“My name’s Ross and I’m 15 years old and I like to walk. I walk to school, walk to my friends house after school, walk to the store, the library, the bus or Max station. I started walking really young, I guess everyone does, but then I started to skateboard. So now the ways I like to get around are walking and skating. I suppose when I’m old enough to drive I’ll do that to get around, but I don’t think I’ll stop walking or skating. Don’t get me wrong, I like to hang with my friends on MySpace and watch t.v. too, but I just don’t spend all my time doing that when I can be outside having fun. I have a couple of friends who are kinda lazy and don’t like to go anywhere walking but after they realized I wasn’t going to sit around with them, they started walking places with me. So now, we all have fun together. We’ve become pretty tight by just hanging out walking places together and now we even have a garage band.”

If you are between the ages of 12 and 18 you have probably experienced the changes hormones have on your skin.

As active youth experience a change in skin care routine (washing more often to avoid blackheads or clogged pores after softball practice), hormones also have much to do with your skin as your body changes through teen years. 

Although you cannot prevent the changes your body goes through, you can learn about these changes, how to take care of your skin and minimize the appearance of blemishes and acne that might make you self conscious. 

Teen Skin Video - Click here to view

Send us a photo of your most worn shoes and we’ll know you’ve been out there pounding pavement, jumping, hopping, sliding into home plate!

Send us a pic of you in action shooting hoops, skating, whatever you do that keeps you active - we will publish it on our blog!

Send your photos to admin@walk2bfit.org

Walking and safety is a concern for all, especially those who walk in busy high-traffic areas.  There are many things to be aware of for instance, what about crossing the street?

In some areas there are signs, signals and roadway markings to help you cross safely.  Do you know what these signs and signals look like?  At Walk2bFit we feel that teaching walking safety is just as important as providing you information on the important benefits of walking for fitness and health.   More here…

What 1980’s Band Climbed The Charts With Their Egyptian Walk Performance?

Answer: The Bangles

Liam Sternberg wrote the song after seeing people on a ferry walking awkwardly to keep their balance, which reminded him of figures in Ancient Egyptian reliefs. “Walk Like an Egyptian” sang by the Bangles, debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1986. The song reached a peak of number three on the UK Singles Chart in November 1986 and reached number one in the U.S. on December 20, staying at the top of the Hot 100 for four weeks, carrying it over into January, 1987.

The song is the first song by an all-female group playing their own instruments to top the Billboard singles chart. The perception that ancient Egyptians normally walked in such a way has been reflected in other items of popular culture such as the song “King Tut” performed by comedian Steve Martin. Ancient Egyptian sculptures reflect the subjects walking normally.

Click here for utube videostream Walk Like An Egyptian - Bangles in Concert 

Use these numbers to answer the following questions about parts of the foot - 5, 20, 26, 33, 100

1. How many of the body’s 206 bones are located in each foot?
2. How many joints hold these bones together?
3. How many muscles are used to move the bones of each foot?
4. How many ligaments join these bones?
5. (This one’s easy…) How many nails protect the toes of each foot?

DID YOU KNOW…
During a typical day, the feet endure a cumulative force of several hundred tons.

Answers to Quiz 2:  1) 26,  2) 33,  3) 20,  4)  100,  5) 5

Some famous people down through the ages have made memorable statements about feet or have otherwise influenced the way we think about feet and shoes. Can you identify the person connected with the following?

1. Which Greek philosopher said, “When our feet hurt, we hurt all over”?
   1. Plato
   2. Socrates
   3. Aristotle
2. Which Renaissance artist called the foot “a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art”?
   1. Leonardo da Vinci
   2. Raphael
   3. Michelangelo
3. What hero of ancient Greece gave his name to the largest and strongest tendon in the foot?
   1. Ulysses
   2. Jason
   3. Achilles

DID YOU KNOW…
The average person, engaging in non-strenuous activity, walks approximately 4 miles every day or about 115,000 miles in a lifetime.

Answers to Quiz I: 1) B   2) A   3) C

Video: Obesity Education

Parenting & Childrens Newsletter - We love your kid. Sign up for WebMD’s healthy kids newsletter.

WebMD Health Reports that they’re still no substitutes for outdoor sports, but active video games like Nintendo Wii can help your kids break a sweat and burn calories.

That’s the bottom line of two new studies presented at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine. “If your kids are going to play a video game, and you know they will, these physically active games are better for their health than just moving their thumbs with traditional joysticks,” says Gregory Brown, PhD, associate professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

And because the virtual exercise platforms meet gamers in the comfort of their own homes, they can actually be helpful in encouraging shy children to exercise, he tells WebMD.

Brown notes that the findings come at a time when nearly one in five school-aged children and teens are obese.

“Anything we can do to fight the epidemic helps,” he says. Obesity in childhood and adolescence has been linked to obesity and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood.

Wii Games Burn Calories

Brown and colleagues studied 25 youngsters whose average age was 11. The kids burned two to three times as many calories when playing Wii Boxing and Wii Tennis than when engaging in traditional handheld video games.

Their average heart rate shot up from 80 to 120 beats per minute — “about what you’d expect when walking or doing a slow dance,” Brown says.

Brown thought the kids would burn even more calories when playing Dance Dance Revolution, where participants stand in front of the television and boogie in step to instructions and graphics on the screen. But that didn’t prove to be the case; all three games proved equally beneficial.

Video Games Improve Heart Rates

Researcher Viki Penpraze, a PhD candidate and instructor at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, conducted a similar study, comparing two active games to a handheld game and watching a Simpsons DVD. Participants included 13 children, all around the age of 10.

When the children watched a DVD or played the traditional hand-control video game, they didn’t burn off any more calories than they would by reading a book, she says.

But it was a different story when they played Dance Mat Mania and Eye Toy Boxing, where players simulate boxers.

Their heart rates jumped from 80 to up to 160 beats per minutes, the equivalent of brisk walking or even jogging. And they burned two to three times as many calories as during the sedentary activities.

The recent national guideline for walking adults is about 10,000 steps per day. How far is 10,000 steps anyway? The average person’s stride length is approximately 2.5 feet long. That means it takes just over 2,000 steps to walk one mile, and 10,000 steps is close to 5 miles. A sedentary person may only average 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day. For these people adding steps has many health benefits.

A reasonable goal for most people is to increase average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you can easily average 10,000 per day. Example: If you currently average 3000 steps each day, your goal for week one is 3500 each day. Your week 2 goal is 4000 each day. Continue to increase each week and you should be averaging 10,000 steps by the end of 14 weeks.

Wearing a pedometer is an easy way to track your steps each day. Start by wearing the pedometer every day for one week. Put it on when you get up in the morning and wear it until bed time. Record your daily steps in a log (see the Log Your Steps page). By the end of the week you will know your average daily steps. You might be surprised how many (or how few) steps you get in each day.

There are many ways to increase your daily steps. Use your imagination and come up with your own list:

1. Take a walk with a sister, brother, friend, parent or grandparent
2. Walk the dog, or the neighbor’s dog (if you don’t have one)
3. Use the stairs instead of the elevator
4. Walk to the store
5. Get up to change the channel
6. Plan a walking meeting with your friends
7. Walk over to visit a neighbor
8. Get outside to walk around the yard

Continue to track your daily steps and/or mileage; and keep notes on how you feel, how your body is improving, or other changes you are making to improve your health. If you feel sick, tell your parents or school nurse, sometimes walking too many steps too fast, may not be the right thing to do.

It is however our recommendation that you fit 30 to 60 minutes of dedicated walking into your routine at least 3 to 4 days a week. You can start with as little as ten minutes per day and gradually increase.