How many folks here just plain old walk....

[upnorth]

A casual walk doesn't do much to burn calories, but if you are keeping a pace that raises your heart rate and makes difficult to carry on a conversation normally you are helping your lungs, heart and burning calories. I typically walk 3 miles in about 40 minutes. That is a pretty good pace, I pass slower joggers.

[delcecchi]

A casual walk or even a slow walk does a lot for you, including burn calories, compared to sitting.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3419586/

That doesn't mean a good brisk walk, like you do, isn't also beneficial. It helps other things. I can't go that fast but I go at what is a brisk pace for me.

[upnorth]

I agree, any moving helps.

I guess we tend to get focused on the cardio type. The higher the intensity the greater the calorie burn. At least per hour. And just because someone can't go at a certain pace doesn't mean they shouldn't go. I have been through two major foot surgeries and a broken collar bone in the not too distant past. During phases of recovery from those I couldn't go at my normal pace or distance, but I made certain I got out did what I could. Worst thing to think is I can't do 2-4 miles so I am not going to do anything. If you can go around the block or even up and down the block do it. Being too sedentary is not good thing, the body is not designed to do nothing.

[deerminator]

I agree. Being active is the key. You can also get your workout in mowing the lawn on a push or walk-behind mower or cleaning the house. Believe me, if you've scrubbed floors and vacuumed and cleaned bathrooms for an hour, you can work up a good sweat and have a clean house besides. My doctor doesn't consider mowing cardio but I've asked him, then what is an hour and a half walking at a fast pace behind a push mower? I'm ready to lay down afterward.

[fishfinder72]

I have been getting 3 miles in a day and it really helps. I usually end up walking about a half mile between a quick warm up and cool down but run the majority. That with eating healthier and smarter over the past few weeks has helped me shed over 20lbs. I do have the P90X program and intend on starting into that in the near future.

[delcecchi]

Amazing what you see just walking around. I love to do that when we go someplace.

Here is latest stuff.....

Workouts in Middle Age Keep Hearts Healthy

By Chris Kaiser, Cardiology Editor, MedPage Today

Published: May 16, 2013

Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner

Action Points

These studies were published as abstracts and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

A sustained improvement in fitness level reduces the risk of heart failure hospitalization over time.

Point out that the study suggests that the risk of heart failure in your 60s and 70s is modifiable through sustained exercise beginning in midlife.

That middle-age bulge can damage the heart, but a sustained improvement in fitness level reduces the risk of heart failure hospitalization over time, researchers found.

Those persons who increased their fitness level over the course of 8 years, as well as those who stayed fit, had lower rates of heart failure hospitalization compared with those who had persistently low fitness levels (0.64% versus 0.88% per year), according to Ambarish Pandey, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues.

Each metabolic equivalent (MET) increase in middle-age fitness was associated with a 17% reduced risk in future heart failure hospitalization (adjusted HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.71-0.92, per MET), Pandey reported at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research (QCOR) Scientific Sessions 2013 in Baltimore.

"The risk of heart failure in your 60s and 70s is modifiable through sustained exercise beginning in midlife," Pandey told MedPage Today.

"We have known for a few decades that a change in fitness is associated with a reduced risk of mortality. But no one had looked at the impact of improved fitness over time on the risk of heart failure," he said.

He and his colleagues therefore ranked fitness levels of 9,050 men and women (average age 48, 15% women), with low fitness defined as the lowest quintile of fitness (Q1) and high fitness defined as quintiles 2 through 5.

Participants underwent two cardiorespiratory fitness measurements at about 8 years apart.

The primary endpoints were a change in METs as a continuous variable and a change in the category of fitness between the two cardiorespiratory tests.

Pandey and colleagues matched baseline data from the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study to Medicare administrative claims data for heart failure hospitalizations.

After 60,635 person-years of follow-up, they found a correlation between the change in midlife fitness and future heart failure hospitalization (according to quintiles, from baseline to follow-up):

High level of fitness to high level of fitness -- heart failure hospitalization rate about 0.30%

Low to high -- about 0.65%

High to low -- about 0.75%

Low to low -- 0.83%

They also found that for every MET improvement in fitness, middle-age participants were 17% less likely to be hospitalized for heart failure as they aged.

"It's important to realize that the benefit of reduced heart failure hospitalization comes from sustained exercise over time," Pandey said.

Last year, Pandey and colleagues reported results at QCOR for a similar study, but these middle-age participants had only one baseline cardiorespiratory fitness test.

The study showed that a single baseline cardiorespiratory measurement was associated with heart failure hospitalization later in life (HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.76-0.87 per 1 MET).

Researchers constructed a second model where they adjusted for the same risk factors as the first model (baseline age, sex, BMI, cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, and systolic blood pressure) and added interval development of myocardial infarction, hypertension, and diabetes.

With this model, the association between midlife cardiorespiratory fitness and heart failure risk was only minimally attenuated (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.78-0.89).

"These results suggest that it is the direct effects of poor fitness that lead to heart failure and not that heart failure is a byproduct of other risk factors," Pandey told MedPage Today.

He also said that higher fitness may prevent heart failure through novel protective mechanisms, which need more research to understand.

Both studies were limited because they used Medicare claims data to determine the rate of heart failure hospitalization, as well as incident hypertension, heart attack, and diabetes for the second study. Also, one or two fitness tests might not account for other changes in lifestyle over time.

Both studies received funding from the American Heart Association.

All researchers in the first study declared they had no conflicts of interest.

In the second study, de Lemos reported relationships with Abbott Diagnostics, Roche Diagnostics, and Daichi Sankyo.

From the American Heart Association:

Science News from QCOR 2013

Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity and Smoking Habits

Heart Failure Guideline Update

Primary source: Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions

Source reference:

Pandy A, et al "Change in midlife fitness is an independent predictor of heart failure in older age" QCOR 2013; Abstract 156

Additional source: Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions

Source reference:

Pandey A, et al "Midlife cardiorespiratory fitness predicts late-life risk for heart failure independent of interval development of hypertension, diabetes, and myocardial infarction" QCOR 2012; Abstract 16972.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Walking kills my back, which is a real bummer because I love it... enjoy.

[upnorth]

Shorter walks more often. Usually after a while your back adapts.