Walk toward better health in 30 days
A daily walk can help guard against a variety of health challenges
I was recently introduced to a program that is launching in Hamilton on April 1 that will be encouraging people to walk for 30 continuous minutes per day for 30 consecutive days.
One of my fellow Hamilton TigerCat alumni members reached out to me and asked if I would help spread the word and I was more than happy to do my part to help get the message out and encourage as many Hamiltonians as possible to participate.
Ed Valtenbergs is a manager with the Hamilton Tiger-Cat Alumni Association and is the vice-president of Sport Hamilton.
Sport Hamilton, an independent organization affiliated they with the city, promotes sporting activities and causes that are related to sports, like the Breakfast of Champions and various awards programs.
Its website, sporthamilton.com, is a prime resource for sports information in the city. It has links to all sports organizations in the city as well as links for a variety of funding opportunities for sports to help remove the financial and accessibility barriers that might be keeping kids from participating.
When Valtenbergs reached out to me last month, he introduced me to an initiative called “Walk 30-4-30” that he learned about while he was in New York City to attend the Sport for Life Summit in 2023. It isn’t a fundraiser, but rather it is an initiative designed to encourage citizens to get active by walking for at least 30 minutes every day for a full 30 days in the hopes that they will continue with an active lifestyle for life.
He learned about similar programs being run in Vancouver as well as in various American cities and thought that it would be a great thing to offer back home in Hamilton.
Participants are encouraged to register for free through the Sport Hamilton website at sporthamilton.com/walk30 to be able to track progress every day for a chance to win daily prizes.
The “walk-off” event to start the 30 days will be on April 1 at T.B. McQueston Park at 1199 Upper Wentworth St. and the wrap up event will be on April 30 at Gage Park.
There are also social and educational elements to the program that the organizers are excited about. Registrants are encouraged to join the 30-4-30 Facebook group and Instagram page to share pictures and posts as a way to promote their progress while completing the challenge. The Facebook page will also be a source of information about the benefits of walking to help participants make a long-term commitment to carry on past the 30-day mark.
Some of the benefits already listed on the page: walking provides a boost to your brainpower, it improves your sleep, reduces your stress, reduces the risk of chronic diseases, burns calories to help with healthy weight maintenance and improves your mood.
Aside from promoting the 30-430 program for the health benefits of participants, Sport Hamilton is working to raise awareness and funding for KidSport Ontario, a program that provides financial assistance to Ontario children and youth, 18 years old and under, who are facing financial barriers preventing them from participating in organized sport.
When I spoke with Valtenbergs for this, his excitement and enthusiasm for the 30-4-30 program was contagious.
It is clearly a program that he has great hopes for and is proud to be associated with. His real desire is that people will continue walking for life with friends long after the 30 days are over as they adopt new, healthy habits for the long-term.
Valtenbergs also provided me with these statistics on the value of walking for health and for weight maintenance: An estimated 175 calories will be burned in a 30-minute walk. This would mean that in a month of walking 30 minutes per day, 5,250 calories will be burned, resulting in 1.5 pounds of weight lost.
In one year, that could result in a loss of 18 pounds. All from just walking 30 minutes per day.
LIFE COACH AND CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER ERNIE SCHRAMAYR HELPS HIS CLIENTS TO IMPROVE THEIR LIVES PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY. YOU CAN FOLLOW HIM AT ERNIESFITNESSWORLD.COM OR CONTACT HIM AT ERNIESFITNESSWORLD@GMAIL.COM OR 905-741-7532.