Walking With Pedometers

Shin splints can be tough and a real problem. I get them from time to time. Here is what I do. #1.) Stretch a little before starting and/or during your walk. Stand facing a wall. Place both hands flat against the wall now move your legs back slightly and pretend you are trying to push it over. You see runners doing this stretch all the time.

Go slow and moderate the amount of pressure you push with again keeping your hands against the wall. This will stretch the backs of your legs. Next, move one leg in, bend one knee forward like you are in a running stance. While you are in that stance, move your back leg out, pointing your toe behind you. Now switch legs and repeat with the other leg. If you have sensitive shins, you should feel a little pressure. Don't over do it and go slow, you really just want to stretch them out. If I feel the pain during a run/walk I will stop and try this exercise.

#2.) When you are home, take off your shoes and socks, sit in a recliner and get a smallish hand towel. Grip the towel with your toes. Do a few reps of this. If you have severe shin splints it probably wont be much fun so you may have to wait until the pain goes down. But if you only have them occasionally, this is a good exercise to do.

#3.) The surface that you walk on plays a big part. If you can, walk on grass or softer surfaces. The harder the surface, the more pain you can expect.

#4.) Shoes play a part too. Make sure you have nice, well cushioned shoes. You can even use a "Dr Shoell's" type gel inserts to help.

#5.) The last resort is rest, ice and compression. An ace bandage helps me from time to time.

I hope that helps. Shin splints really hurt and can make a good walk bad. Good luck and post results.

Dan

Thanks for the tips on treating and avoiding shin splints, I'll give them a try. They haven't been as much of a problem until lately when I've been walking with a group of friends on pavement and they walk much faster than I usually do. I'll check in later and report on how the stretches help.

Thanks!
Shari

:flowerforyou: I love my pedometer but I can be a slave to it......if I'm not careful I'll walk rather than do other exercise just because I want to log a lot of steps. Yoga, pilates, strength training, riding the exercise bike, gardening, and a lot of other good fitness activities burn the calories but don't count as steps............I have to set goals of steps and calories burned so my workouts are balanced

:flowerforyou: Dan, thanks for the stretching tips. Have you considered buying apples, oranges, and yogurt instead of ice cream and Oreos :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

:flowerforyou: Soon2beskinny73 welcome to the world of pedometer lovers.....we can be an obsessive bunch....some of us walk up and down the hall at bedtime just to get a higher number before the day is over.:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Hi! I just bought an omron gosmart HJ-303 pedometer and received yesterday afternoon, so have only used for 1/2 a day and this morning. I love this so far. I have some questions maybe all of you with more experience w/pedometers could answer.

I know the calorie burned function doesn't work as accurately like a HRM does, but how exactly do these tools calculate compared to for instance an exercise machine?

I wore the pedometer when I did 60 minutes on the elliptical and the pedometer said I burned around 160 calories while I typically log in around 800. I know my elliptical is high, but I have lost 20 lbs using those numbers (and eat maybe 75% of the calories) and am just trying to reconcile everything I'm seeing. I'd like to use this pedometer for when I take walks or light hikes in the woods and then input the calories burned into MFP but am just confused as to how it calculates. I feel the general community will tell me to buy an HRM but I think that's a little overkill--I have enough gadgets as it is!

Thanks for helping--look forward to checking back on this thread!

Thanks for your reply barbiecat. I think i will just ignore it, although I bought it hoping it would work!

I'm about to finish my first full day with the pedometer, and aside from about a 1/2 hour of river walking w/my 5 year old (since the pedometer would get wet, I had to take it off), I wore it all day and logged in 14,500 steps! Nice benchmark to work with.

Now it's time to go sit on the couch and veg out....

Look forward to learning more in this post! RK

Barb, I might be way off here but I seem to recall something about this. I think as long as you have accurately entered your weight and stride distance, the calories should be fairly accurate on the pedometer (in terms of walking). Also, that only applies to a perfectly level surface (obviously you burn more calories going uphill). One could make the argument that the additional calories you burn going uphill you save going downhill but I would imagine the difference would be negligible. I suppose you could sit down and apply some basic high school physics to the treadmill equation if you wanted to get really technical about calories used but you would have to know exact speeds, times, strides, distance and incline angles. It would give you an exact number but it doesnt sound like a fun evening.

Ive always used the distance function on my pedometer as a broad approximation as my stride varies throughout the day: I will take small steps and drag myself out of bed but you can bet I take big strides and run to the fridge for a delicious hot fudge Sunday.

I had a workmanlike effort yesterday. I wasnt able to walk at lunch and a little during work (busy lately) but had to pour it on at the end of the evening to wind up with 28161 for the day. I would have liked to crack 30K but I got such a late start that it just didnt work out. I took the family out to buy plants for the wife and then dinner for the family. Weirdly, I have come to really enjoy the walks at lunch. It gives me time to clear my head and focus on important matters (plus it feels good). Eating wise I was actually doing good until our neighbor decided to repay a favor with a huge cheesecake (aarrghhh) and "forced" me to sit and try a piece.

Well, back to walking....

I was busy again last night and was only able to squeeze in a few steps and wound up with 20281. My average is dropping and I have to do something about it. Hopefully this weekend I can crank out some decent numbers.

Dan

I gave it a solid shot yesterday and through a combination of factors wound up with 57,026. Im very sore today and have 2 blisters but I the more I get moving around, the better I feel.

Out of curiosity, what do people listen to on their MP3's, Ipods, etc.? Do you have favorite motivating music? Sometimes its just nice to listen to the birds.

:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
The weather here in NW Washington is not very encouraging for those of us who like to walk......I take the dogs to the dog park where I walk and they run off leash, but the grassy area is not as great for walking as the trail and the going is slow......yesterday we spent over an hour there and I walked less than two miles.....the dogs had a great time.......I ended up with 11,000 steps for the whole day.

:flowerforyou: I rode the stationery bike for a total of 60 minutes and did yoga in the morning and did my gut 'n' butt exercises, but none of that registers on the pedometer, even a lot of the steps I do when I dance don't seem to count so I can't use steps as my only measure of exercise success.

that being said, sitting at the computer qualifies as no exercise at all......so I'm getting up and getting busy.
:drinker: :drinker: :drinker:

Wow! Dan! Keep it up! Incredible!!