Need Some Inspiration? Get Active!

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

31 May 2006 04:00 AM

The treadmill is a great opportunity for people to shed pounds and improve their health because no matter what the weather is, the time is or the hours you keep - the treadmill is available for your convenience. According to some figures produced by the Sporting Goods Manufacturer Association International, they estimate that only 20% of the population of the U.S. exercises or engages in some kind of regular physical activity.

While this may not seem like a lot - 20% is about six hundred million people. That's a lot more than a drop in the bucket. What's scarier about the 20% number is that if 20% are exercising regularly then the correlation is that 80% of the U.S. population isn't.

So let's think about this - we have 80% of the U.S. population not exercising or engaging in regular physical activity or exercise and we have a rising obesity problem. The rise in weight gain is across the board - it's affecting our children, our teenagers, our twentysomethings, ourselves and many, many more. The National Center for Health Statistics estimates about 65% of us weigh too much.

Now if you have already done the math then you're probably thinking the same thing that I am - if 80% of us aren't active and 65% of us are overweight - the best solution to trimming weight is getting more active! One of the best ways to get active on your terms is investing in a treadmill. I've reviewed a few here in the fitness blog and I've discussed how you can take up a fairly small footprint in your home.

You'll get a lot of convenience and a lot of exercise and you'll get to do it your way, at your leisure and you don't have to pay dues at a gym if you don't want to. Walking doesn't require any special skills. It doesn't require a tough physique and it doesn't require a lot of pain.

Walking delivers a great many benefits like reducing fat and building lean muscle mass - including in your heart, which as we discussed in Exercise & Heart Disease - this is a good thing. A lot of you have written or left notes about how well you've done in your own personal walking programs. One of our members, Vkirkman has made astounding progress with his pedometer and walking.

Knowing this, knowing that 80% of us aren't active and 65% of us are overweight - that means a lot of what we need is just to get more active. My hat is off to all of you - Vkirman, Laura Torres, and more - your activity is my inspiration!

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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