Walk it Out: Online Fitness Communities

Becky Luigart-Stayner

Walking is the ideal thrifty exercise; invest in good walking shoes and walk anywhere for $0 in monthly membership fees, with no basic training required. Since the weather is getting warmer, it's easier than ever to incorporate walking into your weekly fitness regimens. If I have errands to run within a 1 mile radius of the house, like picking up prescriptions, going to the post office, grabbing some milk at the grocery store, I will put on my tiny backpack and hoof it. Never underestimate the power of having time away all your electronic reminders and communications, the scent of wood and grass, and enjoying the dimensionality of the color green in contrast to a white computer screen. 

If the thought of walking a long distance feels daunting, incorporate it into your everyday schedule, eg:get off one bus stop before your usual stop on your daily commute and walk the extra block. If the weather isn't ideal, or if you are sensitive to dust, pollen, and other allergens in the environment, there are many walking groups that get together and make use of running tracks in a local university and shopping malls.

I realize not everyone lives in a walkable neighborhood, and that walking alone can get...well...lonely sometimes. That's why I I want to highlight online fitness communities which bring a sense of companionship and accomplishment to exercise. MapMyWALK.com is one such online tool, which can not only be used by individuals, but provides mapping tool for community groups and public health professionals to design walking routes tailored to different fitness levels.  The site boasts millions of existing members and millions of existing routes in their system.

Design a running/jogging/hiking/walking/bicycling map route around your workplace, campus, or home by entering in an address, and using a Google Maps interface to outline your route. You can incorporate off road trails onto your map and view it from "street view" or "satellite view" to see local landmarks. Once you have created a route, you will know exactly how many miles (or kilometers) it is, and be able to log trips which will help keep track of your total miles traveled and total calories burned. For a more detailed tutorial of how to use MapMyWALK click here.

You can save your personal route for future walks, or share it to your friends via Facebook Timeline or Twitter, or join an existing community group with existing maps to choose from. There are over 20,000 listed community walking events, and local races to further motivate you to set distance goals for yourself. An app (of course) exists for MapMyWALK for $1.99 but is not completely necessary.

A sample beginners walking schedule taken from TheWalkingSite.com is useful for setting your personal goals and utilizing a reasonable amount of time each day. Of course, you can also take some days off from walking to crosstrain or lift weights. Try to be consistent and don't beat yourself if you get sidetracked with your fitness schedule. Just renew your committment and start again. If you can't progress to the next week's goals, stay another week with your current walking durations. Like anything, it gets easier with practice!

WEEK	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT
1	15 min	15 min	20 min	15 min	20 min	15 min	20 min
2	15 min	20 min	20 min	15 min	20 min	15 min	25 min
3	15 min	25 min	20 min	15 min	25 min	20 min	25 min
4	20 min	30 min	20 min	20 min	25 min	20 min	30 min
5	20 min	30 min	30 min	20 min	30 min	20 min	35 min
6	25 min	30 min	30 min	25 min	30 min	25 min	40 min
7	25 min	30 min	40 min	30 min	30 min	30 min	40 min
8	25 min	30 min	40 min	30 min	40 min	30 min	50 min
9	30 min	40 min	40 min	30 min	40 min	40 min	50 min
10	30 min	40 min	50 min	30 min	50 min	40 min	50 min
11	40 min	40 min	50 min	40 min	50 min	40 min	50 min
12	40 min	40 min	60 min	40 min	60 min	40 min	60 min