We all live in a busy, go-go, world and squeezing in a workout can be challenging. Grabbing a workout can sometimes feel like grabbing a meal, the fast food fair. As you sit, at the exercise ‘drive-thru’ window, making a good choice or any choice can be difficult. Does this method of ‘grab and go’ workouts really work?

May I help with your order, today? ”I’ll have ten minutes of walking to the bus stop and a ‘fiver’ of stair climbing and please hold 30 minutes of sitting. Thank you.”

Neal Templin at the Wall Street Journal writes, “Can You Stay Fit on a Budget?” and can you stay fit on this fitness approach?

I’m working again in New York with a monster commute, so I count the two miles of walking I do every day to and from work as part of my fitness routine. I walk very fast and run up stairs.

Neal wondered if these tiny pieces should count as a part of his total weekly workout, so he went to the experts, David Fein of the Princeton Center and Kenneth Cooper of the Cooper Clinic. They both agree that the answer is yes,

The answer appears to be yes. People get the most health benefits from between 150 and 300 minutes per week of activity, says David Fein, medical director of the Princeton Longevity Center in New Jersey. But that workout can be done in little bits and pieces through the day. And it doesn’t have to be structured exercise at a gym.

The Cooper Clinic in Dallas, founded by Kenneth Cooper, the doctor who coined the term “aerobics,” has a similar message. “What we’ve done is systematically remove physical activity throughout the day from our daily existence,” says Tedd Mitchell, the clinic’s president. “People mistakenly think to become fit we have to become rats on the wheel at the gym.”

Now you have the facts. Grab a pedometer and walk to the bus stop, train or to the slug line. Your heart and waistline will thank you.

MikeZ_walking, exercise for the rest of life.

Please consult your physician before starting any exercise or weight loss program.
Your physician is your very best resource.