Malling counts as exercise—seriously
Walking as a form of exercise has been proven to be a boon to overall health. Its numerous benefits include boosting immune function, increasing cardiovascular fitness, easing joint pain, burning excess calories, and relieving stress.
Adults need to walk about 7,000 steps daily to meet the World Health Organization’s recommendation of getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week. Yes, that’s way below the widely believed benchmark set at 10,000 steps, yet many people can’t comply due largely to inconducive weather.
Keeping that factor in mind, Patrick Joson, who’s a triathlon coach, and his team that organizes sports events came up with an inspired idea when they were asked to do a fun run for Shangri-La Plaza. It then led to the birth of “Stride: Walkathon” at the Shang last June 7.
“The property wasn’t feasible for outdoor running,” he told Lifestyle at the event. “So, it was thought that it would be better to put it indoors. But we didn’t want to encourage people running in the mall because there are inherent dangers. We then decided it was more catered to walking.”
And walk the participants did, according to their categories. One was for those taking the 5,000 steps and the other for 3,000 steps.
Starting point
From the starting point at the mall’s grand atrium on Level 2, they navigated the route that took them around the upper floors. They also stopped by the booths to take on challenges, such as warm-up exercises, until they collected all the letters that spelled “walkathon” before eventually reaching the finish line.
Many of the participants really sweated it out as air-conditioning was only beginning to reach full blast in preparation for the opening of shops for the day’s business.
Joson pointed out, though, that “there’s no connection between exercise and sweat.” In fact, as explained by medical experts, sweating is our body’s way of cooling itself down while efficiently regulating body temperature.
“Even if you’re not sweating, it doesn’t mean you’re not burning calories,” he said. “Burning calories is also relative. So for those who don’t exercise, walking on two floors is a big deal. So any movement is welcome. Any form of activity is highly encouraged.”
To make walking safe and beneficial, Joson has these tips: “Keep it light, keep it manageable. Make sure that you don’t walk one hour right away. If you can do it for 20 minutes, that’s okay. Do it maybe twice to thrice a week.”
He clarified that malling can lead to an active lifestyle when walking is done regularly until it becomes an exercise routine.
