If you want to take more steps per day, you have already understood one thing: Exercise in everyday life helps you to get really fit forever.

10,000 steps per day is a good guideline. But isn’t that pretty boring? Just go?

It doesn’t have to be.

Find out in this article what you can do to make walking more fun in the future and to move more in the long term.

One thing in advance: If you are looking for the classic tips for more exercise in everyday life, you will find it here.

This article is really all about walking and how you can have more fun in the future and thus take more steps per day.

All right? Then let’s go.

Why exercise is so important in everyday life

You may have heard it before.

Or maybe even read it.

We humans are not born to sit, but to move. More precisely: To go.

Walking is one of the most fundamental forms of movement that we humans can do.

Back to the roots

Just think how it was when we were babies.

Ok, maybe you can’t remember it, but you know the stories and you may already have children of your own.

Anyway, we all just lay around at first. Relatively calm.

More or less at least.

Then at some point we started turning and crawling. Finally we straightened up.

And finally we took our first step. Back then, nobody had to tell us to please take more steps a day because that would be good for our health.

No.

We just left. Because we could. Because we loved it.

At some point we unfortunately lost this urge to move.

Because of the social constraints that come from this: Sitting quietly while eating, in kindergarten, at school, in the car, while waiting for this and that, etc. Or because we do other things the following became more important: speed (better by car than on foot), comfort (it’s raining, I prefer to stay at home), etc.

One thing has remained the same: Movement is important and good for our mind and body.

And even regular exercise cannot completely outweigh the disadvantages of a lifestyle without everyday exercise, as this study also suggests.

10,000 steps per day

This is where the 10,000 steps come into play in our modern everyday life.

They are a good guideline. For getting enough exercise in your everyday life.

If you now know all this and maybe already knew: The sound barrier that needs to be broken and why everyday movement is so important.

Then why can’t you get your butt up?

I can tell you: There is a lack of motivation, the weaker self strikes, the weather was bad, you don’t really have time.

You also ask yourself whether it really has to be, or whether there will soon be a device that can simulate walking with muscles. Just plug it in and sit in front of the TV. The device stimulates your muscles as if you were walking.

Wake Up !

That’s – sorry – bull shit!

To get away from such daydreams and towards more fun walking, stick to one (or more) of the following ways.

They help you make walking a habit. And that’s what it’s ultimately about.

1.  Breathing exercises while walking

Have you ever tried to breathe through your nose only on your walk?

No? Then you should give it a try.

It helps you focus more on your breathing. This in turn helps you relax your body and mind.

If you are traveling too fast and you have to breathe through your mouth, just slow down a little.

So that the relaxation effect is even greater, you should look for a quiet area – preferably a forest – to walk.

2.  Adventure walking

If you have a lap that you are used to, that’s great.

At some point you will get a higher rate Probably get bored.

Then adventure going will help you. It just means that you leave the path you know and discover new paths.

In the worst case, you can always turn around and go back.

Be open to walking across fields and through forests. Off the beaten track.

You address all your senses and you can be completely with yourself. And isn’t there a little Columbus in each of us?

3.  Skill walking

For this method you have to briefly wake up the child in you.

To put it simply, it is about building natural obstacles into your walk.

A tree is in the way? Then jump over it!

A hill stands in your way? Then up with you.

You can also play with your speed: walking a little faster uphill or even running, walking slower downhill, etc.

There is no silver bullet for this. It is simply important that you overcome obstacles and make walking as diverse as possible.

Have fun!

4.  Wanderlust

Do you know what a good idea is?

Just walk to your next destination to reach. At least if it is within a radius of no more than 10 kilometers.

Walking is simply the most original form of movement. With this you reconnect with what it means to be human.

People keep moving. And perceive their surroundings much more clearly and intensely.

Sure: You need some time for that. It’s a lot faster with the car.

But the benefits cannot be denied: better health and less stress. No fuel consumption and therefore no emissions.

 

5.  Change the conditions

Are you a fair-weather goer?

Sure you are.

Other external conditions can also be attractive.

Go when it’s hot. Go when it’s cold. Go early in the morning or late at night. Go when it rains. Go when it snows.

There is no such thing as bad weather. There are only wrong clothes.

This is not an invitation to go outside during a thunderstorm or a strong storm.

It is a request to you that applies to many areas of life: Do not always make it so easy for yourself. Try the difficult way. At the end there is always a reward!

6.  Go barefoot

In Central Europe we spend most of our lives in shoes. We have work shoes, slippers, casual shoes and much more. There is the right shoe for every occasion.

If you barefoot barefoot a lot or not at all, you should start small first: Go barefoot at home as often as possible.Unfortunately, we forget one thing: We already have the right shoe: our feet. Better: our barefoot.

Then you dare to take a step further and take your shoes off on your next walk in a suitable place to take the next few steps barefoot.

Later you can go completely barefoot. This will leave you with a few wounds on your feet at first, but it will permanently improve your foot health.

You can find a comprehensive English study on the subject here: The risks and benefits of running barefoot or in minimalist shoes: a systematic review.

7.  Combine with a workout

I know. You don’t have time.

Me neither. But I find time for my training because it’s priority. Here are tips on how to find time to train too.

So wouldn’t it be cool if you could combine everyday activities with proper exercise?

Of course it would.

How to proceed:

First, make walking your priority. Every day.

Then you can alternate between bodyweight training and sprints (i.e. very fast walking or running) and thus significantly increase your strength and endurance.

8.  Have the pedometer with you

A little technical aid that motivates me to take more steps again and again is my step counter.

I like it because it also gives me an acoustic signal that it is time to get moving again and take a few steps.I wear this Garmin vívofit 2 * bracelet constantly, because I also use it as a watch.

Even if you have a classic pedometer, it will help you take more steps. The only requirement: you have to set it as your goal!

9.  Walking as a workout

Did you know that walking is also used by top athletes as a basic endurance training?

At least that’s what Timothy Ferris writes in his book The 4-Hour Body *. The whole thing then works like this:

You walk for 7.5 minutes at maximum walking speed – if you would actually like to run in terms of speed, but just keep walking – in one direction.

Then you go back in the same time and try to get to the starting point.

Done.

Sounds easy. It is.

It’s fun though, because there is a small competitive factor involved. You’re going against yourself and you can try to get a little way beyond your starting point when you go back.

10.  Partner walk

Walking together is the ultimate discipline, so to speak. You need someone you can rely on.

Sometimes the weather will be bad, but you can’t let your partner walker down, can you?The best thing to do is to make a fixed date that will be on your Priority list is at the top. This can be a weekly meeting, for example, which is of course also intended for chatting.

And if you don’t like to talk: your partner can of course also have four legs and bark.

11.  The way of the collector

One last way to increase the fun of walking is: collecting.

You can collect pretty much anything.

Bring home a beautiful bouquet of meadow flowers twice a week.

Or collect beautiful stones.

Take your smartphone with you on the tour and collect photos of sunrises. Or -sets.

You can also set up a glass container at home to motivate you and put a souvenir into it after every walk: for example a stone, a branch, a leaf, etc. Anything that will last longer. Then after a few days you can see that you are successful. That you stuck with it becomes apparent.

And when the glass is full, you can also reward yourself with something: new shoes, cool clothes, etc.

Conclusion

First of all, it is not important how much you walk, but that you take more steps a day today than yesterday.

If you are still lacking the motivation to bring more exercise into your life, then keep in mind the benefits of walking:

• It promotes your heart health
• It increases your brain activity (click here for the study)
• It weakens depression (here the study)
• It increases your bone health
• It burns calories
• It strengthens your lungs (for study)
• It increases your mindfulness and attention
• It reduces stress
• It improves your gait and your balance
• It reduces pain (often caused by lack of exercise)

So now you know how good it would be for you and you know which ways there are to make walking more fun.

What’s stopping you from just doing it?

I’ll tell you : You and your excuses!

Don’t make excuses. Do it for yourself and promise me that you will try at least one of the methods presented.

This week!