The second ever Steptober challenge, powered by M7 Real Estate, is very nearly upon us!
Last year’s Steptober saw 500 steppers taking 166,691,897 steps‚ÄØand raising more than £120,000 for LandAid, and we can’t wait to see how much further you can all get this year.
To give you a bit of a boost in the runup to the event, we wanted to give you some tips directly from some of last year’s most stellar steppers.
Last year Leach Rhodes Walker Architects Team CJG walked away with the Team with the Highest Step Count Award, logging a ridiculous 3,056,138 steps between the four of them.
We chatted to Christian Gilham, Director of Leach Rhodes Walker Architects and the captain – and catalyst – of their dream team, to find out about what he and his colleagues had gotten out of Steptober and how they had managed to log such an impressive number of steps. Will anyone be able to challenge their step count this year?
How did your team manage to log so many steps?
For me,‚ÄØbasically I walked everywhere, and got back into running – my routine had moved to cycling rather than running. Other team members had to give up their exercise routine and concentrate on steps rather than gym, cycling, etc.
What was your secret?
‚ÄØAs you can see from the fact our teams came in first and second place – we are a little competitive! So that, and basically doing it consistently from the start, helped.
Because the challenge was in teams of four, if one of us wasn’t doing as much, the others did – and in reality, the fact that every team member was doing well spurred us all on to do even more each. ‚ÄØ
We are an active office, and encourage staff exercise, and wellbeing, so it was part of that working approach, and our staff enjoyed it, I think!
Did Steptober change your walking habits dramatically? And did it improve your team’s wellbeing?
Yes it did‚ÄØ- to get to work I am now including a walk to the train station, which takes 45 minutes,‚ÄØand then a 20-minute walk from the‚ÄØtrain to the office, and then the same on the way back.
In terms of wellbeing, my team and I realised we can get more exercise stepping, into the day.
Did you enjoy the challenge while your team was putting in immense effort to log the most steps?
Yes I did, the challenge got me back into books. I subscribed to Amazon Audible and I’m now engrossed in a series of audio books, which makes me want to walk even more as I don’t get time to listen to them when I’m at home with the family!
People at our Prize Giving said that Steptober changed their lives. Has it changed yours?
I already do plenty of exercise, however it has made me think I can get some walking into my day, at the loss of sleep!