Idaho Step Challenge Newsletter
September, 2016

The days are shorter, the temperatures are cooler, and the leaves have turned colors, but the Fall season doesn’t mean your fitness routine needs to slow down.

In fact, some fitness experts say now is a great time to start a new routine because the seasonal change provides a natural reminder to rethink and restart a healthy routine before the holiday season and the colder winter months arrive.

If you need tips on ways to maintain your fitness level, check out this article on Fall Fitness, and then view the new Mile Tracker Boards to see your progress to date.      

Since starting the Idaho STEP Challenge almost five months ago, Congressman Simpson has logged 875 total miles. He has ventured from the nation’s capital, up the eastern seaboard, past the Great Lakes, and into the Midwest. He is currently just outside of Madison, Wisconsin.

Since beginning the challenge, we’ve received positive comments and heard some great stories along the way. If you’d like to share a story, photo, or video from your #hikewithMike travels, please send a message to us at simpsonsteps@mail.house.gov. We’d love to celebrate and share your success with other STEP Challenge participants.

Two academic studies published in peer-reviewed journals this month take a look at the effectiveness of fitness trackers and the importance of exercise routines.

In the first article, researchers compared weight loss measurements of users and non-users of fitness trackers. Surprisingly, the results show individuals using fitness trackers lost about 40 percent less weight than non-users. While this may sound like discouraging data, it’s important to recognize that any exercise routine leading to weight loss is an overall improvement to a sedentary lifestyle. 

Also important are the added benefits that come from a regular workout as described in this article. For this study, researchers compared the physiological data of people who performed four days of exercise for three consecutive months, with the physiological data of the same people following a nine-month hiatus from exercise. The results indicate that taking a break from routine exercise leads to a decline in muscle memory after just a month or two.