[ColdDayInHell]

The Guardian

Shopping or the gym? If retail therapy comes top every time, then you might be the ideal candidate for mall-walking. It's a fitness trend from the US that now seems to be catching on here. Losing pounds from your thighs, not your pocket, is the idea behind "mallercise".

It involves power-walking around shopping centres and marching up stairs and escalators while simultaneously doing a spot of window-shopping. So popular have such sessions become in the US and Canada that manufacturers now market special "mall-walker" shoes "to give extra traction for smoother, slicker mall floors".

Fans say the advantages of mall-walking include the fact that shopping malls are traffic free, weather resistant and safe. It can also get you reasonably fit. A 30-minute speed walk incorporating some stair climbing and lunges can burn around 200 calories. One of the first mall-walking schemes in the UK was at the White Rose shopping centre in Leeds where groups have been meeting every weekday morning since 2003. Initially part of a joint venture with the South Leeds Health For All (SLHFA) programme and the national Walking the Way to Health project, it now attracts an average of 60 shoppers a week, many of whom are referred by their GP.

"We hold the walks on Monday to Friday, before the shops open their doors," says Liz Greenough, who runs the initiative. "The ground-floor of the centre measures a quarter of a mile from one end to the other and is perfect for people just wanting a little gentle exercise." Similar programmes now run at shopping centres around the country.

In February, the Trafford Centre in Manchester launched a mall-walking scheme in conjunction with Trafford council's sport and health development team. "We provide the perfect secure environment to exercise, especially for women and children," says Gordon McKinnon, director of operations at the Trafford Centre. At the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, Simon Hill-Norton, director of the Sweaty Betty chain of women's sports shops, has launched a special mall-walking session. Wearing MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology) trainers, designed to improve posture, participants are led through a fitness walk in and around the centre on Sunday mornings by personal trainer Nhaylene Hussain. "We power walk on the top level of the shopping centre," Hussain says. On average we do six laps of that level, which is about 5-6 miles in total, so it is a genuinely challenging workout."

At the University of Calgary in Canada, physiologists looked at the effects of an eight-week mall-walking programme on health and wellbeing. After two months, results showed that the subjects were walking further and weighed less than when they started. Perhaps more significantly, they displayed high self-motivation, with 63% of subjects mall-walking three or more days a week.

In the Calgary study, the average age of those taking part was 66, which led the researchers to suggest that it is the perfect activity for "older people looking for a safe, flat place to improve their functional mobility, fitness and improve their sense of independence".

Another Canadian study revealed that shopping malls are the second most popular walking site for people aged 45 and older, with more women likely to choose them as an exercise destination than men. Experts say frequent activity that can be easily incorporated into your lifestyle is most helpful in the battle of the bulge. "For exercise to be successful in terms of weight loss and improvements in health, it needs to be done regularly," says Dr Beckie Lang of the Association for the Study of Obesity. "It actually doesn't matter where you walk as long you do it, and for many people this may be more accessible than a class at a gym."

And it might not be long before even the supermarket is transformed into an exercise emporium. A hi-tech trolley has been developed to transform the typical supermarket shop into a gentle workout. Shoppers are thought to burn up about 150 calories during a typical 40-minute visit to the supermarket (provided they walk pretty quickly and carry their bags to the boot of their car afterwards), but pushing the Trim Trolley for the same time with the resistance level set at seven - with 10 being the hardest - the average person would use up 280 calories, the equivalent of a 20-minute swim. It was tested in stores by Tesco a couple of years ago and other supermarket chains are looking into similar equipment.

Just what you need as you sail past the confectionery aisle.


Source

[magosienne]

thanks for posting. i do that a lot actually. i take every occasion to loose some calories i even do some active house cleaning !

[Karren_Hutton]

I usually power walk at noon.... but end up getting a candy bar somewhere that totally negates the exersize.... That's my bigest problem... snacking...

[bulbul]

I do power walk every morning when I am going toward work. I have to take one bus and get off after 3 stop and take another bus. I walk that 3 stop and take my bus to work , it saves me money as well as keeps me healthy.