Hello and welcome to my blog for December – Just Keep Moving – Part One. It’s a fresh month, so a fresh topic to discuss, and hopefully inspire you to take care of yourself over the winter months. And, we are finally out of lockdown, woohoo! Online booking is open, and I am back working, helping you to unwind tense muscles.
Don’t Delay in Booking, trust me, you need me to knead you.
How do we know if we are getting enough movement?
The government got on board with healthy lifestyle choices a while ago, after its chequered past advocating alcohol and smoking, amongst other things, and they suggested that 10,000 steps was a good indicator of health. And the fashion of wearing pedometers exploded. Even I wear one! Check out www.garmin.com for great wearable trackers.
But is it a good indicator of health?
No. Not really… because the number of steps chosen is completely arbitrary.
Do you even know where the government got the number 10,000 for our daily steps from?
A Marketing Campaign
The magic number 10,000 goes back to a marketing campaign that ran shortly before the start of the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. A company selling a pedometer, the Manpo-kei: man for 10,000, po for steps, and kei for meter. It was hugely successful, and the number seems to have stuck.
That’s it. Pretty uninspiring, right? So why do we all aim for 10,000 steps, and why do we love to use it as a metric of health?
With the advent of offices and office work, and the provision of tables and chairs to achieve that work, we are all aware of how little we normally move, and having a visual reminder is a powerful tool we can each utilise to improve ourselves. Sitting down for long periods of the day, can be one of the most damaging things you can do to your body, in terms of movement, or lack thereof.
Just Keep Moving – Part One
It’s why sitting has been touted as a modern disease, because of the prevalence of it for our work, and our leisure too.
Check back next week for a bit more discussion about daily steps, movement, its importance, and why you should strive to achieve a bit more of it, and how in Just Keep Moving – Part Two.
If you are having trouble getting more movement into your day, I run one-to-one Personal Training sessions, specialising in getting you away from a sedentary lifestyle and back into regular activity, and remedial training to overcome repetitive injuries and painful movement.
Please email [email protected] if you’d like to enquire about personal training, and if you wish to book a massage if sore muscles are stopping you from being active, book online at www.astralfitness.co.uk .
My prices are increasing on January 1st, however I am offering a locked in price for 1 year if you take out a Massage Membership with me before the end of the year. Check https://astralfitness.co.uk/benefits-of-regular-massage-part-four/ for more details and email me to register your interest.
See you soon,
Chloe