Author Archives: OneTweak

Stuck in Traffic? These Pedometer Apps Think You’re Walking

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traffic jam

Your smart phone may not be as smart as you think it is. And YOU may not be getting the exercise you think you are.

Guy Faulkner of the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education and KPE master’s student Krystn Orr, evaluated three popular fitness apps-Accupedo, Moves and Runtastic- for smartphones. The apps consistently counted steps less accurately than traditional wearable pedometers. Worse, the apps treated slow car motion as walking, adding steps to seated drivers’ step count.

For those often stuck in traffic jams, this glitch might seem like a feel-good bonus.  However, for those who have fitness goals and need accuracy to achieve them, this glitch is an impediment.

According to Orr, a traditional pedometer is “probably the most reliable and cost-effective tool for tracking your steps.”

In the case of walking, then, a traditional pedometer is smarter than a smartphone…and a sensible choice for smart walkers. Indeed!Continue reading→

30 Minutes a day of Exercise as Good for Old Men as Quitting Smoking….

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30 minutes of exercise a day as good for old men as quitting smoking, study finds

Note to old men: DON’T ask your doc if this study means that you can keep smoking when you start walking 30 minutes a day.  He’ll yell “NO!” Guaranteed!

It DOES mean that active older men are forty percent less likely to die over the course of a twelve year study than those who spent that time lollygagging on the couch. While the benefits of exercise have long been recognized, even experts were surprised by the extent of the benefits.

Yet, more than half of us don’t engage in moderate daily exercise.  We’d rather pop a pill. But, according to Professor Ingar Holme, of the department of sports medicine at the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences in Oslo, “Not many pills can bring down total mortality by 30-40 per cent. That is a major achievement!”

“Major indeed!” says Grancy. “So get off that couch, put your cigarettes down, stop poppin’ pills, and get active. Your grandchilluns need you. Your chilluns need you. And, most of all, your “Grancys” need you!

Why These 9 Famous Thinkers Walked So Much

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3guysAristotle. William Wordsworth. Charles Dickens. Henry Thoreau. John Muir. Nassem Taleb. Patrick Leigh Fermor. Soren Kierkegaard. Ludwig Van Beethoven. Nine men passionate about walking. Why would some of the greatest minds in history take time from their extraordinary pursuits to meander? For one contemporary writer, Taleb, humans, much like businesses and economies, need to face “intermittent stressors, randomness, and variation” to remain “healthy, robust, and anti-fragile.” Beethoven needed walks to infuse creativity. Dickens walked, often for over twenty miles, for psychological survival.  Their reasons and processes are as fascinating as they are varied.

Read more here.

Should I Walk or Should I Run?

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hiway-runnerSo, you’ve  slipped on your OneTweak pedometer and you’re pumped. Then you ask yourself, should I walk or should I run. The answer? It depends. Do you simply want to lose weight? Are you already fit? Do you have medical issues?  Do you want to reduce your risk of heart attack? The answers to Is it Better to Walk or Run and Is Walking as Good a Workout as Running may surprise you. Helen Sanders, chief editor at Health Ambition, provides current research on whether one can lose weight by walking alone in this informative well-written article. Her answer? “An emphatic YES,” she says. Read here and find out why.g-walking

 

Walking Large

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chubby-guy-jogsWalking IS for the faint of heart. The couch potatoes. The elderly. The slow-pokes. The sedentary. The wee ones. According to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), 80% of American adults do not get enough physical activity.  To help get America healthy, the ASMBS is sponsoring a United We Step – National Pedometer Challenge on November 2, 2015. They also sponsor a national walkathon called the Walk from Obesity with events all over the country. Join this vibrant community and find out what’s available for you.

Read more here.