You may never win gold in the marathon but experts say you could at least walk toward better health.

Researchers say it may take far less exercise than people had thought to lower the risk of heart disease especially for the highest risk group, middle-aged men. They want to encourage people to literally take the first step.

“Doing something is better than doing nothing,” says epidemiologist1 Steven N. Blair of the Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas. “Standing is better than sitting, moving around is better than standing.”

“Lower intensity exercise brisk2 walking on a regular basis --- provides a fair amount of benefits,” says Dr. William L. Haskell, deputy director of the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention, in California.

Blair and Haskell agree that the highest-risk men are those who do virtually nothing.

Haskell says the men he studied changed their risk factors in key areas --- lowering their body weight and blood pressure, while raising their HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol, the so-called ‘good’ cholesterol that’s associated with a decreased risk of heart disease.

Haskell says his subjects did it with a program of brisk walking 30 to 40 minutes at 3.5 to 4.5miles per hour (5.6 to 7.2 kilometers per hour) every other day. This much exercise should put your rate in the 110-125 beat per minute range or 60 percent of capacity.

That’s significantly below what experts have considered the minimum thresholds3 for a training benefit to kick in4 70 to 80 percent of capacity. Haskell says this range is based primarily on studies of comparatively more fit college students by researchers who wanted to detect improvement over comparatively shorter time periods.

Blair and Haskell say the training threshold concept may be misleading, because smaller doses of exercise can produce some improvement.

And, says Haskell, the prospect5 of having to gasp6 and strain their way to better health at a 70-80 percent target range has kept a lot of people from trying.

“When you look at the population over age 45, using current guidelines on exercise 30 to 40 minutes at 70 to 80 percent of capacity, three times a week no more than 20 percent of men and ten percent of women meet that criteria7,” he said.

The public may be thinking, “How little can I do and still get away with it?” Blair says. He says they may need less than they think.

And, says Haskell, the prospect5 of having to gasp6 and strain their way to better health at a 70-80 percent target range has kept a lot of people from trying.

“When you look at the population over age 45, using current guidelines on exercise 30 to 40 minutes at 70 to 80 percent of capacity, three times a week no more than 20 percent of men and ten percent of women meet that criteria7,” he said.

The public may be thinking, “How little can I do and still get away with it?” Blair says. He says they may need less than they think.

And if you can’t spare 30 to 40 minutes in a lump8, Haskell says you can break it into 10-minute segments9. He says that his research indicates you’ll still get health benefits, and they may be nearly as great.

However, neither researcher suggests that people who arc doing more should cut back. Both say there is more benefit in being more fit.

Blair says vigorous exercise can relieve stress and make you better able to enjoy other kinds of outdoor sports.

And he says that, if walking or jogging doesn’t appeal to you, then you might find some other form of aerobic10 exercise that can make you at least moderately fit.

He defines high fitness in men as jogging two miles (3.2 kilometers) in less than 20 minutes, and high fitness in women as doing the same in 20 to 24 minutes.

The goal, he says, is to live to enjoy something.