Pedometers
Pedometers are tools designed to measure your walking distance. Some pedometers measure the number of footsteps, others measure the actual area covered and some measure both. One point that can be tricky when measuring distance is knowing how to measure your stride length as well. A person with short legs may cover the same distance as a person with long legs, but shorter legs take more steps.
An easy way to determine your stride length is to walk on a quarter-mile track on the inside lane and count the number of steps it takes. Multiply this number by four to figure the number of steps you’ll take in a mile. That way, when you use your step-counting pedometer, you can figure out how many miles you’ve walked by dividing the number of steps you take on your walk by the number of steps that make up a mile for you.
As with the track method outlined above, quarter-mile tracks are useful ways to gauge your walking distance. If you want to walk two miles, simply walk the inside lane a total of eight times. It’s a good habit to reverse the direction you walk on a track from time to time because it gives you a change of scenery, making things more interesting than viewing it the exact same way each and every time.
Another way to answer to measure walking distance is to drive along the area you want to walk. This is useful for people who walk in neighborhood settings, but don’t know how far they’ve traveled just by walking down a long street. Use your car’s odometer to check the distance, so the next time you walk from one neighborhood to the next, you’ll know how far you’ve traveled.
Treadmills
Many treadmills take the guesswork out of measuring your walking distance. Simply input your information, start walking and the machine tells you such things as:
Calories burned
Distance traveled
Time spent exercising
While some people find treadmills boring, you can use them anytime as part of a cardio routine, without worrying about the weather outside.