What exercise equipment do you always have with you, costs nothing, adjusts to your schedule and your whereabouts, helps you lose weight, strengthens your heart, and lets you see a bit of the world in the bargain?
Your own two feet. In a walk."Walking is one of the best and easiest sports around. Anyone can do it," says Seth Bauer, editor of the Walking magazine.
Walking may be the best choice if you're out of condition and starting back in, observes Dr. Mark Anderson, associate professor of physical therapy at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.
Anderson says that with the exception of speed, walking benefits are equal to those of running - toning muscles and the cardiovascular system. Walking a mile burns the same number of calories as running.
Out-of-shape types will benefit right away from walking, because it stresses the heart and elevates the heart rate to an optimum target, he says.
"If you're in very poor condition and you start a walking program, it may not take much to elevate your heart rate to that target heart rate."
As fitness increases, the heart rate slows, and the person needs to up the ante on the amount and speed to achieve the desired heart rate.
Another advantage to walking is that it is less stressful to the joints - good news for people with arthritis.
"I really can't see many advantages of running over walking, unless it's that it saves time out of a busy schedule," Anderson says.
Walking also is likely to succeed where diets have failed for frustrated would-be losers.
"The problem is, every time you diet, you lose fat-burning muscle," writes Rob Sweetgall in the Walking magazine. "Quick weight-loss diets lower both your muscle mass and metabolism, making it increasingly difficult to control your weight."
But consistent walking burns calories, increases aerobic capacity and contributes to overall fitness. And exercise is a natural appetite depressant.
Sweetgall, author of at least eight books on walking, recommends a walk right after each meal. "It will help digestion, relieve any bloated feeling, and burn a few dozen extra calories."
One of the challenges is to learn to differentiate between appetite, a mental signal, and hunger, a physical need, he says. If your appetite drives you to eat, take a walk until real hunger surfaces.
And importantly, change the way you think about food. Are you a "mouth-mind" or a "muscle-mind?" Sweetgall asks.
"Mouth-minds live to eat; muscle-minds live to act, pursuing vigorous lifestyles. The latter eat to live."
Accessibility and convenience are yet other advantages.
You have only to step outside your home for a place to walk. Or go for a walk at the nearest shopping mall if the weather is bad or you crave company.
Many malls sponsor walking clubs. Typical is the South Hills Mall Walkers' Club in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Co-sponsored by the South Hills Mall and Vassar Brothers Hospital, this club targets older people who want to control weight, improve digestion, tone up muscles or just get out of the house to socialize.
"It saved my life. I was all alone," says Mildred Weiner, who joined the club after the death of her husband several years ago. There she met Don Segall, a widower who had joined for the same reasons. The two were married last year.
Another club member, Alice Johnson, weighed in at 435 pounds and was battling diabetes, heart problems and depression after her husband's death when she joined. Now she's 245 pounds lighter and works as a licenced practical nurse caring for terminally ill patients. "None of this would have happened if it weren't for mall-walking," she says.
Walking can help working women in particular, says Dr. Deborah Booton, who directed a walking study program for OU's College of Nursing. "Previous studies have shown that women typically exercise less and less as they get older and are absorbed by the responsibilities of work, family and home," she says.
"We chose this activity because it has been shown to have a positive impact on many actual and potential health problems," she says. "It also is a very manageble activity, even for overweight and sedentary women."
Carried out at a large Oklahoma City company, the program included two groups of women - an experimental walking group and a control group which continued previous normal activities.
The experimental group was encouraged to work walking into regular schedules at the workplace. Members were given support sessions, walking assignments and asked to keep walking diaries.
The walkers toned up their bodies (trimming inches, though not poundage) and said they felt better about themselves, their lives and their jobs, Booton reports. The control group did not report similar improvements.