SHAPE UP PLUS
PEN
ALGARVE P L U S
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41
WALK THIS WAY
COMMERCIAL SERVICES
mise?
za Shopping Centre)
A F E W Y E A R S B AC K , I F YO U M E N T I O N E D WA L K I N G A S A B O N A F I D E E X E R C I S E Y O U M I G H T J U S T H AV E B E E N S N E E R E D AT B Y Y O U R F E L LOW S T E P A E R O B I C S A F I C I O N A D O S . B U T WA L K I N G , I T S E E M S , I S N OW I N AN E XE RCIS E LE AG U E O F ITS OWN .
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S A L LY D I X O N
F YOU’VE been following our fitness series in previous issues, then you’ll already know that exercise is the key to a healthier life. When it comes to walking, we’re not short of a catchy quote or two – take Joseph Joubert’s: “The best remedy for a short temper is a long walk”, or Greg Norman’s: “Happiness is a long walk with a putter.” I’m a walking convert. Since moving to London in the early 90s, I’ve become an all-out professional at the London power walk. The constant need to be somewhere at a pace of a million miles an hour is de riguer in London. Needless to say, I get some strange looks back in my hometown in Yorkshire, or on the streets of the Algarve, when I’m pounding the pavements like my life depends on it. I can’t help it; it’s ingrained in me. A day of meetings and errands in London guarantees me at least 10,000 steps without even thinking about it. Result. Many of us are probably aware of the 10,000 daily step goal, but where does it come from? Turns out it might not be scientific fact but may actually have been introduced as a piece of marketing by a Japanese pedometer brand in the 1960s. Now that I’ve
