Step 100: Just Do It

OK, I lied. There aren't just 99 steps to 100. In fact, the 100th step sums up all the others.

Just Keep Moving

Golf, like bowling, is a wonderful recreation, but it just isn't enough push to qualify as quality exercise. To do my body good, movement must have some pace to it. Walking is clearly the form of exercise that is most universally available and could be a boon to our nation's fitness profile -- if we would only remember individually and collectively how to walk. As it is now, we cluster around elevators to go up one floor. The airport is also a challenge -- when an escalator, horizontal or vertical, is available, nearly everyone uses it. Stairs become nearly obsolete. In public buildings, they are often built in unfriendly corners where rubbish accumulates. I would favor prohibiting elevators for ascents of fewer than six floors.

Aim for Heart-Pounding, Panting Exercise

Other athletic endeavors, such as tennis, basketball, baseball, football, biking, skiing, etc., are all qualified by how the sport is played. I know tennis players who are either so skillful or so lazy that they rarely move from the center of the court. Other sports are the same. If you play with a level of intensity that causes the heart to pound and the breath to pant, that's when health benefits accrue. But even some football players are in lousy shape. Just being strong isn't enough. You can be strong as a bull and still be in poor condition. I delight in the stories of body builders who flunk the physical exams for such-and-such a job position because they are in poor condition.

To be successful, an exercise program should have an element of recreation and renewal in it. Exercising just because it is good for you isn't enough for most people. It should be fun, too. If the exercise is perceived as work, chances are you won't sustain it. For some people this means group activities, for others it means a solo experience. For some it must be done in the morning, for others the evening. There are lots and lots of ways to be fit.

Aim for Balance

But be more than body fit, be whole person fit -- body, mind, spirit all in harmony, balance, vitality. This is the ideal. It takes guts and smarts. It takes involvement. The key is to do it, just do it.