Walking moose

[owlmoose]

So my work is doing this thing where they give us a pedometer and we try to take 10,000 steps per day. I signed on mostly because I was curious to see how far I walk on average, but of course really it's a toy for me to play with. How many steps is it to the bus stop? (About 500.) How about to the parking garage where I keep my car? (Not quite 1000.) Between the library and the main building? Does it understand stairs? Would it be confused if I ran? What if I stepped sideways like a crab all day? I must experiment.

Yesterday was the first day, and I got about 7600 steps in. But I didn't put it on until after I got to work; then again, I wandered all over downtown Palo Alto last night, so I'm not sure how that balances out. On the third hand, I don't think I was wearing it right at first -- I walked five or six blocks from the train to my mechanic yesterday (a minor problem, the car is fine), and it barely registered. So I'll need to play with it some more.

Comments

[anzubird.livejournal.com]

that's kind of cool. now I want one too!

fascinating

[sairuh.org (from livejournal.com)]

I've wondered about pedometers. Where do you attach it? Were you able to find useful instructions on it?

Yes, sideways walking like a crab is a fine test. Monty Python silly walks come to mind.

Re: fascinating

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

You attach the pedometer to your pants. It says on the waistband, but I find i get a better reading by hanging it off the edge of the pocket.

I tested crab walking, and it understands. It also gets stairs. Now I need to think of other silly walks to test!

[concertinette.livejournal.com]

I had one that I played with for a while - it was a total cheapo, came from the dollar bin at Target or something. basically just a balanced weighted lever arm so when you jostle it, it swings enough to tap a switch and it counts. Anyway, I found that if I was going someplace, it counted reasonably well, but if I was just wandering, it hardly counted at all. i.e. standing up in the lab all day and picking things up from one side of the room and going around both sides of the table back and forth all day, and it said I went about 20 steps. I must not bounce enough. I tried clipping it to my shoe, but then it started double-counting things if I got too energetic. It was mostly for the novelty of playing with a pedometer. Pretty cool though!

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I think it's the swinging motion of the hips it records, and this one seems pretty sensitive. When I hold it in my hand and swing it back and forth, I can feel something moving in there, and here a soft clicking. Once this is over, I'm going to be *very* tempted to take it apart and see how it works...

[steluch.livejournal.com]

enf, who is a borderline walkaholic, just noted (after he asked why i was snickering *crab walking* and i read your post to him) that 10,000 steps is about 6 miles...or about 2 hours worth of walking. just thought that was worth sharing...

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks! I think the literature from work said the average person goes about 5 miles in 10k steps, which is in the same ballpark.

Of course, today I just puttered around the house and got... *checks*. Uh. Not... very many. ;)

[enf.livejournal.com]

I'm probably rounding the numbers too much because of the temptation to make estimates easy by assuming 3 feet per step and 3 miles per hour. But even 5 miles seems like a lot to do in a typical day unless you're really trying.