Pedometer Walking: Stepping Your Way to Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness [Paperback]

Mark Fenton (Author), David R. Bassett Jr. (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Mark Fenton sure likes to get around. That's him in Supersize Me, handing actor/director Martin Spurlock a pedometer and talking about the state of the nation's ever-enlarging waistband. And on his PBS series, America's Walking,
he's inspired millions to do something about it. You can count on seeing Fenton almost monthly on the pages of Health, where he's a contributing editor, in magazines from Parade to Prevention, from the LA Times to the New York Times, and in communities across the country launching walking programs and helping to build more walkable streets. No wonder the Washington Post calls Mark Fenton "America's reigning guru of walking."
What compels him to do all of this? Fenton thinks it's high time for his fellow Americans to get around as much as he does. In Pedometer Walking, he teams up with top exercise researcher David R. Bassett Jr. to help readers get moving, and the good news is that with a pedometer you soon learn that every step counts. In case you haven't heard - or seen Oprah wearing one - this handy little device packs a mighty motivational punch by actually recording your steps for you. With the current recommendation of at least 10,000 steps a day for good health, fitness, and even weight loss, you'll find you can rack them up while grocery shopping, walking the dog, and even stepping out for lunch.
With solid information about choosing and using a pedometer, insights into building a step-friendly lifestyle (and neighborhood), and a six-week program to get you started, Pedometer Walking may very well be one of the most important exercise tools in years.

About the Author

Mark Fenton, host of the PBS series America's Walking and author of The Complete Guide to Walking and Walking Through Pregnancy, has written numerous research articles about exercise science and athletic footwear. Formerly editor-at-large of Walking magazine, Fenton was a member of the United States national race-walking team from 1986 to 1991. He lives in Scituate, Massachusetts.

David R. Bassett is a professor of exercise science at the University of Tennessee, and a pioneer in pedometer research. His studies have been covered by The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, USA Today,and countless other national publications. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press; 1 edition (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592287026
• ISBN-13: 978-1592287024
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #114,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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  Books > Health, Mind & Body > Exercise & Fitness > Walking

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

252 of 252 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get Pedometer Walking....and Walk Away a Winner!, April 20, 2008

By	Tanner P. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pedometer Walking: Stepping Your Way to Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness (Paperback)

Pedometer Walking: Stepping Your Way to Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness is a great book to get if you want to get into better shape or lose weight by walking. It's also a great read to help you get the most out of your pedometer. Here's what you get.

The book has no chapters, but rather centers around a 6-week program. As you might have guessed, each section is a week. Weekly step logs are also included at the end of sections.

Week 1 is simply about putting on your pedometer and doing your normal activities for a week. The goal here is to find out just what your average number of steps a day is. From there you'll build on that number and the rest of the book shows you how. Included in this section is all the basics you need to know about pedometers, such as how they work, the proper way to wear it, etc. Most helpful!

Know now that your end-all goal of this 6-week program is to get you up to the 10,000 steps a day level. Many people have heard of the "10,000 stpes a day" campaign and it was extremely interesting to me that this number is actually based on research that has been going on since the mid 60's, mainly in Japan of all places. In a nutshell, people who walk 10,000 steps a day tend to have a normal weight compared to people who average about 6,000 steps a day or so. Now that's good info to know.

On to Week 2- the goal here is to increase your average daily steps (which you found out at the end of Week 1) by 20%. This is a nice small increase. This section is all about ways to increase your daily steps.

The Week 3 section is neat. After finding ways to increase your daily step number in the previous week, this week's goal is to practice building some of those modest increases into permanent additions- and to make your newer steps into habits.

Week 4. By now you've managed to increase your steps and may be hitting a plateau when it comes to finding new ways to increase them even further. Enter the goal of week 4- ways to add walks to your week. By using the tips and suggestions in this section, most readers will no doubt be able to find clever ways of adding short walks here and there to further boost their daily step numbers. A few pictures of helpful stretches are also included.

The Week 5 section covers an important way to boost steps- increase the speed at which you take steps. Here you learn the proper, safe way.

And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is the Week 6 section. Why? Because it covers STICKING with the program. As the book says, more than half the people who start a new fitness program drop out within 6 months. So, the emphasis here is ideas and tips to make pedometer walking a part of your life.

The book ends with a frequently asked questions section and a nice resource section (i.e. hiking info, race walking info...).

I have to say that this is a really enjoyable book to read with good research interspersed within each section. With the book, a pedometer, and a little motivation, I think most every reader will have a lot of fun reaching a new level of fitness. Avid walkers that have plantar fasciitis may also be interested in The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution.

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It worked for me in Europe, March 31, 2006

By	John - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Pedometer Walking: Stepping Your Way to Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness (Paperback)

I am an American who lived in Europe for about 8 years. I walked everywhere, probably 4 or more miles a day. I weighed about 180 back then. I now live in the U.S. (Dallas) and weigh about 192. I can tell you, walking works. My dad told me when he visited me in Europe how fit I was and thin. I ate all the same "fatty" foods as now, and drank as much beer, but I still was thinner, because I walked so much. This book shows you how to do it. I now have a pedometer on my belt and I try to get the "gold standard" of about 9,500 steps a day, which is the average in central Europe. I know this works, because I did it.

51 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walking is the best Medicine (Hippocrates), January 30, 2006

By	H. W. Kanis "Harry Kanis" (Lelystad, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Pedometer Walking: Stepping Your Way to Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness (Paperback)

This important walking recommendation and lifestyle advice was already given around 450 BC by the classic Greek physician Hippocrates. "Pedometer Walking" is a very welcome and timely book by experts to update this advise with the help of a modern stepcounter.
Quality pedometers, by simply counting your daily steps, are excellent and clever tools to motivate, measure and improve your personal daily walking habits.
The book is packed with practical quality advise to take full advantage of walking for your health with a reliable pedometer. Thereby stimulating your vascular health - improving your bloodpressure, bloodsugar and cholesterol - and therefore contributing to the prevention and treatment of many chronic diseases. I am convinced this book can be of great practical help for nearly everyone.

As a public health physician and a personal practitioner of pedometer walking since long, the benefit of walking with a pedometer for me is above all that it acts as a very effective monitoring and motivating device for more daily steps. Walking with a pedometer doubled my daily steps from about 5000 to more than 10.000 a day. It can stimulate many to improve the quality of their daily life and easily adopt a more active and healthy lifestyle by regular walking with a pedometer.