Getting your steps in when you work from home, changes when the season changes. 10,000 steps is general guidance, but you may do more or less depending on your circumstances
My walking priority after October is sunshine. I live in Scotland and we have short days over the winter months. It’ll be dark when I start and finish work.
Working from home means no incidental walking it’s all deliberate. How long does it take to walk 10,000 steps? Some of my walking is restorative, particularly in parks so that’s a slower pace.
If it averages 10 minutes for 1000 steps, (give or take) 100 mins is a big chunk of time. Personally, I won’t do it in one go, I would break it up throughout the day.
Lunchtime walks will be a priority for the me to help vitamin d from whatever sun there is
NHS has a good article on current guidelines and food as well as daily sunshine recommendations. In the UK you can’t get enough vitamin d through sunlight, which backs up my priority for lunchtime walks
You can read NHS articles here
How will I make that happen?
- flexible lunchtime, anticipating when the sun will be out rather than my usual fixed lunch hour slot
- my lunch will be made in advance, so I can spend the majority of time outdoors
I’m not expecting my lunchtime walk to make 10,000 steps even I’m walking longer time.
How will I supplement it particularly when it’s a week of sideways rain and I can’t face going out and getting soaked again?
- stairs I live on 3rd floor, so that would be a 5 minute break while the kettle is boiling to get some steps up and down stairs and get my heart rate up
- a walk around my block is roughly 10 minutes/1000 steps, but it does mean putting on outdoor clothes!
- indoor walking, there is a lot of indoor walking videos on YouTube (who knew!). I’m going to experiment with a few. Note to self – Indoor walking is really marching on the spot. It doesn’t have hip extension that walking gives. So, it may help with activity levels but may add to hip tightness. I use my Best Video Workout Journal to help me find the workout videos I want quickly
- walking on treadmill at the gym. It’s at option, but not top of my list. Perhaps if the weather is bad, but it takes 10 minutes to get there! So, if I’m out then I would probably stay out, so perhaps really bad weather or really windy!
Pause for thought
- this will be a change to my usual walking routine so I will make sure I also stretch – check out my blog here
- Plantar Fasciitis is very common during the menopause, I have had in 2021, check out my blog here
- how will I know if it’s working? My Fitbit counts step, but indoor walking is obviously on the spot
- mental health, how does it make me feel? Same number of steps different routine
Top Takeaway
- vitamin d is my priority so longer lunchtime walks my priority
- trying a few quick tea break sessions
- not forgetting stretching when trying something different
Samantha Valand is a Pilates teacher, Yoga Instructor and Personal Trainer. Who helps over fifties women fall in love with exercising again after the menopause. You can find some inspiration over on the blog If you are interested how coaching can help you can start here. Samantha has a free monthly newsletter to help you live healthy ever after.
