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Keep Moving by Creating More Interest in Your Workout

By Jeff Bresnahan, DPT

The New Year is here, the weather is changing to cooler temperatures, and the evening darkness is falling ever so earlier. It can be increasingly difficult to get motivated to perform the outdoor activities you enjoy so much in the warm rays of summer and early fall, and you may even get more naturally out of a warm season workout.

A November 12, 2009 New York Times Health and Fitness article found that people expended 15% to 20% more calories a week exercising in the spring and summer than they did in the fall and winter — running, hiking, walking, biking, climbing, or kayaking — whatever exercise it may be. Have you had to change your outdoor activity to an indoor sport and it just isn’t the same? Here are some great tips to create more interest in your workouts!

Increase Your Activity Level
No matter what your current activity level is, you should work on a consistent basis to increase something about your workout.

• At work, park your car further away from the entrance and take the stairs. In your workouts, add a cardiovascular component to your strength training.
• Runners can increase their speed and stamina by adding strength training and core stability to their regimens.

Medical research shows that increasing your workout in some capacity has some marvelous benefits to your body. Not only can it help create more lean body mass, but it gives an extra boost to your metabolism for hours after your workout by raising your “set point,” the amount of calories and energy your body burns just by living, breathing, and moving. It can also improve your immunity and can help control hunger, appetite, diabetes, cholesterol, and blood pressure. For many, it can also help improve your mood and provide a better night’s rest.

Keep It Fun and Imaginative
Dream up a goal to eventually run or walk from one point to another a long distance away over a series of workouts. The average step length for women is 2.2 feet, and for men it is 2.5 feet. It takes the average woman 2,400 steps to walk a mile, and for a man it takes 2,112 steps. If you’re running, the average woman’s stride is approximately 4.5 feet, and for the average male it is roughly 6 feet, perhaps more. A woman would take 1,173 strides to run a mile and a man would take 880 strides.

Let’s say your goal is to put in enough steps or running strides on a treadmill to go the 172 miles from Portland to Seattle. The female runner would have to walk the 412,800 steps or run the 201,756 strides on the treadmill. The guy trying to impress her on the treadmill next to her would need to take 363,264 steps, or 151,360 strides.

Want to ditch your car and travel the 50 miles from Corvallis to Eugene for the Civil War in an eco-friendly way? Ladies put on your walking shoes and walk the 120,000 steps it takes, and gentleman, take her hand and walk your 105,600 steps. If you need to run there, women ease your mind by lowering your carbon footprint with the 58,650 strides it will take you. Men, feel good and reward yourself at the game after burning off the calories from the 44,000 running strides you’ll take.

After you’re done, and no matter where you’ll imagine to go, you’ll feel better knowing you did the best thing you could possibly do — invest in your health to work out another day. Keep Moving!

Jeff Bresnahan, DPT is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Director of Therapeutic Associates-Evergreen Physical Therapy in Spokane, WA. He welcomes your comments or questions at jeffb@taiweb.com or 509-926-5367.