It’s spring and time to get moving!  Counting your daily steps can help you increase your physical activity and live healthy and fit.  LifeSpan fitness equipment keeps track of the steps you take, and will motivate you to take more steps.  Whether you use a LifeSpan treadmill, LifeSpan elliptical trainer, a pedometer or other method to count your steps, increasing your daily step count can have positive benefits for your health such as losing weight or managing a chronic disease like high blood pressure or diabetes.

Here are some tips to inspire you to move more.

• Participate in a Step Counting Program – There are step counting programs such as the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) 10,000 Steps a Day or AARP’s walking program.
• Set Realistic Goals – In an article published by the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), studies which had a step goal increased physical activity. Studies without a step goal had no significant increased physical activity. Possible goals can be choosing how many steps you want to take each day (such as 10,000 steps), identifying a percentage increase in the number of steps you want to take daily (such as doubling or tripling your steps) or selecting a destination to walk to such as a historical journey. If your goal is to lose weight, start slowly then gradually work your way up and increase your step goals. Goal-oriented step counting can result in more significant health benefits than merely counting your steps.

Keep Track of Your Steps — Record your steps each day and monitor your progress toward achieving your goal.  Your LifeSpan treadmill or elliptical will show you how many steps you have taken as you exercise.  Create a chart so you can visibly see if you are meeting your daily step goal. It can also help you identify obstacles preventing you from achieving your goals. Be Creative in Your Journey — Picking a route or destination and creating a personalized chart for your progress with rewards along the way can make it interesting and keep you motivated. One LifeSpan customer who is traveling across the country for vacation next year has chosen to walk the distance before the vacation. Internet mapping software such as Google Maps or Microsoft’s Streets and Trips can make your journey fun to create and implement.Focus on the Outcomes — Monitoring your daily steps is a process toward achieving better health. According to the CDC, 10,000 steps is roughly equivalent to walking five miles and “will burn between 2,000 and 3,500 extra calories per week, which will result in achieving a vastly better health profile and longer life.” Maintaining a healthy weight, increasing muscular strength, improving cardio-respiratory fitness, increasing bone mass, reducing stress and anxiety, and improving self-esteem are all reasonable expectations you can achieve from being more physically active.

In the past couple years, sales of the LifeSpan rowing machine held strong throughout the year, even during the summer months. Here’s a conversation with Mark B., a customer who purchased a LifeSpan RW1000 Rower earlier this year. His story proves a rowing machine gives a very good, all-around workout in a short amount of time!
Why were you looking to purchase a rowing machine?

My schedule does not afford me the time to commute by foot or bicycle, and health club access and costs are prohibitive. After much research, I discovered that a rowing machine would provide me with the most optimum workout for the time invested.

What led you to purchase a LifeSpan Rower?

I chose the LifeSpan Rower for two reasons. First, I stand 6′2″ and weigh 220 pounds, and found the LifeSpan rowing machine could handle a person of my size while most other rowers could not. Second, I discovered in my research that the LifeSpan rowing machine seemed to carry a much higher volume of positive comments on the internet, particularly regarding stability and low noise.

What is your exercise motivation for using your rower?

I need a decent cardiovascular workout that, if possible, also provides a workout for as many muscles as possible while still not being too rough on my knees (I suffered multiple fractures in one of my legs when I was in my teens).

How often do you use your LifeSpan rowing machine, and for how long each time? What readouts are interesting to you?

I usually use my rower once a day, occasionally twice, for 15-20 minutes at a time. My body tells me its getting what it needs. For me, the tension setting and the time are the most important readouts, but other users may be motivated by the other readouts provided.

What improvements or successes have you seen that you can attribute to using the rower?

I’ve lost a few pounds by using the LifeSpan rowing machine, but quite honestly I am more satisfied with what the cardiovascular workout has been doing for my overall fitness level and my overall demeanor.

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Do you have any final comments?

Comparatively, my LifeSpan rower takes less space than other rowing machine models. Set up was more or less a no-brainer and the instructions were easy to follow. It was an expensive investment for me, but well worth it!