Pedometers: A personal trainer you can wear

No need for an expensive trainer to motivate you in your fitness goals. A pedometer might be all you need.

Pedometers prompted a group of overweight folks in one University of Michigan study to move 20 to 40 minutes longer than those who didn't wear one. That's 2,000 to 4,000 more steps or an extra one to two miles, based on a three-mph walk. Logic has it that self-monitoring is too hard -- we tend to think we've walked longer than we have, for example. But watching a pedometer gives us the cold, hard facts on how many miles we've logged. Consider a pedometer a personal trainer you can wear.

I don't personally have a pedometer but I use my treadmill to chart much of my success. When I'm beginning to wind down my workout, I'll push myself if I see I'm just short of an accomplishment. If my three mile run has me completing, say, 30 minutes, I'll challenge myself to squeak in another two laps -- that's a half a mile and a whole lot more than I'd conquer if I was running outdoors, unaware of how my pursuits were adding up.

Are you a pedometer person?