How may steps do you take in a day? Unless you are wearing a pedometer and verifying it, you may be overestimating it by two miles worth of steps.  That's what the Energizer Reality Check Survey found.   Of the 473 participants, 42% took fewer steps than they estimated and over a third of them were off by 4000 steps.  For most of us, that's a half hour or more of brisk walking -- and the difference between gaining weight or maintaining or losing weight.

Wearing a pedometer continues to be the best reality check for estimating your daily activity level.  One of the 10 things I hate about my pedometer is that is won't tell me a white lie that I've taken more steps than I actually have.  So, if you've checked out your pedometer to be sure it's working right, you're just going to have to believe it when it tells you that you are a slug.

The Energizer study also surveyed 1000 people about their attitudes towards exercise.  They found that 90% want to exercise more, and 60% of them want to take more walks to increase their activity level, including walking rather than driving.  Ways to add 2000 more steps to your day.

I've joined in a local program to track my walks through August to average 10,000 steps per day. Yes, even the walking guru needs an incentive and a group effort to work more walking into her day.  10 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Walk

The Skechers Shape-Ups All Terrain toning shoes just seem like a bad idea from the start.  Toning shoes are designed to be unstable, that's what forces your muscles into a greater range of motion and therefore, toning.  Trails already do that with unstable surfaces and hills.  Trail shoes are typically designed for extra support and extra stability.  An unstable trail shoe is an oxymoron.

I received a pair of Skechers Shape-Ups All Terrain from the manufacturer as part of their publicity push towards a Skechers-Leki nordic walking program coming this fall. I think the program is a great idea -- I love nordic walking with fitness poles.  But these All Terrain shoes are not what I would recommend for trail use.

My biggest beef with them is that they caused me to overpronate from the first step.  That can lead to knee pain and plantar fasciitis, both things that can stop a walker cold. The rocker motion in these shoes is not as pronounced as in the original Shape-Ups walking shoes or some of the more aggressive toning shoes such as Chung Shi or MBT.  But it's still there, and for me, that's a trail accident just waiting to happen.
Why You Need Trail Shoes
Top Picks for Trail Shoes
Compare Prices on Skechers Shape-Ups All Terrain

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

Photo courtesy of Pricegrabber.

Balance Walking is a fitness program that combines fitness walking poles, toning shoes, and good nutrition.  This seems to be a growing trend, as Skechers is teaming up with Leki poles and the Nordic Walking North America to launch a similar program this fall. The Balance Walking program is available through their web site and Foot Solutions stores in the US.
About the Balance Walking Program

The stores have their own brand of Balance Walking poles.  I've been using them on workouts and they work well as nordic walking poles.  The stores also have developed their own line of toning shoes, the Chung Shi shoes.  I found the shoes to be well made and I really did feel like they were exercising a wider range of muscles.  But I just couldn't get past wearing them for 10 minutes without feeling the urge to change back into regular shoes.  I am not a fan of heavier shoes, and these are as heavy as my hiking shoes.  The rocker motion is pronounced in the Chung Shi shoes.  Take care on stairs until you get used to them!
Review of the Chung Shi shoes

The Balance Walking program also has training and certification for Walk Leaders and for Coaches.   I wish this program and the upcoming Skechers-Leki program much success, mostly because I think nordic walking is an awesome fitness activity.  I've been waiting for 11 years for it to catch on in North America as it has in Europe. What it takes is having live instruction and walking groups so people can learn to do it properly and do with with less self-consciousness.

While I'm a skeptic about toning shoes and have yet to find any I like, I can highly recommend using fitness walking poles.  When used correctly, you improve your posture, open up your chest, loosen your shoulders, burn more calories per mile and achieve a higher heart rate at the same speed.  What's not to love about that?

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

Photo © Wendy Bumgardner

All toning shoe brands (Skecher Shape-Ups, Reebok EasyTone, MBT, etc.) say they have studies that prove that their shoes tone more muscles and help burn more calories. But now the American Council on Exercise sponsored a completely independent study to test these claims.  And the results are: no difference from a good pair a regular New Balance running shoes.

The research team included John Porcari, John Greany, Ph.D., StephanieTepper, M.S., Brian Edmonson, B.S., and Carl Foster, Ph.D.  They made two studies.  One focused on calorie burning while walking three to 3.5 miles per hour on a treadmill, with and without incline, and one on muscle activation for all of the muscles the toning shoes say they tone (hamstrings, glutes, abs, quads, etc.)

There was no statistical difference between calorie burning or muscle activation with the New Balance regular running shoes, Skechers Shape-Ups, Reebok EasyTone, and MBT shoes.

The conclusion reported in their online report: "Across the board, none of the toning shoes showed statistically significant increases in either exercise response or muscle activation during any of the treadmill trials. There is simply no evidence to support the claims that these shoes will help wearers exercise more intensely, burn more calories or improve muscle strength and tone."

The researchers did grant that buying a pair of toning shoes can be the incentive that gets somebody to walk.  They are the toy that motivates a person to put miles into their investment in the shoes.  That is a positive outcome.  But it is unlikely that they will produce results beyond what the walker would get with any good pair of running/walking shoes.

What do you think?  Review your toning shoes.

• Reader Reviews of Skechers Shape-Ups
• Reader Reviews of Reebok RunTone and EasyTone Shoes
• Review of the MBT Sport Walker

Photo © Wendy Bumgardner