Middle America stepping out at three miles an hour

Press, 29 November 1979, Page 12

Middle America stepping out at three miles an hour

From

ROSALEEN McCARROLL

in Seattle,

Washington

In its 10-year quest for fitness middle America has tried cross-country ski-ing, swimming, golf, bicycling, tennis, handball and jogging. While looking for somewhere else to go in the 1980 s, it has dis. covered walking.

Walking improves circulation, reduces heart rate, aids digestion, eases tension, burns calories and is less strenuous than jogging but will do just as much good for you. Jogging, which spawned the wrist radio and the instant pulse reader, is still a commercial high flyer but there are doubts as to how long the upward spiral can continue.

Jogging has created considerable controversy of late. Not only does the medical profession insist on a check-up for anyone of any age who takes up

jogging but there are also joggers who admit under cr o s s-examinttion that they dislike the regime. Walking is forecast as the new -.ehicle for capitalising on the national fitness mania. Although hailed as non-commercial, requiring no special equipment, industry is poised ready to swoop. Already there are three books on walking in print and four more are planned. Several shoe companies are whipping up versions of running shoes specially designed for walking. One sporting goods trade magazine reports that 9.5 M people took up walking last year (doesn’t say- if this includes one-year-olds) and another recently carried an article on special walking clothes. An East Coast shoe

store chain has begun what its president describes as a “non-com-mercial promotion of walking” (his words) with a Great American Walk mural in regional shop-

ping centres. The stores also hand out brochures of walking tours of America. Walking is viewed by the Footwear Council, the industry’s public relations arm, as an attractive alternative to running. As promotional aid the council is offering a 36-page booklet, “Your Feet Were Made for Walking.” Walking, until so recently the domain of heart-attack victims hot

yet well enough to drive their own cars, is a surprisingly good way to keep fit say the experts. As little as a 30 to 45 minute brisk walk four times a week can be all

that you need to hold a heart attack and bulging waistline at bay. If you can cover three miles in each 45-minute session, you pile up 32 points on Dr Kenneth Cooper’s famed (at least it’s famous here) aerobics system, two points more than you need for average fitness. And walking is not a bad way to go after weight loss either. There are 3500 calories in one pound of fat. Studies show that 45 minutes of brisk walking will burn off 180 to 250 calories and such a walk taken every other day could melt away 15 pounds of fat in a yean

(That’s providing, of course, that all this healthy exercise doesn’t increase your appetite). But nothing is so simple that it cannot be explained. According to the firsr expert in print, Dr Charles Knutzleman, there is a right and a wrong way to walk. In his book “The Complete Book of Walking,” he says: “Each foot shtuld strike the ground at the heel allowing your weight to be transferred from the heel along the outer border of the foot toward the toes. Then push off with youf toes to complete the foot strike pattern. As you move from heel to toe you yrill develop a rolling motion. Avoid landing flat footed on the balls of your feet." Walking might seem ordinary but it already has the hallmarks of something about to make it really big. The fledging walking industry is gearing up and it will not rest until it has America stepping out at a brisk three miles an hour.