6 Tips for Indoor Walking

• Add extra indoor walking opportunities. When you go to the supermarket, walk around the outer aisles of the store first before you begin shopping, advises America on the Move. Do the same at warehouse clubs or giant discount stores. Then walk up and down each aisle. At work, walk to speak with co-workers instead of sending email.
• Use a pedometer. These clip-on step counters help encourage you to walk. Keep a log of how many steps you're taking daily. Increase gradually.
• Don't forget the stairs! Vary your walking workout by climbing the stairs at home or work. Even short amounts of extra stair-climbing improve cardiovascular health. Start out by adding just one or two extra trips up the stairs each day, then increase. Walk up escalators instead of standing and riding. Exercise at lunchtime with a friend by walking the stairwells at work.
• Practice inefficiency. Ms. Sanner advises setting aside the TV remote control and walking to change channels. "Take one thing up the steps at a time," she says. "Make four trips instead of one." She tells how a woman in the Active for Life® program increased her indoor walking by taking one piece of laundry out of the clothes dryer, then walking it into the living room where she did her folding. The woman then returned to the dryer for the next piece of laundry, and so on.
• Walk while you talk. Use a portable phone or wireless headset and walk around the house as you carry on conversations.
• Call the mall. Check with the management office at your local mall to find out whether the shopping center opens early, or stays open late, for walkers. If you have a choice of malls, pick one with wide halls so you can move briskly even when shoppers are there.