How did I get more than 20,000 steps inside without using a treadmill?
I just wrapped up Week Three in this 20k One Year Step Challenge. My goal is a minimum of 20,000 steps every day for a year with no breaks.
The week started with clouds and rain from Florence. By the time the storm reached Maryland on it was no longer the killer it had been in the Carolinas. It was a little breezy here and we received a couple inches of rain spread over two days, but that was about it.
That meant, unless I wanted to get wet, I needed to find a way to reach 20,000 steps inside on Monday. The easy answer is a treadmill. Actually, the easy answer is to take a rain day, but I’m not giving myself that option. That’s the point of why I’m doing this. I’m choosing to do something hard even when I don’t feel like it. That’s part of how we grow and I don’t ever want to lose that, so taking a day off wasn’t going to happen.
And, using a treadmill wasn’t going to happen either. We don’t have one and I don’t belong to a gym. I’m also not a big fan of treadmills. I used one a couple months ago when I was on a business trip in Philadelphia and was reminded how much I hate those things. It’s like a mental torture device. Even with a great podcast in my ears, I couldn’t wait to be done. Which means, I guess, if this was REALLY about doing hard things I’d make it a 20k One Year Steps on a Treadmill Challenge. Clearly, I have my limits.
Except for maybe a few hundred steps, all the rest on Monday were inside. So, how did I do this? Well, some of my steps came from:
- A cardio workout right after I woke up. This involves jumping rope (without the rope) and running in place
- Warming up my voice (I work in radio) while walking around the station
- Laps around our kitchen island holding my seven month old granddaughter to keep her from getting cranky
I don’t know how many steps I got from doing each of these. I don’t keep track, and it’s really not important. How is the wrong question. Why is the better question.
I have a friend who is establishing her own daily habit of moving more and sitting less. She’s learning that the key isn’t the specific ways she can get steps, but the attitude that she’s not going to set the goal aside just because it gets a little harder.
Normally, the rain on Monday would have caused her to take a day off. Not this time. She found a couple ponchos in the back of her closet and went for a wet walk around the neighborhood with her husband. She reached her goal and also kept her chain of days unbroken. She also felt pretty good about not pushing the easy button.
If you’ve got a strong enough why, the how will follow. You’ll figure it out. That’s what I did on Monday with the rain falling and no desire to get wet. I just kept moving all day and not only reached my goal of 20,000, but pushed past it.
YOUR CHALLENGE
If you struggle with making fitness stick you can change that today. The 30 Day Fitness Challenge will help you begin building a fitness habit that creates fitness momentum which eventually leads to fitness transformation.
Walking is fitness hiding in plain sight. The 30 Day Fitness Challenge will help you set the perfect Fitbit goal for you. The Challenge includes a contract you can make with yourself. That might sound cheesy, but having a signed piece of paper is a powerful motivator on those days when you just don’t feel like it.
Every day you reach your Fitbit goal is a win. The 30 Day Fitness Challenge includes a Win Tracker to celebrate your progress every day!
Best of all…The 30 Day Fitness Challenge is free!!
If you don’t have a Fitbit I recommend the Fitbit Inspire HR. This is the Fitbit I use to track my 20,000 steps a day. The Inspire HR also tracks your heart rate and sleep so you get an even wider picture of your fitness progress.
(By the way…if you use the link above to but a Fitbit Inspire HR this blog will receive a small commission. It won’t add anything to what you pay, but letting you know is the right thing to do)
Lastly, this blog is designed to help you embrace walking as a fitness activity. It’s sustainable, flexible, effective, and fun. Every week I post new articles with stories and helpful suggestions to Win at Fitness.
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