UNITED STATES—Look, no American loves to exercise. Let me take that back because there are some people who do love exercise, but I am not one of those individuals. I exercise because I know it’s important to my health and to stay fit. You can’t just sit on the couch, stuff your face with food and not expect to have health issues in the long run. I do about 30 minutes of cardio at least four times a week, mainly on the bicycle or elliptical machine in the home.
The other three days I try to get a good walk in and it’s a decent walk because if your legs burn afterwards that is a good thing for me. That is NOT saying if you walk it should burn, but you want to sweat a little and feel like you’ve done something, if that makes sense. Yes, I do a little weightlifting here and there and some pushups and sit-ups as well because building muscle is indeed important.
With that said, walking is a form of exercise that is free. It does not cost any money for you to exercise. You can walk out of your house and take a stroll around the block. The weather is getting a bit more comfortable if you live in the Midwest and the East coast. Yeah, you’re not taking a walk outside when there’s a ton of snow and it’s -20 degrees below zero. However, when temps get around 40 degrees or higher you can take a brisk walk.
Yeah, you might want the weather to be closer to 50 degrees or higher if you’re going to do a long walk, but at the same time I’m not trying to walk in the sweltering heat either. You can be outdoors for a good hour and get some significant cardio in that helps keep you healthy and active. A walk a day will indeed keep the doctor away, not to mention you can walk during all hours of the day. With the sun coming up by at least seven a.m. and it’s not setting until eight p.m. most days and it will be even longer in the coming months.
I have seen more and more elderly individuals walking at the mall. They have these mall walkers that get to the mall several hours before the actual mall opens and they do several laps and its really good exercise for them and it’s safe and they mingle with others their age and make friends as well in the process.
There is no excuse for Americans not to be out and about to get some form of cardio, you don’t have to go to the gym or purchase a membership to actually exercise. If you have two legs, you can get out and walk the block. You don’t have to walk miles, if you do walk miles, any form of movement is better than none at all, and it’s perhaps the easiest form of movement for the body. It doesn’t require you to do too much. It is just a question of whether you want to do it or not.
Written By Jason Jones
