Step Counters, more commonly known as pedometers, have become really popular these past few years because of our attempts to get into that healthy lifestyle. But do we really need pedometers in order to get into shape?

During the last decade of the 20th Century up to the first decade of the new Millennium, various types of exercise machines, exercise techniques and health diets were introduced, popularized and practiced by numerous people all over the globe. It is during this time as well that increasing numbers of people have been suffering from heart related illnesses, diabetes and obesity. It is noticeable that more and more people have been gaining unwanted weight, and it has turned our species into an unhealthy lot. And what’s more distressing is the fact that the people who suffer from these conditions are getting younger by the moment.

More than just for aesthetic reasons do want to lose those flabs under our arms or the protrusion on our midsection. We want to lose all those excess fats in our body because we want to maintain our health; because to prolong our lives, we need a fit and conditioned body. But losing weight, as we all know, is harder than it sounds. That is why a lot of companies have taken advantage of the opportunity to produce machines, gadgets and devices that will help individuals in keeping their bodies in good condition.

The question is do we need any of these to keep and maintain our health?

The fact is, we don’t.

You don’t actually need a treadmill or a stationary bike or a stair master at home just to sweat out the stored cholesterol in your system. You don’t need a multi-purpose abdominal crunch machine that you’ll never use a second time or a state of the art dance video to tone your abs and your glutes. You don’t even have to starve yourself and deprive your palate with scrumptious delicacies to get yourself skinny.

The truth is, all you need to do is walk. Walking is the simplest, yet most effective aerobic work out you could ever do. It requires minimum effort but could produce great results.

Walking , which requires the movement of muscles, burn fats. Muscle movements require energy and the energy that muscles consume usually come from fat cells. So if you keep walking and keep moving your muscles, you will constantly burn fat cells.

The question now is how would you know if you had walked enough to maintain or to keep your body healthy?

Actually, there is no study yet that tells explicitly and definitively how many steps a person should take everyday to keep his body fit. No scientific study has been released yet that tells us that “this number of steps a day is equivalent to a healthy daily aerobic workout”. But there are existing recommendations from health specialists giving us an estimated figure of how many steps is roughly an equivalent of a meaningful aerobic workout: 10,000 steps a day.

At first glance, you’d think that 10,000 steps a day is a difficult task, even almost impossible. Well, if you’re planning to walk 10,000 steps in an hour or two, then it is an impossible task. But actually, this number of steps is meant to be achieved throughout the day. This means that from the time you start moving in the morning until you turn it at night, you should be counting your steps. In this way, the seemingly impossible task may be achieved in one whole day. All you need is a lot of patience, dedication and a firm decision that you won’t spend too much time sitting in your couch watching TV. You just need to decide for yourself that you are going to start walking and that you are going to start living a healthy lifestyle.

Now, how to count and keep track of your steps is the difficult part. You may have decided to walk 10, 000 steps a day but without the proper devices or gadgets, you could lose count.

This is where pedometers come in the picture. Pedometers are step counters and as such, they keep track of the number of steps you have taken. This is the main purpose of pedometers; to count steps. Since fitness waking became popular, a lot of companies have come out and started producing, manufacturing and introducing different kinds of pedometers and step counters in the market.

It has even evolved from a mechanical device to an electronic device. There are step counters today that make use of electronic sensors and are meant to count steps more accurately compared to the mechanical ones. These are called accelerometers. There are pedometers as well that make use of Global Positioning Systems or (GPS). These are technically not pedometers since they don’t count steps but these GPS “pedometers” are very accurate in measuring the distance traveled by the user.

A lot of these devices are available for people’s use. But you must beware of these gadgets. Although there are brands that are known to have accurate calculations and readings, which you want and need from these step counters, there are brands that are far from being accurate. These brands would usually market their products nicely, meaning their pedometers or accelerometers would have a trendy look or modern and attractive design but the performance would be really poor and disappointing.

To avoid these, you should look for Pedometer Reviews first to determine which pedometers would best suit your needs and which brands actually produce reliable and accurate pedometers.

Remember that pedometers are designed for step counting, so if you are going to look for pedometers, accuracy on this function must be your consideration. Most pedometers offer or have features other than step counting, they are usually inaccurate but that’s okay since what you really want to calculate and keep track of is your number of steps. So you should keep that in mind. All other features are just a plus if they work and if they’re accurate.

Also, keep in mind that single lever type pedometers don’t usually work well on people on the heavy side. Whether they have impressive reviews or not, they are still single type levers which will be inaccurate when tilted. To avoid inaccuracy in step counting, it is best to use accelerometers. That is if you’re waistline is protruding more than normal.

Now, going back to our main question, do we really need pedometers? The answer is no. Pedometers and accelerometers are tools and gadgets that will keep track and count the steps we take in a day. It is a helpful and useful tool that will allow us to stay focused and motivated to move and engage in physical activities. But there is no inherent need for it.

If you want to walk for fitness to maintain your health or to improve your physique, then by all means, do so. You can walk for fitness without having to comply with the recommended 10, 000 steps a day and you can walk without the use of pedometer if you like. But if you want to be faithful with the recommended number of steps and if you want to keep track of your daily progress as a new enthusiast of fitness walking, then pedometers or step counters would be a very useful tool for you.