CMR Canada  Employee and Family Assistance Programs 
Serving Canadians for 21 Years
 

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"There is a strong chain of evidence showing that walking is absolutely the best form of exercise for the vast majority," says Mark Fenton, a former national racewalking team coach and the author of The Complete Guide to Walking for Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness (Lyons Press). "It's extremely simple. No formal training or special equipment is needed besides a good pair of shoes. You can do it anytime, in any setting. And if you want to make it an intense workout, you can."

A growing body of research backs him up.

Cardio Fitness

The ongoing Nurses' Health Study at Harvard, begun in 1976, showed that women who walk briskly three times a week for a total of three hours reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke by 30 to 40 per cent.

Look, Ma, No Injuries

For safety, walking is matchless. A 28-week study at the University of Colorado compared two groups of women who ran or walked four times a week at their target heart rates. At the end of the study, reports Fenton, "the runners and the walkers had comparable levels of aerobic fitness. But on average, the runners missed about 11 days each due to injury. The average walker missed only one and a half days."

Protect yourself from injury: Fenton recommends walking shoes that bend easily through the ball but not the arch. No hightops, which irritate the Achilles tendon. No thick heel cushioning and no support straps. And, obviously, no heels.

Bone Builder

"Exercises such as swimming and biking are very good for cardiovascular fitness, but they don't strengthen bones as well as walking does," notes Susan Johnson, director of continuing education at the Cooper Institute in Dallas and author of The Walking Handbook (Cooper Institute). "Weight-bearing exercise like walking is vital for preventing osteoporosis in women."

All-Around Fitness

Viisha Sedlak, a former U.S. track team competitor who founded the American Walking Association, says, "Starting in the 1960s, Soviet scientists studied their athletes over four Olympiads to see which sport produced the fittest athlete. They measured pure strength, plyometric strength (used in jumping), endurance, speed, lack of injury and flexibility. Of all the athletes, the walkers came in first."

Mental Booster

In a University of Illinois study, a group of previously sedentary adults, ages 60 to 75, walked briskly three times a week. After six months, their mental functioning had improved by 15 percent.

User-Friendly

"People stick with walking better than any other form of exercise," says Johnson. "And walking can be very social." Tina Sloan-McPherson, a longtime television actress and former marathon runner who now walks several times weekly, says, "When I walk with friends in the morning, I have great conversations, which I didn't have when I was running. You sort out your life on those walks."

Staying Motivated

It can be hard to stay with any exercise program. Fenton offers these tips: 1. Schedule your walks -- write them on your calendar. 2. Keep a log of your progress. 3. Set goals: "I'll walk five days each week. If I do it for a month, I'll get tickets to a ball game and take my kids."

Intensifying a Workout

For maximum fitness (and potential weight loss), walk five or six days weekly for 45 minutes or longer. To tone gluteal and thigh muscles, walk uphill. Fenton offers these pointers:

1. Stand tall, eyes on the horizon and derriere tucked in.

2. Focus on quicker, not longer, steps. "Take 135 steps per minute -- that's good calorie-burning, heart-pumping pace."

3. Bend your arms. "Make a 90-degree angle at the elbow -- a compact swing, not flailing." This technique offers almost the same benefits that using arm weights would, without the risks of injury.

4. Push off vigorously with your toes at the end of each stride. Sedlak says, "I have a rule: Just put your shoes on, go out and walk for 10 minutes. Then, if you want, you can turn around. That gives you 20 minutes. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, after 10 minutes of walking you'll want to keep going."

Setting the example:

"I commit to you that I will this year take at least two weeks away from work instead of my usual one week".

........... President, Calgary based international energy company while meeting with managers.

Gas Company

Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood. They parked their truck the end of the alley and worked their way to the other end. At the last house, a woman looking out her kitchen window watched the two men as they checked her gas meter.

Finishing the meter check, the senior supervisor challenged his younger coworker to a foot race down the alley back to the truck to prove that an older guy could outrun a younger one.

As they came running up to the truck, they realized the lady from that last house was huffing and puffing right behind them. They stopped and asked her what was wrong.

Gasping for breath, she replied, "When I see two men from the gas company running as hard as you two were, I figured I'd better run too!"

Golf Buddies

A priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers.

Engineer: What's with these guys? We must have been waiting for 15 minutes!

Doctor: I don't know but I've never seen such ineptitude!

Priest: Hey, here comes the greenskeeper. Let's have a word with him.

Priest: Hi George. Say George, what's with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow aren't they?

George: Oh yes. That's a group of blind fire fighters. They lost their sight while saving our club house last year. So we let them play here anytime free of charge!

(silence)

Priest: That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight.

Doctor: Good idea. And I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist buddy and see if there's anything he can do for them.

Engineer: Why can't these guys play at night?