Step By Step: Walkers Are Staying Fit
Walking is a great way to get exercise. It improves your health by controlling weight, strengthening heart and bones, and reducing cholesterol.
Jane Kwiatkowski
Buffalo News
In step. Out of step. Stepping out. Step it up.
The word, much like the action it describes, is pervasive in our culture. Not only do we watch our step, we have recently started to count them. Then we log them, and think of ways to add more.
Did you know that walking up the stairs to a fifth-floor office adds 500 steps? And if you park your car in the farthest corner of the parking lot, you could tack on another 500?
Why All the Fuss Over Such a Natural Activity?
"Walking is elementary," said Joe Meyer, assistant director of recreation and intramurals at Niagara University. "It's like breathing. It's a good aerobic activity that introduces you to other activities. It's a great springboard."
Not to mention that as fitness trends go, walking is inexpensive, portable and pretty much open to all ages. It gets you out and takes you almost anywhere you want to go. Maybe that explains why an AARP survey of 1,000 people age 18 and older, found walking, by far, to be the most popular exercise (36 percent), followed by strength training (10 percent). Jogging and group sports (such as basketball or soccer) each tallied 8 percent.
Every step you take also improves your health by controlling weight, strengthening heart and bones, and reducing cholesterol.
Maybe that's why so many people in Buffalo-Niagara are taking part in organized walking programs, hooking a pedometer on their waistband, right next to their cell phones.
A Walk in the Park
Gerald and Linda Chwalinski have only four weeks to "walk" to Watkins Glen State Park. At 143 miles--or 286,000 steps--away, the Finger Lakes park with 19 waterfalls is one of four virtual destinations in the Walking Works Challenge, a fitness "stepping" program offered by BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York.
"Before, I'd take an elevator going up one or two flights of stairs," said Gerald, 47. "Now I'm running the steps every day. It's nice exercise. At lunchtime, I always go out and walk, as long as it's sunny. If it rains, we walk in City Hall, take a couple of laps around the third floor. At least it's dry."
The Chwalinskis each have a daily goal of 10,000 steps. At the end of every day and after checking the pedometers provided them, they chart their progress. If they maintain their daily 10,000-step pace, they should "arrive" at Watkins Glen on time.
City Hall walkers also had the choice of trekking to Allegany State Park (74 miles or 148,000 steps), Keuka Lake State Park (116 miles or 232,000 steps) or Old Erie Canal Historic State Park (164 miles or 328,000 steps).
They are not alone in their journey. Last year, county workers "walked" from the Peace Bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Franciso. The winning team made 19 round trips, according to Tonja Nichols, manager of health promotions for Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Wilson Central School teachers, meanwhile, are launching a 12- week program that will "take them" to Alexandria Bay in the Thousand Islands or Manhattan's Central Park. Nu Era Cap Company workers will appropriately have Cooperstown as a virtual vacation.
Linda Chwalinski takes many of her steps with her husband of 15 years. On a regular basis, just like hundreds of workers, they make the rounds downtown.
"When we walk, we can actually get in an adult conversation without any interruptions. When you have three kids, you find you don't get a lot of quality time together," she said. "I also walk with my girlfriends in the neighborhood. We talk about our husbands, and what made us mad for the week."