University of Georgia Cooperative Extension: Walk Georgia
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Walk Georgia Help: About Walk Georgia
- What is Walk Georgia?
- Key Walk Georgia dates
- Walk Georgia goals
- How to participate
- How to form a team
- Milestones: tracking your progress
- Converting minutes to mileage
- Computer requirements
- Email and privacy policy
What is Walk Georgia?
Walk Georgia is an 12-week program to increase your physical activity in a fun, community-oriented way. You may participate as an individual and track your progress with other individuals in your county and state OR form a team of four to exercise together.
The online component of Walk Georgia provides an activity record to keep track of your weekly physical activity and time. The activity that you record is translated into "walked" miles, based on average rigor of the chosen activity and the time you were active.
When you accumulate miles, you will be able to navigate a map of Georgia and chart your course to "walk" Georgia. As you move throughout this virtual state, you will be able to view fun facts about each county you visit and learn new ways to improve your health. You will also be able to see how you compare to other individuals throughout the state.
We hope you will be inspired to join us and others in your county as we get more active and become healthier!
This program is sponsored through your local Cooperative Extension office. For more information about your county Cooperative Extension office, call 1-800-ASK-UGA1.
Key Walk Georgia dates
- Registration open: February 1, 2013 to Apr. 25, 2013
- Program period (time of activity): February 10, 2013 to May 4, 2013
- Final activity recorded: May 11, 2013
- Certificates of completion available: May 12, 2013
- Program closed to participants: May 18, 2013
- Program closed to county administrators: June 15, 2013
Walk Georgia Goals
The goals of this program, sponsored by the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and its partners, are to help you:
- Get more fit.
- Develop the habit of regular physical activity.
- Get support from others who are also interested in moving more.
- Have fun!
How to participate
You can participate in this program in one of two ways:
- As an individual
- As a team member
Individuals:
- Individuals act independently of teams.
- You track your own activity and decide how you would like to move throughout the virtual state.
- You are only ranked within the individual rankings.
- You may create an individual account at any point within the program registration period (February 1, 2013 to Apr. 25, 2013).
Teams:
- Team members work together to encourage each other to participate in weekly activity and combine their cooperative effort to move throughout the virtual state.
- Teams are ranked with other teams in the state.
- Team members can also view how they compare to other individuals.
- Teams must have exactly 4 team members: one team captain and three members (see How to form a team).
If you do not have enough people to create a team but would like to participate with a friend, each of you can create individual accounts and still encourage each other throughout the program.
An email address is required to participate as a team captain or individual. Team members are not required to enter this information unless they desire an account to manage their information.
How to form a team
Teams are formed when four people decide to participate in the program together. Each team must have a team captain.
The team captain must initiate team creation by creating a "Team Captain" account. This account can be created at any point within the program registration period (February 1, 2013 to Apr. 25, 2013).
The team captain will enter each team member's name and email address (if available). All team members must be entered at one time and cannot be changed. This MUST be completed before program registration ends.
After the team captain completes team creation, each member of the team will receive an email prompt to create their own account.
An email address is required for all account creation. If a team member does not have an email address, the team captain can enter physical activity information on his or her behalf.
NOTE: If you are a team member, do not create a participant account before your captain has created the team. You will receive an email prompt to join the team your captain has formed.
Milestones: tracking your progress
Walk Georgia has established a weekly goal of 15 miles for all participants. This is exercising the equivalent of about 5 miles for three days of the week. You can use the Minutes to Mileage chart to plan your weekly activity.
As you participate in the program, your program goal will increase by 15 miles each week.
For individuals and team members, your milestones are:
- Week 1: 15 cumulative miles
- Week 2: 30 cumulative miles
- Week 3: 45 cumulative miles
- Week 4: 60 cumulative miles
- Week 5: 75 cumulative miles
- Week 6: 90 cumulative miles
- Week 7: 105 cumulative miles
- Week 8: 120 cumulative miles
Teams are encouraged to reach the combined individual milestones for each team member. For teams, your weekly total milestones are:
- Week 1: 60 cumulative miles
- Week 2: 120 cumulative miles
- Week 3: 180 cumulative miles
- Week 4: 240 cumulative miles
- Week 5: 300 cumulative miles
- Week 6: 360 cumulative miles
- Week 7: 420 cumulative miles
- Week 8: 480 cumulative miles
Converting minutes to mileage
If you prefer to engage in other physical activity besides walking, the conversion chart below shows the equivalent in steps-per-minute that your activity would equal based on energy expended.
The chart also shows how long you would need to do that activity to equal one mile walked at a brisk pace. 2,000 steps is approximately equivalent to one mile.
For instance, if you were to bike for 30 minutes and each minute is equal to 187 steps, your activity would be worth a total of 5610 steps. If 2000 steps equals one "walked" mile, then 5610 steps (30 minutes of biking) would be worth 2.8 "walked" miles.
This is an estimate that allows us to easily convert the minutes you do these activities into miles so they can count as part of your "walk" across the state. We want you to get all the credit you deserve for getting more active!
Activity Type |
Steps per Minute |
Minutes per "Walked" Mile |
|---|---|---|
| Active Stretching* | 73 | 27 |
| Aerobics, low impact | 170 | 12 |
| Aerobics, step | 238 | 8 |
| Aerobics, water | 126 | 16 |
| Badminton | 153 | 13 |
| Basketball, game | 272 | 7 |
| Biking / Cycling | 187 | 11 |
| Bowling | 102 | 20 |
| Calisthenics | 119 | 17 |
| Canoeing / Kayaking | 170 | 12 |
| Dancing | 153 | 13 |
| Dynaband* | 119 | 17 |
| Elliptical trainer | 238 | 8 |
| Exercise Ball* | 84 | 24 |
| Exercise machine | 204 | 10 |
| Football | 272 | 7 |
| Frisbee / Catch | 68 | 29 |
| Gardening, light | 73 | 27 |
| Gardening, moderate | 116 | 17 |
| Golf, with cart | 78 | 26 |
| Golf, without cart | 153 | 13 |
| Gymnastics | 102 | 20 |
| Heavy yardwork | 174 | 11 |
| Hiking, 10-20 lb load | 217 | 9 |
| Hiking, 21-42 lb load | 232 | 9 |
| Hiking, general | 172 | 12 |
| Horseback riding | 136 | 15 |
| Hunting | 170 | 12 |
| Jump rope | 244 | 8 |
| Martial arts | 341 | 6 |
| Medicine Ball* | 84 | 24 |
| Mowing, push | 187 | 11 |
| Pilates | 85 | 24 |
| Racquetball | 409 | 5 |
| Running, 06 min mile | 545 | 4 |
| Running, 08 min mile | 426 | 5 |
| Running, 10 min mile | 341 | 6 |
| Running, 12 min mile | 272 | 7 |
| Skating | 409 | 5 |
| Skiing | 238 | 8 |
| Soccer, game | 341 | 6 |
| Softball | 204 | 10 |
| Swimming, light | 272 | 7 |
| Swimming, moderate | 324 | 6 |
| Swimming, vigorous | 375 | 5 |
| Tennis, doubles | 170 | 12 |
| Tennis, singles | 238 | 8 |
| Volleyball, game | 272 | 7 |
| Walking, 15 min mile | 170 | 12 |
| Walking, 20 min mile | 112 | 18 |
| Walking, 30 min mile | 85 | 24 |
| Water Activities* | 85 | 24 |
| Water Jogging* | 170 | 12 |
| Weight lifting | 102 | 20 |
| Yoga | 85 | 24 |
* See more information about these activities under Exercise Tips.
Computer requirements
Participation in the online component of Walk Georgia requires the following:
- Internet connection
- Internet browser
- Email address
- Flash Player 6 plug-in** (available for free at Adobe.com)
**The Flash Player is necessary to use the interactive Georgia map.
Email and Privacy Policy
How we use your email address: Once you confirm your account, the email address you register will be used to stay in touch with you throughout the program. This may be used for any of the following reasons to contact you:
- For award notification
- For system-related issues, such as resetting your password
- To send a follow-up survey
- To send a weekly email newsletter to subscribed addresses
Who can see your address: Your email address is only visible to your teammates (if you are on a team), county administrator, and the program administrators.
Multiple accounts: If you are registering multiple people under one email address, you will only receive duplicate emails when the information is custom per participant. Duplication will typically only be for account set-up and the personalized follow-up survey.
Spam filters: Walk Georgia will not respond to messages from your spam filter requesting us to follow a link and complete a form in order for our email to come to you. If you have such a spam filter, please add "walkGA@uga.edu" to your safe list.
Walk Georgia Newsletter: During each session, Walk Georgia sends eight weekly email newsletters that include healthy lifestyle tips, recipes, recognition of leading participants, success stories, and announcements. You may sign up for this during registration or any time at http://eepurl.com/gYS3. Future session dates will also be announced to newsletter subscribers.
You may unsubscribe at any time. A link to unsubscribe is included in each newsletter.
