Walking is a fantastic method of dropping a few pounds, getting in shape and achieving a wide range of important health benefits. It’s easy to do, no training is required, and you won’t need any special equipment either. You can do it just about anywhere – there’s no need to visit the gym – which means that there are no expensive monthly membership fees either. You can fit it into your daily schedule whenever it suits you best and do it wherever you like. Fit your walking into one long session or break it into shorter spells over the course of the day. It’s completely up to you.

One piece of essential equipment for walking is a good comfortable pair of shoes. If your shoes give you blisters or are uncomfortable, then sticking to your walking exercise plan will be difficult. So make sure that you have a good pair that you’re happy with. If you like, you could get some of the latest designs of fitness shoes which help to raise the amount of work that your lower body muscles perform whilst walking normally.

There are a wide range of different makes available – Skechers Shape Ups, Reeboks Easy Tones, Fit flops exercise sandals and Masai Barefoot Technology are amongst the best known and most popular – but new brands are appearing on the market all the time. They do have some slight variances, but the common aspect seems to be a specially designed sole which boosts the amount of work done by your leg and butt muscles. This helps you to ramp up the effectiveness of your workout and allows you to get the maximum return from your walking routine.

Health advisors suggest that, in order to achieve significant health benefits, a target of 10,000 steps a day is desirable. A lot of people who walk for exercise find that a pedometer is a useful motivational aid which encourages them to increase their step count and get closer to the target figure. Pedometers are inexpensive these days but, if you think that having one would help you to stay motivated you should be sure to get a good quality one.

A recent study found that a high percentage of pedometers were inaccurate – by as much as 50% in some cases. The general trend seemed to be for inaccurate pedometers to overestimate the number of steps taken – so someone who was taking 5,000 steps a day might mistakenly believe that they were hitting the 10,000 step target value. The reason is due to the fact that the cheapest pedometers tend to use a hairspring technology which is calibrated in the factory during manufacture. These become ever less accurate as the pedometer ages – with a growing tendency to overestimate the number of steps as the spring weakens being the outcome.

Better models employ coiled spring technology and dual accelerometer sensors which means that they have greater accuracy, a longer lifespan and that they can be carried in your pocket or a bag instead of being worn on your belt. An Omron pedometer typically has an accuracy of plus or minus 5%. Other quality brands include Yamax, Taneka and New Lifestyles.

Should you wish to find out just how accurate your pedometer is, there are two very simple tests which you can perform. The first is to simply count out 100 steps and compare it with what your pedometer has recorded. The second test method is to take a note of the reading on your pedometer just before you first sit down – at your desk at work perhaps – and then to check it again after being seated for thirty minutes or so. If your step count increases significantly as a result of your normal movements whilst seated then it will certainly artificially inflate your daily step count.

These days, the majority of pedometers are digital. They usually have a memory and you can generally see your results for 7 days – useful if you want to monitor your progress. Some even allow you to load your results into your computer using a USB connection so that you can monitor your results over time. You can choose how your results are displayed as well. Select from the distance covered, the number of steps or the number of calories used up – whatever helps you to stay motivated.