quick question: time vs. distance

[Jeanie]

Ok, you all, I am wondering if any of you know or have opinions (I'm sure you must have good ideas....)

Is it more important for me to walk a further distance or a longer time? I don't plan to jog or run, just walk - bad foot.

For example, yesterday I did the elliptical machine at the gym for 3 miles in 43 minutes. Is it OK to leave it at that? or should I just walk for an hour and not care about the distance? I followed up w/ some weights.

BTW, that's at an elevation of 4500 feet and my heart at the top of the cardio training level - so I'm moving along about as good as my little pump will pump. I started McDougalling because of very high cholesterol and likely heart stuff. It dropped from 306 to 134! and I have the results taped to my bathroom wall to keep me motivated in the right direction - that was needed at the beginning, about a year ago, but now it's just the way I eat. Not much trouble w/ desire to cheat anymore.

Thanks in advance for your advice and thoughts. I appreciate you folks.

[annhett]

One approach is 10,000 steps a day.

We had a pedometer challenge at work. 4,000 - 5,000 steps a day wasn't too hard - it was a challenge getting to 10,000 steps a day. We wore our pedometer all day.

I was at Disney World a couple of weeks ago. I reached over 21,000 steps one day and over 25,000 steps another day - I was exhausted.

Here are some sites I found from doing a search - I haven't looked at them too closely yet. I'm sure there are many more:
http://www.thewalkingsite.com/10000steps.html
http://www.pbs.org/americaswalking/health/health20percentboost.html
http://www.shapeup.org/shape/steps.php

Here are some links to conversion charts:
http://www.indyfitness.net/Info/step.htm
http://www.liveitprogram.com/students/conversions.html
http://www.stepsbywalksport.com/ss/SS_conversion.aspx - This is actually a step conversion calculator
http://recreation.truman.edu/FITTE/STEP%20CONVERSION%20CHART.pdf
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/pdf/ActSteps_Adult_22307.pdf

[happyalyssa]

Good question Jeanie, I'm curious to see all the replies

For what it is worth, if you kept your heart rate at the "target" spot, then I'm sure you did 45 (okay well 43) min very well. If you continue to do that 3 times a week, that's wonderful, and over time (I've experienced a lot of this myself) you'll see your endurance going up. You'll find it easier to go at a faster pace and/or go for longer amounts of time. As long as you keep "uping the challenge" a tiny bit each week your body will keep challenging itself and you'll continue getting a good workout. Keep doing your 45 min this week, and maybe aim for 3.25 - 3.5 miles in 45 min next week. You'll be surprised how quickly your body adjusts

Being able to directly monitor progress is one thing I like about working out in a gym vs. the nice clean air and sunshine of being outdoors. Of course to keep things interesting, you can always add in regular walks whenever you want. Two things I've read articles about recently, is to try to seperate your cardio and weight workouts for maximum benefit (by at least few hours or even alternate days), and also that for maximum fat burning benefit, to try to keep your cardio workouts at least 45 minutes. Something about how your body switches from burning the carbs in your system to burning fat cells after 25-26 minutes of cardio.

Anyway, best of luck to you and keep at it
Alyssa

[serenity]

Is it more important for me to walk a further distance or a longer time?

I started McDougalling because of very high cholesterol and likely heart stuff. It dropped from 306 to 134!

Congratulations on the cholesterol! Very impressive.

Here's my opinion on the exercise, fwiw. I think you need to monitor both. If you don't watch your distance as well as the time, you may start to slack off without realizing it. Walking for an hour is great, but to really continue to get the health benefits, I think you need to walk at the same pace or better than you had previously. If you slow down, you may not reap any rewards.

[hope101]

I kind of do a combination. I too aim for 10,000 steps per day at a minimum, which is about 5 miles for most people, as I have seen studies that that is a good distance for both weight loss or maintenance and cardiovascular fitness, assuming some of that is done purposefully to get your HR up. Most reading I have done recommends that people work their way up to their five miles gradually. If you are doing 3 already, then you can increase by 10% of distance per week (no more) and aim for 5 miles daily. You will find as you get fitter you can definitely increase the speed you do as well, so what initially might take you an hour and fifteen minutes might get whittled down.

Congrats on the cholesterol improvement too. That is a major change!

[Carol]

Jeanie,

I think it's a matter of what it is you are trying to achieve. If you run a 4-minute mile or walk a 15-minute mile, you get about the same results. In running you will use some different muscles, and in walking you will have raised your heart rate for 15 minutes.

I try to look at the AMOUNT of time I'm exercising and if I'm exercising at a low heart rate, medium heart rate or high heart rate.

For heart muscle health, it's all about the amount of elapsed time of aerobic activity. For muscle toning, it's about the weight and the number of repititions.

If you are looking to burn more calories faster, then it's about speed and length. But ANY exercise is going to be better than no exercise.

I seem to recall a stat for aerobic activity: at the moderate level like walking for a minimum of 30-45 minutes per day should result in weight loss. Mixing up the type of exercise is good too in order to engage different muscles. After awhile your muscles get used to a particular exercise and to challenge them means change vs. length of work out.

Does that help???

[Jeanie]

THanks everyone for your helpful information I wasn't getting a message that anyone had posted and just discovered all your nice notes.

Anyway:

I did actually decide to skip walking at the gym yesterday in favor of a long walk at the park to look at the wildflowers that are blooming so profusely now - a big deal in the desert - and it was really nice to just move through space and be in the fresh air and sun - however, I did miss the stats that I get from the machine. I figure, if I just keep walking and enjoying it (that way I will keep doing it ) and I always walk no less than 45 minutes, then that's pretty good. Naturally, I will increase the distance/time as I go along but for now, I'm just pleased that I'm keeping at it. In regards to my heart rate, well..... I have a hummingbird heart and it is always at or above 80% of the cardio level for my age - 50yrs. - in order to get it down to 60 or 75% even I have to go pretty slowly.
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HappyAlyssa wrote:
is to try to seperate your cardio and weight workouts for maximum benefit (by at least few hours or even alternate days)

I wonder why they say that. It certainly would cramp my timing to try this but I'll keep it in mind.
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You know, about the cholesterol results, my health care provider - who is a nurse practitioner and dear woman at a local clinic - was so impressed and amazed that she read the China Study at my suggestion and is now vegan and is recommending the book to many patients. I'm going to see her this thursday for an annual exam and will bring my McDougal book for a Healthy Heart and a recipe book to loan her
I've posted this somewhere else before but thought I'd mention it again. I think it's way cool that there are many folks in our little town now who are considering changing their eating. There is even a new vegan cook at a local restaurant because the owner has had so many of us coming in looking for food we can eat We live in a very small town. She uses olive oil, so I don't eat there just buy the bread. I will visit with her about the oil issue after I've gotten to know her better. Just a little at a time, right? Like drops of water into a bucket - eventually the bucket is full. At least there has been a change up at one place and she makes great vegan cookies - I did get one and it was pretty good!

[hope101]

I do remember about your influence on your little town, Jeanie, but I love hearing more about it. So encouraging. Please make sure to keep letting us know how it goes.

[Sue M.]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good pedometer? What should I look for in one.
Thanks

[hope101]

Hi, Sue. When I was looking for my pedometer I did some searches online. This was about 2 years ago, but at the time the Digimax was highly rated. I had one for a year and it worked perfectly, then I gave it to my father. My second one seemed just as good but it got stolen. Now I have my walking routes so I haven't bothered replacing it, but if I were going to I'd just go back to that model. You can get ones that tell you calories burned, miles walked, etc. But I just got the cheapest basic model that said steps walked. Make sure if you get one it has a display that's easy to understand and buttons that are covered with a case so you don't inadvertently reset. I think I got mine from newlifestyles.com.

[Jeanie]

Hope101 -

If anything new comes of it - the town veganization initiative ---- I'll be sure to let ya'll know.

[annhett]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good pedometer? What should I look for in one.
Thanks

I was told that you should not spend less than $12 on a pedometer. The walking section at about.com has pedometer recommendations. I can look it up later and post the URL.

I did not wear my pedo today, so I can't give you my brand.

[hope101]

Please do, Jeanie. So neat that you are having an impact in Texas as I live in the Canadian version of redneck country where men are men and cows get eaten.

[annhett]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good pedometer? What should I look for in one.
Thanks

Here is the about.com site I mentioned:


http://walking.about.com/od/measure/Pedometers_and_Step_Counting.htm