I am not going to lie and tell you I have always thought counting your steps was a good idea. In fact quite the opposite was true. It seemed like a ridiculous marketing campaign to encourage non-athletic consumers to purchase athletic equipment. In reality, that may be the truth. Yet still I stand behind my opinion and say that this coordinated consumerism may have some validity to it.
A few months ago I started with a new organization and found out they had a step tracking program. I consider myself highly active so I figured this would be an easy way to boost my ego (just being honest). I have been nursing a IT band issue back to health I signed up and downloaded Google Fit (they have all my other information, why not provide them with my body metrics also) to my phone and started tracking. I am a numbers person, I mean I struggle with math but I love to review the numbers I produce while participating in outdoor activities. I even wrote a post about my love for Strava a few years back. A week into starting the program I check in to see how high in the ranks I was. Hmmm. Not very high. I thought. So I set a modest 10,000 step a day goal and started checking more often. My steps began to increase and I started caring more about my performance. I am only shy about 150 steps from my goal. Fast forward and I am walking around the house brushing my teeth to ensure I get those steps.
Now I am a competitive person, but even my wife who isn't has taken up to the counting. She was awarded a fitness tracker from her work program and has been at it ever since. I think there is value in the encouraging of people to be more active through the accountability of counting steps. I would be wrong to say that this will change the world in someway, but even if it encourages more awareness of one's fitness level; I believe there is some value in that.
Whether or not if you consider yourself athletic I think that it can be a positive influence. See if your work has a walking program (running steps, and other workouts may also be converted to walking steps) even if you don't need the motivation, you may help provide motivation to someone who does.
A few months ago I started with a new organization and found out they had a step tracking program. I consider myself highly active so I figured this would be an easy way to boost my ego (just being honest). I have been nursing a IT band issue back to health I signed up and downloaded Google Fit (they have all my other information, why not provide them with my body metrics also) to my phone and started tracking. I am a numbers person, I mean I struggle with math but I love to review the numbers I produce while participating in outdoor activities. I even wrote a post about my love for Strava a few years back. A week into starting the program I check in to see how high in the ranks I was. Hmmm. Not very high. I thought. So I set a modest 10,000 step a day goal and started checking more often. My steps began to increase and I started caring more about my performance. I am only shy about 150 steps from my goal. Fast forward and I am walking around the house brushing my teeth to ensure I get those steps.
Now I am a competitive person, but even my wife who isn't has taken up to the counting. She was awarded a fitness tracker from her work program and has been at it ever since. I think there is value in the encouraging of people to be more active through the accountability of counting steps. I would be wrong to say that this will change the world in someway, but even if it encourages more awareness of one's fitness level; I believe there is some value in that.
Whether or not if you consider yourself athletic I think that it can be a positive influence. See if your work has a walking program (running steps, and other workouts may also be converted to walking steps) even if you don't need the motivation, you may help provide motivation to someone who does.