Pedometers are a popular simple device for recording physical activity, frequently used in fitness programs and in corporate wellness initiatives. The principle is one of movement sensors, recording a “step” whenever the vertical acceleration of the lever arm surpasses a given threshold.
Pedometers have been primarily designed to count the number of steps over a day. Fitness experts and health professionals often advise specific numbers of daily steps to meet age-appropriate guidelines for physical activity.
How Pedometers Encourage Active Life?
Assured achievement of step-count goals has been proven to increase the chances of reaching the recommended physical activity levels. Therefore, pedometers are ideal for encouraging active lives, especially for pediatric and obese participants. Their simplicity and reliability in day-to-day applications make them attractive as an introductory device to monitor fitness.
Why Are Pedometers Unsuitable for Sport Competitions?
While pedometers are effective for measuring steps, they become less than useful when applied in a more robust athletic environment. Pedometers are incapable of measuring athletic movement, such as changes of direction, which are applied much more during competitive sports. Additionally, they hardly provide an impression of the energy that is being expended, which is an important measure for athletes looking to maximize performance with minimum recovery.
Who Should Use Pedometers?
This being said, pedometers are an extremely pragmatic tool for most any person wishing to improve or sustain their fitness. For those interested in general activity and walking-based exercise, they provide a reliable and simple instrument with which to monitor activity. However, for athletes or participants in competitive sport, they are better served by more sophisticated tools, including accelerometers or GPS trackers, that can capture the full gamut of movement and performance metrics essential for high-level training.
In a nutshell, pedometers are good for monitoring steps while running errands, however they do not have the accuracy and skills one would want for recording professional sports. Being a tool for fitness monitoring, pedometers remain highly essential, however with some limitations among those with the pressure of surpassing athletic limits.
The Sportz Planet Desk,
Atharva Shetye
