Do Americans exercise badly?

For many people in the United States, staying fit means getting in the car and driving to the gym. Exercise is something on the to-do list, isolated from the rest of everyday life.

According to Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, professor of history at the Novel School and author of “Fit Nation”, this mentality is typically American.

“It’s a crazy paradox that America is in many ways the center of the commercial fitness industry, but it’s also a place where people are, by all accounts, extremely incapable of exercising,” she said.

According to the report, only about a quarter of American adults get the recommended amount of physical activity Centers for Disease Control and Preventionand inactivity is 1 in 10 cases premature deaths.

Part of the problem, Dr. Mehlman Petrzela said, is the “pay-to-play experience” embedded in American fitness culture. There are countless gyms, classes and products that promise to improve your fitness as long as you hand over your credit card.

However, there are other ways to approach exercise. In many countries, exercise is part of everyday life – as a way to get from one place to another, build community, or connect with nature. According to fitness experts, here are some lessons Americans can learn from these cultures.

Finland: Walk wherever you can, even when it’s freezing.

When you live in a country like Finland, where daylight only lasts about six hours in the middle of winter, you learn to accept extremes.

It’s no wonder that Finns have a “there is no bad weather, only bad clothes” mentality, said Mika Venojärvi, professor of exercise medicine at the University of Eastern Finland. An outdoor trip is always popular, Venojärvi said, even in freezing temperatures.

As in many European cities, walking is the default form of transport. “We also got used to using our legs rather than the car,” said Tiina Arrankoski, director of president of the International Nordic Walking Council.

Nordic Walking, i.e. walking with specialized poles, is a proud Finnish tradition. It’s an accessible sport that encourages people to get outside and enjoy public parks and forests. It was founded by cross-country skiers in the 1930s as a form of cross-country training. Additionally, poles can turn an ordinary walk into a full-body workout.

According to a study conducted by World Health Organization.

Still, Dr. Venojärvi has a pretty high bar when it comes to staying indoors: he sets the limit at 22 degrees below zero. Plus, “it’s very nice when the sun is shining,” he said.

Every day throughout Japan, a tiny exercise program known as radio-taiso is broadcast on YouTube and on the Japanese national radio station. In parks, office buildings and schoolyards, groups of people come together throughout the day in three-minute, 13-move movements calisthenics routine – does not require any equipment. The movements include arm circles, forward folds, back bends and star jumps, which are similar to jumping jacks.

Even a tiny amount of exercise, especially if you raise the intensity, can improve your health. While ideally you should exercise for more than a few minutes at a time, routinely increasing your heart rate still has clear benefits, said Dr. Jeremy Swisher, a sports medicine physician at UCLA Health.

Radio-taiso was founded in the US in 1920 as a public health initiative sponsored by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, but it was not really a success. According to Satoru Kanamori, an associate professor at Teikyo University’s Graduate School of Public Health, the disease became widespread in Japan around 1928.

Thanks to its simplicity and adaptability, radio-taiso has become a “deeply rooted” part of Japanese culture, Dr. Kanamori said.

He fondly remembers exercising as a child almost every morning. Now he sees people doing the same things together: construction workers in the morning, office workers in the afternoon, and elderly people during the day.

UK: Training can be a social event.

Twenty years ago, runner Paul Sinton-Hewitt invited a tiny group of friends to what he called a time trial at Bushy Park: a five-kilometer run with the promise of coffee afterwards. They had a great time and Mr Sinton-Hewitt decided to do it again the next weekend and the weekend after that.

This event gradually evolved into Parkrun, an organization that now organizes approximately 2,500 free public running events every weekend in 23 countries, including Ireland, Malaysia and Namibia.

Some participants run speedy, others go for a leisurely walk. The magic comes from simplicity, consistency and community, said Russ Jefferys, Parkrun’s chief executive. Importantly, it is always free. After the finish line, many runners and walkers drink coffee or breakfast nearby.

It’s a completely different world than road racing in the U.S., where the average 5K race costs around $30, according to data. AND Running industry report for 2023.

“You don’t necessarily have to attend classes every week,” Mr. Jefferys said. “Sometimes life gets in the way. But whenever you’re ready, it’s always there.”

Brazil: Make fitness like a party.

Brazilian beaches are regularly packed with people jumping, running, squatting and skating. Beach volleyball and soccer games dot the sand, between strollers on the boardwalks and surfers in the Atlantic.

There is so much traffic that “if you go to Rio de Janeiro and Copacabana at 5:30 p.m., it will be hard for you to walk in a straight line,” said Luiz Guilherme Grossi Porto, a professor of physical education and public health at the University of Brazil.

“Brazilians are more willing to do things together than on their own,” said Victor Matsudo, the foundation’s chairman Shake São Pauloan initiative by the state of São Paulo that enabled the creation of fresh green areas, sports facilities and improved sidewalks.

The program, which began in 1996, also includes festival-style fitness “mega events” with activities such as dance, volleyball and seminars on the importance of an energetic lifestyle. The initiative has since been replicated throughout Brazil and Latin America.

If you’re trying to build a habit, it never hurts to make it fun.