Walking good way to get moving

By KATHERINE HOBY

These boots were made for walking ... so get out there!

Our favourite physical activity is walking, Sport and Recreation Commission figures show.

New Zealanders love walking, and everyone can do it.

The top physical activity of choice is walking - 59 per cent for men, and 80 per cent for women. Also in the top 10 - gardening, exercising at home, the gym, running/jogging and tramping.

"We can't all be marathon runners or great swimmers but we can walk," says visiting Australian health and fitness expert Professor Adrian Bauman. "No one can give an excuse about not being able to walk.

"It's all about putting one foot in front of the other, which we do every day. Just do it a bit more often and a bit faster."

An average healthy person should walk between 5km and 9km a day, that is 7000 to 10,000 steps. To highlight our sedentary lifestyle, Professor Bauman cites the example of an Australian man in a high-stress job who was hooked up to a monitor to find out how far he walked each day.

After driving to work, barely leaving the office all day, then driving home, the man had paced out just 400m.

It is an extreme example, Professor Bauman says, but busy working lives are pushing us to a life of sloth. "It's not natural for humans to live a sedentary life."

The Hillary Commission, the New Zealand Sports Foundation, and the sport policy arm of the Office of Tourism and Sport merged this year, and are now known as the Sport and Recreation Commission (Sparc).

The new body encourages people to take part in their preferred sports or leisure activities as a way of keeping active, or to try a new sport.

The top sports for New Zealand men: golf, cricket, tennis, touch football, rugby, motor sports, shooting, basketball, yachting/sailing, and skiing. For women: netball, tennis, golf, touch football, skiing, horseriding, basketball, badminton, indoor bowls, and yachting/sailing.

Professor Bauman said some sports and exercise organisations had stopped using the word exercise.

"People see exercise as tough, as hard work and hours at gym. It's better to use the word movement so as not to scare people."

Professor Bauman says we need to change our thinking on priorities.

"We should be making activity a priority in our day.

nzherald.co.nz/health