You can get an official GYM60 pedometer for free at the following places:
Gillette City Hall
Gillette Recreation Center
Campbell County School District ESC Building

The pedometers should be worn near the middle of your body, and must be worn so that the display is facing up. They rely on gravity and motion to work, so if your pedometer isn’t worn properly, it won’t count your steps properly. If you are experiencing problems with your pedometer you can contact GYM60 support via email at support@gym60program.com

Jara Soost takes advantage of a sunny, warm day to talk with her kids as they walk eight blocks to Sunflower Elementary School on Thursday morning. Issaac, 8, and Zoey, 6, walk with their mother when the weather allows.

Jara Soost knows that she is a role model to her kids whether or not they know it. That is why the personal trainer tries to lead an active lifestyle that includes walking her children to school when she can.

“The kids love it. They know that you are engaged in what they are doing,” she said. “Kids copy their parents all the time, whether we know it or not. If I don’t think it is important, they won’t think it is important either.”

Although the stroll from her home to Sunflower School with her children, Isaac, 8, and Zoey, 6, is only about eight blocks, each step counts toward a healthier lifestyle for her family.

It is that healthy lifestyle for the whole family that a new cooperation between the Campbell County School District, the City of Gillette and Campbell County hopes to promote through a new program funded by a school district recreation mill grant.

A step in the right direction

Soost tries to get 10,000 steps under her belt each day with a varying degree of success. And that is exactly what the new Gym 60 program is asking of the rest of the community.

Simply try to walk more.

“It is our hope that we can increase physical activity for the schools, but also in the community,” said Healthy Schools Coordinator Mike Miller. “This is a communitywide effort. If we can get adults modeling it, and encouraging it, it will hopefully encourage kids.”

Read the rest of the story HERE.

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Enjoy!

Photo credit: Apes Abroad, “Photographer at Work,” September 24, 2010 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

But how many steps should you be taking?  And how do you use your pedometer to lose weight?  What if you just want to lower your blood pressure, or improve your circulation?

The Office of the U.S. Surgeon General recommends walking 10,000 steps per day.  So, regardless of your specific health goals, you can use this as a guideline in designing your personal walking program.

Don’t start off trying to walk 10,000 steps per day.  Instead, clock how many steps you normally walk in a day, and then try increasing that by 10%.  After a week, increase that by another 10%, until you hit your 10,000 step goal.  You may be tempted to change your step count more quickly, but this could result in injury.  Gradual increases in step counts will gently habituate your body to exercise.

If you’re interested in losing weight, you should aim to lose roughly 1 to 2 pounds per week.  There are 3,500 calories in a pound, so if you burn 500 calories per day, you should lose 1 pound per week.  On average, walking will burn 100 calories per mile.  Once you’ve determined your stride length, you can figure out how many steps it takes for you to walk a mile.  To burn 500 calories daily, you could set a goal of walking 5 miles a day, tracking your steps with your pedometer, or you could set a lower goal and cut your daily caloric intake to make up the difference.

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.  It’s better to set small, realistic health goals and succeed at them then it is to set dramatically high goals that you cannot yet achieve.  With time, you can work your way up to doing almost anything!

Photo credit: Versageek, “A Walk on the Beach,” September 10, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

In order to determine how many miles you are walking, it’s important to know how long your stride is.  Here is a simple method for figuring out your stride length:

Using a tape measure, mark off a distance that is 50 feet long, using masking tape to mark the beginning and end of this segment.

Next, walk the fifty feet, counting how many steps it takes you to do so.

Divide 50 by the number of steps you took.  Now you know your stride length!

To see how many miles you have walked in a given day, multiply the number of steps you took by your stride length.  This will tell you how many feet you walked.  Divide this number by 5280 (the number of feet in a mile) to get the number of miles you walked today.  Happy trails!

Photo credit: Shannon Kringen, “Fall Walk,” October 9, 2009 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

• Clip it to your belt, or secure it to one of your belt loops.  This is the easiest way to make sure that your pedometer will not drop off.
• If you wear a knee brace while walking, try tucking your pedometer into it.
• If you don’t want your pedometer to be visible when at the office, hook it to the belt loop directly below the small of your back.  That way, it can remain hidden by your suit jacket.
• If you don’t wear pants with belt loops while exercising, but do wear a fanny pack, you can attach your pedometer to one of its straps.
• Long tops or bulky sweaters can help ladies to conceal their pedometers.
• When all else fails, wear your pedometer proudly.  After all, there’s nothing embarrassing about pursuing better health.

Photo credit: Ed Yourdon, “Jogging Around the Reservoir #1,” September 1, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

Name:

Purpose: To get kids excited about clocking miles on their pedometers, and to learn about their home state.

Appropriate Grades: K-6.

Materials needed: Gym60 web app, Gym60 pedometers for each student, large map of Wyoming, construction paper, markers.

Help your students to get motivated about walking, as well as to learn more about Wyoming, by charting their walking progress on a large map of Wyoming.

Wyoming is 280 miles in width.  If your students regularly walk, they should be able to collectively walk the length of the state.  Have them track their miles on the Gym60 web app, and submit their totals to you weekly.  Add the totals together.  For every twenty miles your class walks, mark it on the Wyoming map with one of Wyoming’s state symbols. Draw the state symbol on construction paper, and affix it to the map.  Your students will enjoy learning more about Wyoming, as well as seeing their progress over time.  Use the following list of symbols:

• Represent 20 miles with Wyoming’s state butterfly, the Sheridan’s Green Hairstreak Butterfly.
• Represent 40 miles with Wyoming’s state flower, the Indian Paintbrush.
• Represent 60 miles with Wyoming’s state grass, Western Wheatgrass.
• Represent 80 miles with Wyoming’s state fish, the Cutthroat Trout.
• Represent 100 miles with Wyoming’s state bird, the Meadowlark.
• Represent 120 miles with Wyoming’s state reptile, the Horned Toad.
• Represent 140 miles with Wyoming’s state tree, the Plains Cottonwood.
• Represent 160 miles with Wyoming’s state mammal, the Bison.
• Represent 180 miles by singing Wyoming’s state song, “Wyoming,” and affixing the lyrics to the map.
• Represent 200 miles with Wyoming’s state coin, the Sacajawea.
• Represent 220 miles with Wyoming’s state gem, Jade.
• Represent 240 miles with Wyoming’s state sport, rodeo.
• Represent 260 miles with Wyoming’s state dinosaur, the Triceratops.
• Represent 280 miles with Wyoming’s state flag.

Whenever possible, integrate information about Wyoming’s symbols into your lesson plans.  For instance, a lesson on American history could easily include a discussion of Sacajawea, while a unit on plant biology could discuss the Indian paintbrush.  Connecting the symbols to both the students’ walking and their other classwork will help them to feel a stronger sense of history, pride and community.

Photo credit: Brian Swan, “1895 Railroad Map of Wyoming,” March 23, 2000 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

2.  Younger students may enjoy staging a walking “parade” at lunch or recess.  Encourage this activity by having them craft “parade” props, such as streamers, flags or badges.  You could also hand out musical instruments, such as small drums or flutes, for them to play on their “parade.”

3.  Organize a large game of tag that includes your whole class.  You could even expand it to include all the kids in your class’s grade.  Keep it structured by having half the children be “it,” and making them trade off this duty with the other half of the students.  Provide prizes for participation, such as juice-based frozen treats or lemonade.  For some fun new tag game ideas, check out this page.

4.  Hold a trivia bee on facts about walking. Safe Routes to School has compiled this list of interesting walking facts.  Present these facts to your students, and then organize them into teams.  Have the teams compete to answer questions about walking, and award the winners with an exercise-centric prize, such as new shoelaces.

5.  Start a milage club, and represent your students’ progress visually.  If your students are using Gym60 pedometers, they should be able to track how many miles they are walking using the Gym60 web app.  Each week, add up the students’ totals and let them know how many miles they have walked.  Represent their progress with a giant paper caterpillar that gets a new ring for each mile walked.  See if your students can make that caterpillar span the classroom!

Photo credit: Terren in Virginia, “Kids Run,” October 17, 2009 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

10.  Walk together! Walking in groups will ensure that you and your friends are visible to drivers.

9.  Provide crossing guards.  Ask your parent to make sure that your school has crossing guards available.  This will help you and your classmates to travel more safely to school.

8.  Make eye contact with drivers.  By making eye contact with drivers, you can make sure that they have seen you.

7.  Don’t run out into the street for any reason.  If your ball rolls out into the street, or your pet runs away, ask an adult for help.

6.  Hold a parent’s hand in parking lots.  Although most people don’t drive quickly in parking lots, they can drive carelessly.

5.  Don’t cross behind cars, buses or other vehicles. All drivers have their “blind” spots.  To keep from accidentally wandering into a blind spot, always cross in front of vehicles, never behind them.

4.  Always use the sidewalk. Walking on roads that don’t have curbs could be dangerous.

3.  Stay aware.  Most people drive carefully, but not everyone does.  Watch out for reckless drivers.

2.  Wear reflective materials when walking in the evening or in overcast or inclement weather.  Under dim conditions, drivers may not be able to see you.  Wearing bright clothing will make you more visible.

1.  Always use designated crosswalk intersections to cross the street, and pay attention to traffic signals.  Never jaywalk. Pedestrians have to obey the rules of the road, just like drivers.  Following these rules keeps everybody safer.

Photo credit: D. Sharon Pruitt, “A Little Stroll with Teddy Girl,” August 2, 2007 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.