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View Full Version : how little exersise does the average American get?



DavidNH
12-04-2005, 21:46
So I am wondering just how little exercise does the average adult american get? I am talking of the country..not just the hiking community here. Can you back this up? I am looking on internet for info not easy to find.

I was at Jack's Trashgiving fiesta (a great time for all!) and one person (whose name I forget..sorry) told me the average american walks barely one mile per week! I still have trouble believing this.. can anyone find info from web to back this up? If this stat is true.. it would in part explain our obesity problem. But I find this stat just a bit too much. I mean that is really sad. One could walk a full mile just around an office building. One mile could be one trip to a shopping mall. And ya gotta walk from the car to the store (i mean you cant always park RIGHT NEXT to it right?) are we really just tv watching video game junkies with some web browsing side addiciton? Is it REALLY this bad among the general populous?

If it is bad as that stat (avg only one mile per week walking) then we hikers must be among the nation's fittest individuals.

DavidNH

Sly
12-04-2005, 22:03
Haven't you heard the need for longer needles? American asses have become too large to penetrate!

Kerosene
12-04-2005, 22:26
I work for a company that compiles and analyzes healthcare data for about a third of the U.S. privately insured population, although let me qualify myself as the head of IT and not the public health expert.

Remember that there are 300 million people in the U.S., and if you add up all of the people who regularly participate in some physical activity, including basic things like gardening, you'd be lucky to get to 150 million people. That leaves half the population, including infants, the bed-ridden, and the disabled, to really drag down the average.

While I have not heard the one mile per week statistic before it might not be too far-fetched if one is only counting walking intended for exercise (as opposed to walking around the house). Just look at all the drive-in fast food, dry cleaning, car washes, coffee shops, elevators, escalators, moving sidewalks, etc. and someone can even avoid a lot of walking if they want to.

If you're interested in doing academic research I could put you in contact with our research folks to see if they can help. The data easily shows the correlation between fitness and wellness across a large population.

Kerosene
12-04-2005, 22:28
Haven't you heard the need for longer needles? American asses have become too large to penetrate!Here is a reference to the article: http://www.latimes.com/la-112805butts_wr,0,4261579.story?track=hpmostemailed link. Note that this was the result of a 50-patient study in an Irish hospital.

Sly
12-04-2005, 22:35
Here is a reference to the article: http://www.latimes.com/la-112805butts_wr,0,4261579.story?track=hpmostemailed link. Note that this was the result of a 50-patient study in an Irish hospital.

Oh, it's the Irish that have fat asses. Nope, no obesity in America.

PartnerShip
12-04-2005, 22:36
Not sure about the average american but I work as a waitress and have off and on for many years. Also other jobs as Nursing Assistant with Hospice, etc have kept me on my feet and lifting heavy sick people.
On Thanksgiving as a waitress I worked from 9am to midnite and wore a pedometer out of curiosity and walked 15 miles.
So I hope all these years of being on my feet will help me with my hike in the Spring.
I am not good at sitting very long, in fact in July while vsiting NY we walked from early morning till the last train left that nite and I could have kept on going. But do know that I realize that thisis nothing compared to Hiking the AT.

chris
12-05-2005, 10:50
Somewhere in Supersize Me, the documentary made a few years back about McDonalds, it was claimed that the average American takes fewer than 500 steps per day. I don't recall the source, study, or sample group.

honu
12-05-2005, 11:15
I recently read about a study about the number of steps per day that old order Amish take -- men take 18,000 steps per day, women 14,000.

The average Amercian takes 4,000 - 5,000 steps per day, about half the recommended 10,000 steps per day.

Googling should turn up more details.

stupe
12-05-2005, 13:22
Bill Bryson claims that the average American walks about 1.4 miles a week, or 350 yards a day.
I commute by bicycle to the city, about an hour and ten minutes of riding, including hills. The "kids" in my office ( they're in their twenties ) think I'm nuts or I'm Superman. They take the train if they have to walk more than a few blocks.

V8
12-05-2005, 13:33
Well, when I was little we walked to school and back, then ran around, rode bikes and played ball all afternoon until we were forced to stop and come in for supper. We played more after supper if it was light out. It was easy and natural to be moving around almost constantly.
As an adult, I've had to deliberately resume walking to work and back and doing "exercises" in order to maintain half the fitness level of those days. It helps to have hiking as a hobby.
But jeesh, what ABOUT all the people who don't hike???

Auntie Mame
12-05-2005, 18:01
Well, my hat's off to Partnership, and anyone else who's willing to work and walk like that. You just go, girl! :clap

Alligator
12-05-2005, 18:53
Somewhere in Supersize Me, the documentary made a few years back about McDonalds, it was claimed that the average American takes fewer than 500 steps per day. I don't recall the source, study, or sample group.
I just watched this. I don't think he mentioned the source in the film. I do have it recorded though and may get around to double checking. Pretty funny how the guy decided to start taking taxis instead of his usual daily walking.

honu
12-05-2005, 21:51
Now you've got me intrigued by the widely differing numbers of steps. Here's one source that says the average inactive American takes 4,000 - 6,000 steps each day: http://web.utk.edu/~cpah/FitnessFocus.pdf (http://web.utk.edu/%7Ecpah/FitnessFocus.pdf)

the1stranger
12-06-2005, 01:44
Let's see.

Get out of bed: 10 min. get ready for work in the morning: 1hr. Walk to car from home: 15 seconds. drive to work: 1 hr. Walk to car from desk: 2 min. Sit at desk for:4 hrs. Walk to car for lunch: 15 seconds. Eat: 20 min. Pee: 2 min (including walk to bathroom) Sit at desk for: 4 hrs. Pee: 2 min(including walk to bathroom) Walk to car from desk: 2 min. Drive home: 1hr. Walk to home from car: 15 seconds. Make dinner: 30 minutes. Eat: 20 min. Pee: 2 min. Walk to bed: 10 min.

Get out of bed: 10 min. get ready for work in the morning: 1hr. Walk to car from home: 15 seconds. drive to work: 1 hr. Walk to car from desk: 2 min. Sit at desk for:4 hrs. Walk to car for lunch: 15 seconds. Eat: 20 min. Pee: 2 min (including walk to bathroom) Sit at desk for: 4 hrs. Pee: 2 min(including walk to bathroom) Walk to car from desk: 2 min. Drive home: 1hr. Walk to home from car: 15 seconds. Make dinner: 30 minutes. Eat: 20 min. Pee: 2 min. Walk to bed: 10 min.

Get out of bed: 10 min. get ready for work in the morning: 1hr. Walk to car from home: 15 seconds. drive to work: 1 hr. Walk to car from desk: 2 min. Sit at desk for:4 hrs. Walk to car for lunch: 15 seconds. Eat: 20 min. Pee: 2 min (including walk to bathroom) Sit at desk for: 4 hrs. Pee: 2 min(including walk to bathroom) Walk to car from desk: 2 min. Drive home: 1hr. Walk to home from car: 15 seconds. Make dinner: 30 minutes. Eat: 20 min. Pee: 2 min. Walk to bed: 10 min.

Get out of bed: 10 min. get ready for work in the morning: 1hr. Walk to car from home: 15 seconds. drive to work: 1 hr. Walk to car from desk: 2 min. Sit at desk for:4 hrs. Walk to car for lunch: 15 seconds. Eat: 20 min. Pee: 2 min (including walk to bathroom) Sit at desk for: 4 hrs. Pee: 2 min(including walk to bathroom) Walk to car from desk: 2 min. Drive home: 1hr. Walk to home from car: 15 seconds. Make dinner: 30 minutes. Eat: 20 min. Pee: 2 min. Walk to bed: 10 min.

Get out of bed: 10 min. get ready for work in the morning: 1hr. Walk to car from home: 15 seconds. drive to work: 1 hr. Walk to car from desk: 2 min. Sit at desk for:4 hrs. Walk to car for lunch: 15 seconds. Eat: 20 min. Pee: 2 min (including walk to bathroom) Sit at desk for: 4 hrs. Pee: 2 min(including walk to bathroom) Walk to car from desk: 2 min. Drive home: 1hr. Walk to home from car: 15 seconds. Make dinner: 30 minutes. Eat: 20 min. Pee: 2 min. Walk to bed: 10 min.


2 days full excersize and begin again at the top.

lobster
12-06-2005, 12:25
Just going to the toilet and you will almost have 500 steps. That stat is clearly not correct! Think about it.

the goat
12-06-2005, 12:35
you forgot to take a crap:eek:

the1stranger
12-06-2005, 19:06
Lol, Whoops! :o

Rain Man
12-07-2005, 12:14
... But do know that I realize that thisis nothing compared to Hiking the AT.

Don't sell yourself short, PartnerShip!!!!

Rain Man

.

jmaclennan
12-07-2005, 12:50
just saw that part of super size me. mark fenton, former editor of walking magazine, says that most americans take between 4 and 5,000 steps a day. there are about 2,000 steps to a mile walked, so that would be about 2 - 2 1/2 miles per day. he also said many americans walk much less than that. of course, 5 million steps in around 6 months works out to about 30,000 steps a day (15 miles). not to mention the fact that (as we well know) not all steps are created equally.