The Truth About Pedometers…
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Japan has a law that they must be within 3% of accuracy. The brand Yamax is the top Japanese brand of pedometer. The Yamax Digiwalker SW-200 is considered to be the gold standard by which most researchers compare test results.
Basic pedometers consist of a pendulum mechanism with moves up and down with your body as you take steps. They very greatly beyond that in construction and exactly how this mechanism functions. There are huge variations in sensitivity and quality, however even if you wear an inaccurate unit. It should be consistently inaccurate and tell you over time if you are increasing your activity or not.
Pedometers can also come with some costly features which include stats, calories burned, steps a minute, lap time, speed, or function like a clock and stop watch. The more features you want the more you can expect to pay.
We all know that pedometers aren’t the most accurate predictor of our distance traveled and it has even been compared with random people guessing. There are many pedometers that aren’t even accurate in completely controlled environments with some with as high of an error margin as 50%. There have been improvements in this though and it shouldn’t keep you from using and enjoying wearing a pedometer.
Wearing a pedometer properly is part of the problem with the inaccuracy though, it should be worn in one of two places. The first being on your waist band right over your front pocket. It should be inline with your foot. The second is directly on the shoe, on the top side right below your ankle to be exact. You can test your unit for accuracy by placing it comfortably and walking or running 100 paces and make sure your unit is within a few steps of that with it’s count.
Motivation is a great reason to wear a pedometer, over 60% of adults don’t get the recommended amount of activity in a day. You don’t need major physical exertion to meet minimum standards of physical activity which will help almost all elements of your help from cholesterol to lung function.
How many steps should you be doing? Well 10,000 daily is considered the standard for just trying to stay fit and healthy. You should make it 12,000 for dieting or trying to loose weight.
Well, I can’t find any Yamax brands to offer you here. The Omron HJ-720ITC Pocket Pedometer
also coming in as a best buy. Another review site recommended the SportLine Fitness Pedometer - Model 360
. The shopping bags program compared 4 pedometers and they found that the 140S Digi-Walker? Pedometer (EA)
was the best of the 4 they tested.
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