Walkable Grand Haven Information

What? Walkable Grand Haven is community wide initiative designed to promote physical activity and health to all citizens.

Where? Grand Haven is a community abundant with bike paths, trails, sidewalks and opportunities for various types of outdoor recreation. In addition there are numerous fitness centers, including private clubs, schools, the Northwest Ottawa Recreation Authority (NORA) and the local YMCA which have many opportunities and programs for physical activity and exercise. By encouraging our citizens to lead a more active lifestyle, we are working to improve their health and overall quality of life. Our goal is to create a “movement” within our community and to get as many individuals and groups involved in the program as we are able.

How will the program work? The program will be utilizing a website which will allow participants to create an individual profile page, to track the number of steps they accumulate daily through walking or by converting other modes of physical activity into steps. In addition individuals will be allowed to set personal goals, participate in contests, interact with other users on the Walkable Grand Haven site and even link their daily results to Facebook! To provide additional motivation, there will be drawings and prizes offered as incentives throughout the program.

Who is presenting this program? Walkable Grand Haven is being presented by multiple sponsors throughout our community. Our organizations and committee members are excited not only to offer this program to the community but also to participate in the program ourselves!

Why record your steps? Maybe you have heard the recent guidelines about walking 10,000 steps per day. How far is 10,000 steps anyway? The average person's stride length is approximately 2.5 feet long. That means it takes just over 2,000 steps to walk one mile, and 10,000 steps is close to 5 miles. A sedentary person may only average 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day. For these people adding steps has many health benefits. A reasonable goal for most people is to increase average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you can easily average 10,000 per day. Example: If you currently average 3000 steps each day, your goal for week one is 3500 each day. Your week 2 goal is 4000 each day. Continue to increase each week and you should be averaging 10,000 steps by the end of 14 weeks.

How does the registration process work? Download a registration form from www.grandhaven.org/walkable, fill out and mail in the registration form to either NORA or the Tri-Cities Family YMCA. Once your registration form has been processed, you will receive an invitation via e-mail to join the WalkerTracker website. Set-up your profile and start tracking your steps!

How easy is it to convert other types of physical activity into steps? Very easy! There is a very large list of activities from cycling to tennis and horseback riding to vacuuming! You will enter the activity and then the number of minutes you performed the activity. The site also allows you to accumulate your activity total for the day. For example: a 30 minute walk in the morning, and a 30 minute bike ride in the evening would both be entered toward your total steps for the day.

How long will the program last and can I join at any time? This program is designed to be ongoing. Through contests and challenges that will vary in type and duration, we hope to provide ongoing motivation to stay involved in the program. You can join at any time and encourage family members, neighbors and co-workers to join you as well!

City of Grand Haven Official Site