking is a great exercise and stress reliever. My wife and I have been taking an after dinner walk these last few weeks to help decompress from the heighten stress levels caused by the current situation. Hopefully we will continue the walks until the Texas heat makes that less enjoyable.

RE: 100,000 Steps Completed

ralphjy — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 14:27:23 GMT

I think walking is really the best exercise, especially for us older folks. My granddog will be 6 years old this month and we go for a 4-5 mile walk every day (even in the rain!). When she was about 6 months old my son bought me a FitBit for my birthday. I just looked at my dashboard and I've walked a little over 26 million steps (almost 11 thousand miles). Running is good for aerobics but is hard on old joints, so we walk up hills instead (we have a few hundred feet of elevation change in our neighborhood). I've logged over 41 thousand floors so far. Having the dog (she's a Beagle) has really been great for my health.

Hope you continue your walking - it will really compensate for those delicious cakes [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-6e5f914b-5e93-4dfa-883c-95e192eb4683/contentimage_5F00_938.png:16:16].

RE: 100,000 Steps Completed

clem57 — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 13:59:47 GMT

Good job with walking to better health.