There's a piece of fitness advice you've likely heard so many times by now that you assume it's scientific fact—you should strive to walk 10,000 steps every day. But where did that number come from? Are 10,000 steps really the ideal count to rack up on your pedometer daily?
When I think of this sage advice, I picture a smart group of scientists with a battery of test subjects, a bunch of treadmills, and more than one calculator. They're working feverishly to crack the code on how many steps we should all be taking per day to be healthy, fit, trim, and happy. Is that what you pictured too?
Dr. Yoshiro Hatano invented a pedometer in 1965 and named it "Manpo-kei," which translates to "10,000-step meter" in English.
Well, sadly, that's not an accurate picture. Instead, imagine a Don-Draper-style fellow in 1965 Japan doodling on a piece of paper trying to come up with a hook-y name for a new device. That device was a pedometer, invented by Dr. Yoshiro Hatano, who worked for a company called Yamesa in 1965. He (and the Japanese Mad Men who worked for Yamesa) named his new device Manpo-kei, which translates to “10,000-step meter” in English.
Now, before I throw poor Dr. Hatano under the bus, let me say this: I'm sure he wasn’t trying to perpetuate the greatest hoax ever pulled on the fitness community. He was simply trying to come up with a name for his device that would stick. And wow, did he ever succeed!
10,000 steps is a flawed fitness goal
I've said it before (in my article called 11 Common Exercise Excuses) and I'll say it again—I'm not a fan of the 10,000 step phenomenon. And not just because my vision of athletes and scientists working to crack the step-count code was dashed to pieces and replaced by an inventor looking for a catchy name.
First, there's nothing magical about the number 10,000, except that it (perhaps accidentally) roughly approximates the 150 minutes of physical activity per week that your doctor may be hounding you about. Second, having that finite 10,000 step goal (or any finite step goal) gives us a reason to check "exercise" off our to-do list and hit the couch, even if we still have a spring in our step and a smile on our face and many hours of daylight left to enjoy.
No, I'm...
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Look at the way my buddy Wesley Virgin's biography launches in this SHOCKING AND CONTROVERSIAL VIDEO.
BalasHapusWesley was in the army-and soon after leaving-he discovered hidden, "mind control" tactics that the government and others used to obtain whatever they want.
THESE are the same SECRETS lots of famous people (notably those who "became famous out of nowhere") and elite business people used to become wealthy and successful.
You probably know that you only use 10% of your brain.
That's mostly because most of your brain's power is UNCONSCIOUS.
Perhaps this expression has even taken place IN YOUR own brain... as it did in my good friend Wesley Virgin's brain around seven years ago, while riding an unregistered, beat-up trash bucket of a car with a suspended driver's license and with $3.20 on his bank card.
"I'm very fed up with living check to check! When will I become successful?"
You've been a part of those those types of questions, isn't it so?
Your very own success story is going to happen. You just need to take a leap of faith in YOURSELF.
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