It’s hard enough getting all your steps in every day when life is normal. In a virus lock-down situation it can be really challenging.

It’s crazy how little you can do in a day when stuck at home. The most I got on a really wet day when we didn’t do much of anything was 1,500 steps.

Livestrong.com says ‘According to the 10,000 Steps Project, people who take fewer than 5,000 steps a day have a sedentary lifestyle. Increasing your activity level to anywhere between 7,500 and 10,000 steps would place you into the moderate, or somewhat active, level. Only those individuals who take more than 12,500 steps each day are considered highly active.’

That would make my 1,500 steps on a wet day at home abysmal and the 3,000 odd steps I get in a usual working day well within the sedentary camp. Scary.

I have made a bit of a commitment to make the most of my lock-down situation and do my best to increase my fitness and well being over the next few weeks before they let us out…or don’t as the case may be. I started out with a goal of 7,000 steps per day but have recently increased that to 10,000.  According the the 10,000 steps project that still only makes me moderately active!

It’s quite hard work coming up with 10,000 steps per day when not in lock-down but I’m finding the new challenge quite fun.

You may be interested to know that for me, 10,000 steps is a whopping 6.5 km (4 miles) and takes around 2 hours 15 minutes. I have short legs so I don’t get that far with all those steps.

It pays to get creative and not too fussy when getting steps in a lock-down situation. Here are some of the ways I have been cranking up my 10,000 steps:

• Just messing around the house – 1,500 (this is basically just doing nothing all day)
• Walk with the kids and dog – 4,000-6,000 steps (depending on kids and dog energy levels)
• Walking back and forwards in front of an hour long webinar – 3,500
• Side stepping in the kitchen while talking to my husband as he makes dinner – 2,000
• Dancing to Gypsy Kings in the kitchen after tea – 1,000
• Family workout session – 1,000
• Stepping back and forth while the little one is in the shower – 1,000
• Walking from the deck window to the little one’s bedroom window 1,000 times  – 6,000 (yeah – I haven’t done this but I worked it out for the next rainy day)

I’ve turned my step target into a fun game that relieves the monotony of being stuck at home with a very strange work schedule (between Zoom calls and kids schoolwork).

I realized today that the fact is if I wasn’t stepping everywhere I would be sitting somewhere on a device not stepping. That’s a motivating thought.

Happy stepping lock-down buddies!

PS: My secret weapon is put your workout clothes and sports shoes on as soon as you get up. That way you feel like you’re working out all day. Active wear is great! Now I just have to convince my boss to let me wear my workout gear to work when we’re allowed back….

Published by the lean minimalist

Donna Sherriff is a New Zealand based improvement and operations management specialist. Seeing a need for simple, no fuss, improvement advice she started The Lean Minimalist blog in 2017. Donna writes articles offering advice and tips for rapid and sustainable business improvement based on over 15 years in Senior Management roles. Passionate about sharing the lessons of over 20 years on the high performance track Donna offers coaching services to professionals. She also writes about her own personal improvement journey, minimalism, and her life long struggle against the tyranny of cookies and sugar which she overcame in 2020. These days, Donna is pursuing a journey to earn her black belt in Taekwondo after a long hiatus of 16 years away from training. On the side she is an amateur but passionate musician and poet. View all posts by the lean minimalist