Steps to Health: Myriad Gardens

For our first Steps to Health blog, we strapped on our fitness tracker and took a stroll around the beautiful Myriad Gardens. In just over thirty minutes at a leisurely pace, we covered all of the gardens’ pathways and clocked 1216 steps!  The gardens are a perfect place for an easy, quick, quiet, and scenic workout.

Wanting to step it up a notch? Aside from just walking, the Myriad Gardens offer a great setting for stair exercises. Giant stairways separate the lower waterway from the upper pathways and make for a challenging incline workout. To really increase your heart rate, mix in high-intensity spurts by sprinting as fast as you can up one flight of stairs, then walk down slowly, and repeat. Also known as high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, alternating longer stints of walking with shorter bursts of running is one of the best ways to maximize your workout.

Tip: Be sure to take your step length into account when tracking your steps. Some pedometers calculate steps based on step length (1 step), while others use stride length (step length x 2). The average step lengths are 31 inches for males and 27 inches for females, but this will vary based on height. Familiarize yourself with your own step length and know which method your tracking device uses in order to get the most accurate stats.

No matter how fast you’re stepping, the Myriad Gardens offer something for all ages. Take the kids during the day and let them play in the splash pads, explore the tree-lined paths, or catch a show at the amphitheater under the Crystal Bridge Conservatory. From the waterfalls to the ducks, birds, and native plant life, the Myriad Gardens are an oasis located just outside of the hustle and bustle of downtown Oklahoma City, offering a beautiful place to escape for a tranquil walk or run.

• Pace: Leisurely Walk
• Time: 30 minutes
• Step Count: 1216
• Distance: 0.57 miles