There was an article on Reuters website recently that suggests walking may be the best exercise out there. Here is part of the article that explains why…

Walking may never become as trendy as CrossFit, as sexy as mud runs or as ego-boosting as Ironman races but for fitness experts who stress daily movement over workouts and an active lifestyle over weekends of warrior games, walking is a super star.

For author and scientist Katy Bowman, walking is a biological imperative like eating. In her book, “Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement,” she suggests there are movement nutrients, just like dietary nutrients, that the body needs.

“Walking is a superfood. It’s the defining movement of a human,” said Bowman, a biomechanist based in Ventura, California. “It’s a lot easier to get movement than it is to get exercise.”

Researchers say emerging evidence suggests that combined physical activity and inactivity may be more important for chronic disease than physical activity alone.

“Actively sedentary is a new category of people who are fit for one hour but sitting around the rest of the day,” Bowman said. “You can’t offset 10 hours of stillness with one hour of exercise.”

Leslie Sansone, creator of the “Walk at Home: Mix & Match Walk Blasters” DVD, said too many people believe that spending grueling hours at the gym is the only way to fitness.

“There’s this “Biggest Loser” idea out there that if you’re not throwing up and crying you’re not getting fit,” she said, referring to the popular television weight-loss show.

She added that a small study of non-obese men published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise by scientists at Indiana University suggests that three five-minute walks done throughout three hours of prolonged sitting reverses the harmful effects of prolonged sitting on arteries in the legs.

Dr. Carol Ewing Garber, president of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and a professor of movement at Columbia University in New York, said research suggests that even one bout of exercise causes beneficial physiological effects.

But she concedes that walking does not do everything. It is less beneficial for bones than running, and for strength, it is better to lift weights.

“Still,” she said, “If you’re going to pick one thing, research says it should be walking.”     philly.com     9/29/14

 

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