Voice-over:
Each year, fitness-conscious Americans resolve to get healthier. And although walking is a great
way to boost fitness, new research indicates that walkers who want to reap the most benefit from
those daily miles may want to pick up the pace. University of Florida researchers assigned five-
hundred normally sedentary people to receive either group counseling about exercise or to walk
several days each week. Those who walked five to seven days a week at a moderate or fast pace
showed significant improvement in their heart fitness and levels of “good” cholesterol, while those who walked three to four days per week only benefited if they walked at a fast pace. On average, three-day-a-week walkers who kept a slower pace saw no improvements in fitness.
Dr. Michael Perri / UF clinical psychologist
“The best recommendation we would give in terms of a prescription would be to ask people
to go out and when they’re walking to do a quick-pace walk and plan to exercise most days of the week.”
Voice-over:
The study also revealed that exercisers usually fall short of their ultimate weekly workout goal,
and setting objectives upfront for the intensity and frequency of exercise sessions is key.
U-F researchers discovered that on average, participants only completed about sixty percent of
the physical activity they’d been assigned each week. Therefore they recommend exercisers aim
high, setting aside time in their busy schedules to exercise daily.
Dr. Michael Perri / UF clinical psychologist
“It’s important to plan to exercise every day—because we found that people got in only about 60 percent of what their plans were, so if you plan exercise for only three or four days a week, you may only get one to two done, but if you plan to exercise every day, it’s more likely you’ll get three to four done.”
Voice-over:
At the University of Florida Health Science Center, I’m Mike Garrison
