Walking: Only Medicine Needed

"Walking is a man's best medicine"

Hippocrates

Want to share the end of year result of The Body Matters  MOOC I took during the late winter of 2016

 In the first week, one of the lessons was presented by Steven Blair an internationally renowned physical activity expert. He enthusiastically made the point that to maintain health all that was needed was 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise.  That is only 2.5 hours a week or 5 half hour sessions or any way you want to do it. Keep in mind though walking at a leisurely pace doesn’t cut it other than it is better than being a couch potato.  I found Activity Level Defined by Steps per Day  and posted it on the fridge (need to dig it out and post it again )  

 

 

 He also showed us the  only medication needed,  pedometer in a prescription bottle.  Gave one to our family doctor to keep on his desk as a conversation piece :D  

 Steps Count Web Site     https://stepscount.wordpress.com/ description of the value of a pedometer.

“… Wearing one and going about the day is the simplest way to get started on the road to better health! The ability to see the total steps taken in a day gives a baseline to an individual’s physical activity level, which makes it easy to add an extra 1,000 – 2,000 steps to a typical day.  It is the immediate feedback the Piezo® pedometer provides that enables the recognition and motivation needed to make a difference in one’s health. “

 Shared what I was learning with my hubby and for some reason that 150 minutes a week stuck He started wearing a pedometer and walking.  In May I gave him a FitBit for his birthday which he wears daily and we stated combining our steps in virtual walks.    Our steps were converted to kilometers and the distance drawn on a map. 

  

In March we started off from home to walk to our son’s in Head of Chezzetcook Nova Scotia. By the end of June we were into Nova Scotia and at our son’s by mid-July.  From there we headed east clockwise around the circumference of the province.

Each week I’d mark our distances on the map, by December 31^st we had reached the South Shore at Sable River not far from Kejimkujimkujik National Park, where we will rest for a while.  Maybe one day we’ll be back to finish the remaining 150 kilometers to Dartmouth to complete the Counter Clockwise Walk Around Nova Scotia.

  However I didn’t keep up my part of the walk , my partner did most of it with me hitching a ride for most of it - so have my gear out and ready which I hope will motivate me to get my duff up and moving.

 

As usual my pedometer will be worn. It is one of the first things I put on in the morning and the last to come off at the end of the day.

Realized as I wrote this that 150 minutes of exercise  and Canada’s 150 anniversary of Confederation could be linked somehow – have yet to figure it out how to link them but think where we have decided our virtual  2017 walk steps will intermingle with the 150th.

 We decided hubby will head east from Victoria and  I am going  west from home so we know who walked what when we meet up. It would be nice to do it by July 1 in a really great place to virtually celebrate the 150^th Anniversary of Confederation.   

Now need to think of a visual way for us to see our progress as marking a map is not as motivating as it was 9 months ago :D

To show my hubby  how well he had done,tallied his distance then figured out how far that would have been…

 His steps took him from home to Head of Chezzetcook and back home again.

Then to Ottawa, down to Kingston and was almost home again  However, with what he did without step counters  he gets a free ride for what he did before March.. 

During 2017 I plan to carry my own weight.   

Why do I want to do this?  Think the poster says it all :D

       "Walking is the best possible exercise.       Habituate yourself to walk very far."

                Thomas Jefferson