Sunday, April 3

Pedometer accuracy

I've done google searches on pedometer criticism. The main one I found is that pedometers don't measure workout intensity.

But the one I wonder the most about is pedometer accuracy. I went around and counted 100 steps several times last night and then looked at the pedometer. The pedometer numbers didn't reflect that.

I also know that every step is not going to be the same.

And I've noticed that when I go the bathroom and zip or unzip my pants or pull down or pull up my pants, the pedometer registers that as a step or two.

So, in some ways, I'll take the pedometer numbers with a grain of salt.

But it is a good measure, I suppose, of how much I get up from my desk and walk around and not spend time just staring at the computer. And it motivates me to do that more. It's also something to do when I'm waiting on the computer to load or save something. (We get the idea that saving something should be instant, but with the programs I'm working with saving often takes a minute or so, plenty of time to get up and walk away from the computer instead of getting frustrated at how slow it is.)

Here are the numbers for my first three nights at work with a pedometer, using my currently established estimate of 2000 steps equals a mile.


Thursday night shift -- 9001 miles - 4.5 miles (10 hours)

Friday night shift -- 10,843 - 5.4 miles (11 hours)

Saturday night shift --18, 820 - 9.4 miles (12 hours)

The interesting thing about the saturday night shift is that I felt very tired at the beginning of the shift and didn't walk around that much. After midnight though, I walked with a little bit more intensity at a couple of points.

All in all, a good use of my time. I was also very productive at my job, so it was all positive.

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