Oprah’s trainer says your feet were meant for walking

Fitness guru Bob Greene says it’s time Americans eliminate the negative and literally start taking steps — a minimum of 10,000 a day — to develop a healthier lifestyle.

Walking may be the key to achieving new levels of fitness and overall wellness, says Oprah’s on-again trainer and long-time friend, but it will require Americans to increase their number of steps per day. Despite recommendations that 10,000 steps — or five miles — daily are needed to maintain proper fitness, many Americans average only 5,117 steps daily.

According to data published by the National Institutes of Health and American Council on Exercise, even people in on-the-go professions often fall short when it comes to meeting walking goals. Physicians and nurses log, on average, 5,325 and 8,648 steps, respectively. Office workers average 4,327 steps a day; teachers, 4,726 steps.

“What many people don’t realize is that exercise doesn’t have to require a huge time commitment — all it takes is adding a few extra steps throughout the day,” says Greene .

Greene suggests using a pedometer as an accountability and motivational tool while working up to a goal of 10,000 steps per day by walking for 30 to 60 minutes straight or, if necessary, in 10-minute increments over the course of a day. And he urges a commitment of at least six weeks to make walking a part of an ongoing healthier lifestyle.

“Stop with what I call ‘life excuses’ — ‘I don’t have time,’ ‘I can’t take on another challenge right now’ — and begin walking because you care about yourself, not to lose 10 pounds,” stresses Greene .

“Ten-thousand steps a day is not a daunting goal, but it’s a hard message to a non-exercising, non-moving public. For overall health benefits, I recommend even more steps: 12,000 to an ultimate of 18,000 steps a day ,” says Green .

The 53-year-old Greene, a daily walker, says, “Look for ways to get more walking into your everyday life by taking the stairs at work, walking down the hall rather than sending an e-mail to a co-worker, walking to the store instead of driving, walking from a parking spot deliberately chosen for its distance.”

Walking briskly with elevated breathing — or, as he puts it, “walking in a manner in which you can talk, but can’t talk easily” — should be the eventual pace.

Greene, who recently partnered with Bannockburn-based Omron Healthcare, Inc., makers of pedometers and blood pressure monitors, says, “Research shows that using a pedometer can increase physical activity by about 2,000 steps each day. A pedometer reminds you [that] you haven’t done much on a given day and need to get to work or it motivates and pushes you to reach the next level.”