It's no new news: excerice should be an important part of anyone's life. Unfortunately, for many, it isn't. In his book, Casey Meyers attempts to convince everyone that exercice should be practice daily if one hopes to live longer, healthier lives. And he knows what he's talking about: at age 79, Meyers underwent 2 knee replacements and an open-heart surgery... and he still walks 3 miles (or 5...
more It's no new news: excerice should be an important part of anyone's life. Unfortunately, for many, it isn't. In his book, Casey Meyers attempts to convince everyone that exercice should be practice daily if one hopes to live longer, healthier lives. And he knows what he's talking about: at age 79, Meyers underwent 2 knee replacements and an open-heart surgery... and he still walks 3 miles (or 5 kilometers) daily in only 39 minutes.
In his book, Meyers uses walking as a jumping board to talk about exercising, nutrition, health, cross-training benefits, diseases, etc. Although no scientist himself, Meyers hs been involved in the exercice-walking scene for may years, participated in scientific studies of the walking gait, and conducted walking clinics all over the United-States since the 1980s. His argument is set within rigorous research and scientific studies.
He starts the book by an introduction of himself and of his motivation to, said simply, walk for his life. Then, he goes into the biomechanics of the walking gait, contrasting it to the running gait in an effort to showcase that walking, if done at an aerobic intensity, is not only better than running injury wise, but also for oxygene consumption, and thus, fitness. After having gone through the minute details of this statement, he explains the walking technique in an easy-to-follow way that would enable, with time, practically anybody to reach an aerobic pace he walks daily. However, he also mentions that, for health benefits, one does not necessarily NEEDS to walk 5 km in 40 min daily, which equals a 12-minutes per mile pace - a sustained 16- to 14-minutes per mile pace is perfect for most people only seeking healthier lifestyles.
Meyers finishes of the book by going through healthy nutrition, tips and trick of race-walking (yes, an actual Olympic discipline), and more studies on the benefits of walking as the complete exercice. Mayers' premise is that walking is our primary natural gait, and human beings are fashioned to walk, walk, walk, and walk. Walking is practically injury-free, and actually very doable if you already have an injury to work around - with 2 artificial knees he is the perfect example of that! Moreover, unlike any other exercices (and you can try to find one, though you'll find he'll probably have address it already in the book), walking's fitness gain can actually be transferred to other exercices, making it the perfect cross-training exercice that reduces risks of injury.
Briefly, you can choose to agree with him on whether walking is something worth considering as a daily exerice program or not, but whether you do or not, you will find heep loads of information on exercising in general in this book, information that is valuable to any serious exercisers out there. But try reading the book without being convinced that walking is a serious exercice worth consideration... I know I am convinced. The fact that I am already a walker since it is easier than other type of activities on my ankles might biais me a little, but I noneteless strongly believe the infomation in Meyers' book make A LOT of sense.
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