Tips for retailers

Do you stock enough walking shoes?

During the past year, Run/Walk for Life registered massive growth of more than 20% and now has more than 30 000 members, says club MD Matthew Grossett.

He attributes this growth to the fact that Run/Walk for Life refined a very good product over 22 years.

But worldwide, walking is one of the most popular aerobic activities. In America it is the fastest growing fitness activity, with more participants than running. This trend is mirrored in SA. About 85% of the Run/Walk for Life members are walkers and only 15% runners.

The Johannesburg Walk the Talk event now draws fields in excess of 20 000 entrants. The Cape Town Big Walk and the Big Cities’ Spar Ladies road races, all draw more entrants than the Comrades ultra marathon, claims Grossett.

The Run/Walk for Life website claims it is the leading fitness and weight control programme in SA. The term fitness can, however, be misleading in the wide scope in which it is applied, says Grossett.

No one will deny that the work rate of Schalk Burger, the Springbok flank, is mind boggling, and has probably never been witnessed in someone so young. But put Burger in a top-class running field over 10km or a top-class squash game and he will wilt faster than the Super 14-team of the Cats.

"I will take your average Comrades runner and have some little 50kg-walker blow him right out of the water," claims Grossett.

The health benefits of the Run/Walk for Life club are encouraging. In 2005, 32 000kg of weight was lost, 946 people reduced their cholesterol, while 638 reduced dependency on blood pressure medication, according to the Run/Walk for Life website.

For general cardiovascular fitness you don’t need to work yourself into a stupor. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that 3 workouts per week, like walking at about 60–70% of your maximum heart rate, is as beneficial to your general wellbeing and overall health profile as the fitness freak who spends hours and hours doing his thing, says Grossett.

Walking raises your metabolic rate, which in turn, kick-starts weight loss. Any aerobic activity done regularly at an intensity of 60–70% of your maximum heart rate, coupled with a sensible eating plan, will see the inches and kilogrammes start disappearing.

Of course, upping the heart rate above the limits mentioned above, will accelerate the process, but then one is really beginning to look at the more elite athlete.

The key is regular aerobic exercise, like walking for 30 minutes at least 3 times weekly or more, as well as sensible eating and walking briskly.

Grossett says you can spend 2 hours in a gymnasium and get no cardiovascular benefit at all by doing a few bicep curls and tricep-pushdowns, but you could have most Comrades runners gasping and sore after a hard 30 minute speed-walking session. About 30 – 40 minutes of quality walking is as good if not better than the gymnasium workout described above, which, in truth, is what the most average gymnasium person does, maintains Grossett.

Walking becomes an attractive sport and leisure activity because it is relatively cheap for the beginner. A pair of athletic walking shoes, track pants and T-shirt will do to start off. You can do it any time suitable to yourself, you don’t need to be a super fit hero to start and the health benefits are awesome with regards to reducing the risk factors for coronary heart disease, says Grossett.

"Just about anyone can walk. You can do it alone or with a partner and the risk of injury is much smaller than with running or gymnasium work. It’s transportable. You can do it in the mountains, on the beach or in your suburb and no special apparatus is needed," says Grossett.

Does Run/Walk for Life cater more for the Golden Girls or Grumpy Old Men than the Young and the Restless? Evidently, this is not the case.

More women than men historically joined the Run/Walk for Life club — 70% women vs 30% men, and mostly in the age bracket 30 – 50. But with partners like Discovery Health, there had been a steady increase in membership in the 20–30 age group, says Grossett.

Run/Walk for Life has more than 85 branches in most metropolitan areas. The club employs very competent managers, most of whom were ultra marathon-athletes, explains Grossett. These managers undergo a 3-month training schedule to assist new or established members with whatever goal or programme they have.

One of the greatest assets of the club is that it caters for all shapes, sizes, tastes and goals.

Beginners, who just want to walk and become fitter, share their goal with the manager, who would assist him/her in attaining it without using strenuous Kamp Staaldraad–methods.

People who want to run a road race, a half marathon, or marathon can also contact the club, and the managers will set up a programme to assist these athletes and drive them to new heights.

In 2005, Run/Walk for Life assisted 58 athletes with programmes and plans, inter alia to run the Comrades. Six of them won silver medals. "We benchmark where people are and we help them set realistic goals. Not everyone wants to be a Comrades athlete," he says.

The club is also involved with some road races, and marshal tables. In 2005, Run/Walk for Life organized the O’ Grady’s Paint Road Race in Somerset West that received the award as the Road Race of the Month in December.

Grossett claims many competitors have tried similar programmes without success.

Prof. Tim Noakes, director and founder member of the Sport Science Institute in Newlands, Cape Town, says Grossett’s statement is not quite true. "’We run a program called Optifit, which is not commercially driven. We offer our services for free. In 1983, we started a program with the Cape Argus to get people fit for a marathon. We wanted a group of 30 wannabe-athletes but received 600 calls. We just took 30 names.

"It was obvious there was a gap in the market, and in 1983 Ivan Cohen started the company (Run/Walk for Life) in Johannesburg. We took the scientific route and they took the commercial route. We were not commercially driven," says Noakes.