If during the day we rose from our chairs every 15 minutes and walked two minutes (200 steps) for 8 hours or 32 times per day we would cover > 6,000 intermittent steps with little effort!
Stage 2, Week 2 The Global Roamer
To become a Global Roamer, you must create a walking and roaming culture by instigating as many walking/ambling/strolling opportunities as possible during the day eventually aiming to complete a minimum of 10,000-15,000 steps (8-12 kilometres).
Different types of global roamers include: ramblers who walk outdoors, social media walkers who listen to music, talk or text while roaming, window shop walkers who look but rarely buy, “have a chat” walker who doesn’t stop talking while walking, business walker who do “deals and wheels” while walking and mindful walkers who are in the moment appreciating everything that they see in front of them, walking while watching sport/children, walking to shops, walking to any venue and generally strolling etc. Walk to work, walk the school drop off, to start with why not try parking further from our destination and adding a walk to the journey. Take the Stairs instead of lifts and elevators. Walking with a friend so you can support and encorage each other.
Steps in becoming a Global Roamer
• Use an activity tracker and measure the number of steps walked per day and record on the step log planning sheet ( If you don’t have a tracker- Walking at 100 steps per minute is classified as “moderate intensity”, which translates into approximately 1,000 steps per 10 minutes at an approximate speed of 5 kilometres per hour. At 1,000 steps per 10 minutes the 10,000 steps would be completed in approximately 100 minutes or less depending on walking speed).
• Set daily steps x 5 days targets until 10,000 steps is reached. Ensure that daily steps are completed intermittently over the course of the day.
• Plan two days of free time where activity levels are not recorded (Saturday/ Sunday) but where you are still physically active.
• If daily steps targets can’t be met select weekly goals (e.g. > 50,000 steps per week) Once the number of steps per day has been calculated, look for times throughout the day where walking bouts of any duration can be added. From the initial step count attempt to progressively overload on a weekly basis until a minimum of 10,000 step
Walking 10,000 steps per day, which is approximately 8 kilometres, has the potential to burn between 300-450 kcal.
The 10,000 steps can be completed at any one time or over different time periods during the day that interrupts sedentary time.