Get out your fitness walking poles and join in Nordic Walking Day on Sunday, May 20, 2012. This annual celebration day is declared by the International Nordic Walking Federation. Nordic walking burns more calories per mile, without feeling like you are exerting yourself more.

What is Nordic Walking? Simply, it is walking with two fitness walking poles and using a specific technique. It has been popular in Europe for 15 years but only slowly making converts in North America.

Nordic Walking Step by Step

Top Picks for Fitness Walking Poles

I strongly recommend Nordic Walking over other methods walkers are tempted to use to burn more calories, such as wearing toning shoes or ankle and arm weights. Nordic Walking does not put any unusual stresses on your body, but rather helps relieve some of the stress on your knees, hips and ankles while also giving you the upper body workout we all need. Done properly, Nordic walking is the antidote to help open up the chest and combat our hunched-over-the-computer habits.

Photo © Wendy Bumgardner

If you are one of the millions of people who bought Skechers Shape-Ups in hopes of losing weight, toning muscles, and developing a shapely behind like their spokesmodel Kim Kardashian, you can apply for a refund. Skechers USA Inc. reached an agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for $40 million to settle charges that they deceived their customers with unfounded advertising claims. You can apply for a refund if you purchased any of Skechers' footwear called Shape-ups, Resistance Runner, Shape-ups Toners/Trainers, and Tone-ups since August 1, 2008.

"Skechers' unfounded claims went beyond stronger and more toned muscles. The company even made claims about weight loss and cardiovascular health," said David Vladeck, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection in a press release. "The FTC's message, for Skechers and other national advertisers, is to shape up your substantiation or tone down your claims."

Skechers has been the market leader for toning shoes. Rival Reebok similarly came to a settlement with the FTC in 2011 to offer refunds for EasyTone and RunTone shoes because of their unfounded advertising claims.

I placed toning shoes on my list of walking products I don't recommend because of the excessive claims made by some manufacturers. Among the misleading advertising cited by the FTC were claims that wearing them would lead to greater weight loss than other fitness shoes, endorsement by a chiropractor who claimed to have done an independent study that was not independent, cherry-picking data in another study to claim more muscle activation with Skechers, and running a Super Bowl ad featuring celebrities and making claims for weight loss and greater toning.

Under the settlement agreement, Skechers will need to produce new scientific evidence to make any claim of strengthening, weight loss, calorie burn, blood circulation, aerobic conditioning, muscle tone, and muscle activation.

We have dozens of reader reviews for Skechers Shape-Ups, ranging from walkers who say they helped their foot pain to walkers who blame them for new aches and injuries.

Source: Press Release: Skechers Will Pay $40 Million to Settle FTC Charges That It Deceived Consumers with Ads for "Toning Shoes" FTC.gov 5/16/12 accessed 5/16/12.

Photo © Wendy Bumgardner

I make my living at the computer, so the health risks of sitting too much are a concern. I'm good at getting in my total daily steps, but can end up with long periods just sitting and working. I just finished reviews of two ways to alert yourself when you need to get up and move. They are very different from each other.

The Gruve Personal Activity Monitor is a dedicated device with the express purpose of increasing your non-exercise activity thermogenesis (N.E.A.T.) Those are the calories you burn just doing stuff all day long, not any particular exercise. Just moving around, chores, etc. It vibrates when you haven't moved in awhile and records your sedentary, low activity, moderate activity and high activity minutes per day. Full review: Gruve Personal Activity Monitor

If you have an iPhone, the MotionX Sleep app performs a similar function with inactivity alerts, plus records walking workouts, total daily steps, and is a great sleep quality monitor. It works great in the background as you run other apps, if you have iOS5. As the cost is practically (but not quite) free, it might be the place to start. Full review: MotionX Sleep App

Photo © Wendy Bumgardner 2012
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

A review of 45 medical studies found that physical activity reduced mortality for survivors of breast cancer and colon cancer. Exercise reduced mortality not just from cancer, but for all causes in the survivors. The study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute didn't find evidence that it increased the lifespan for survivors of other kinds of cancer.

How does physical activity extend survivorship? The abstract speculates, "exercise may result in beneficial changes in the circulating level of insulin, insulin-related pathways, inflammation, and, possibly, immunity." The review couldn't get specific on how much physical activity is needed to produce the effects, as the studies varied in their measurements.

One previous study found that women who get the recommended amount of physical activity for adults, three hours of walking per week, had a significant improvement in breast cancer survivor rates: Walking improves breast cancer survival rates.  And a previous review of studies found significant benefits for exercising during and after cancer treatment for breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer.

Edward L. Giovannucci, M.D., ScD, of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, comments in an editorial on the study. "Even though direct effects of physical activity on cancer are not definitely proven, given that physical activity is generally safe, improves quality of life for cancer patients, and has numerous other health benefits, adequate physical activity should be a standard part of cancer care."

_Source:

_{Rachel Ballard-Barbash, et.al. "Physical Activity, Biomarkers, and Disease Outcomes in Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review." J Natl Cancer Inst, Advance Access 10.1093/jnci/djs207}