Walk Kansas
Spring into Good Health with Walk Kansas
Would you like to feel better and have more energy? Maybe you need to blow off steam from a stressful day or get a better night’s sleep. Physical activity can help you achieve these things and more. The health benefits from regular exercise are hard to ignore, and they are available to everyone, regardless of age, sex, or physical ability. Achieve your goals through Walk Kansas!
Begin by gathering a team of 6 individuals and select one of these challenges:
Challenge 1) Each person reaches the minimum goal for physical activity – 21⁄2 hours per week. Collectively, the team would walk 423 miles – the distance across the state.
Challenge 2) Take a meandering trek diagonally across the state from Elkhart to Troy. Each person logs 4 hours of activity per week which would take the team 750 miles.
Challenge 3) Walk the perimeter of Kansas – 1200 miles -- with each person logging 6 hours of moderate/vigorous activity per week.
Next, you need to register. New this year, you may register and pay on-line, if you choose.
Online: Team captains first must go to www.walkkansas.org and click on “My Walk Kansas” and enter all team member names and email addresses. The system will automatically send an invitation to the team members asking them to complete the online registration and set up their own account as a team member. Participants then can log their own exercise time and fruit/vegetable intake on-line. Participants may pay the $10 registration fee online as well with Pay Pal or a credit card. Optional Walk Kansas t-shirts, etc. may be ordered there as well.
Paper registration: as in the past, packets are available at the Seward County Extension office, 1081 Stadium Road, across from the Activity Center. Pay the $10 registration and order optional t-shirts, etc. at the office.
What activities count toward Walk Kansas Minutes?
Moderate/vigorous exercise and activity – at a level where you can carry on a conversation, but not sing (moderate), or where you can talk but not have a conversation (vigorous). Walking, Zumba, gardening, spinning, choose your favorite activity.
Activity must be done for at least 10 consecutive minutes.
Time you spend doing strengthening exercises.
If you wear an activity tracker (wrist tracker or pedometer) you can start counting steps after you reach 6,000 steps in a day. Report 15 minutes of activity for every 2,000 steps you take above 6,000.
Physicians tell us that if exercise were a pill, it would be the most widely prescribed medication. Register for Walk Kansas now through April 1! For more information go to www.walkKansas.org, www.wildwest.ksu.edu, stop by the Seward County K-State Research and Extension office at 1081 Stadium Rd, Liberal, call at 620-624-5604 or email at sw@listserv.ksu.edu.
