The Re-discovering of Walking!
The new wave of exercise lies in the fact that people are re-discovering the healthy benefits of walking. Just look around and notice how many people (and their families) are out walking in the fresh air. Walking is easily the most popular exercise. Other sport activity produces more attention and media coverage, but none of them approaches walking in number of participants. Walking is the only exercise in which the rate of participation does not decline in the middle and later years. People do not “drop out” of a walking schedule because many people walk for the pleasure they receive while walking. Other people kick walking up a level of the healthy benefits they receive from walking faster; walking with Nordic poles; walking for a whole body complete workout.
Unlike tennis, running, skiing, and other activities that have gained great popularity fairly recently; walking has been widely practiced as a recreational and fitness activity throughout recorded history. Classical and early English literature seems to have been written largely by men who were extraordinary walkers, and Emerson and Thoreau helped carry on the tradition in America. Among American presidents, the most famous walkers included Jefferson, Lincoln, and Truman.
Walking today is riding a wave of popularity that draws its strength from a rediscovery of the utility, pleasures, and health-giving qualities that walking provides for them.
