By Mike May
Thousands of ways to get moving and stay healthy!!
Americans need to commit to be physically active, as if their life depended on it……because it does. To help Americans understand the urgency to be physically active, PHIT America, the non-profit campaign focused on overcoming the severe ramifications of physical inactivity, has designated May as PHIT America Month. Throughout the entire month of May, PHIT America is encouraging Americans to be physically active, exercise, and play sports.
“That includes playing more golf and walking as much as possible on the golf course,” said Jim Baugh, Founder, PHIT America. “For golfers who ride a cart, it is still a workout – walking to and from greens, to and from tees, across fairways, and in and out of bunkers. And, the more you swing the club, the more calories you burn!”
A recent finding by the Physical Activity Council reports that nearly 82.4 million Americans are inactive. The U.S. is suffering from an ‘Inactivity Pandemic.’ Sitting at a desk on in a recliner staring at a computer screen or television has become the new smoking and millions of Americans have managed to engineer physical activity out of their lives. Currently, physical inactivity is a major problem with wide reaching implications in the U.S. – impacting health care spending, academic achievement, and military readiness. Increased physical activity must become a priority, especially for our nation’s youth. A recent global study on exercise, ranked U.S. children 47th out of 50 countries in worldwide fitness.
“Within ten years, the ‘Inactivity Pandemic’ will implode our health care system, accelerate our life-expectancy decline, and threaten the military’s ability to defend our sovereignty,” added Baugh.
PHIT America, along with more than 100 corporate sponsors, sports celebrities, and thousands of local supporters will be offering hundreds of ways for Americans to get physically moving. PHIT America Month is open to all Americans, plus many of the activities are free.
Walking, running, swimming, and tennis events are just a sampling of the activities PHIT America is promoting to increase physical activity. The tennis industry is so supportive of the concept that it is also proclaiming May as Play Tennis Month. Fitness participants can enroll for a virtual 5K event for runners and walkers. Beachbody is offering 14 days of its popular “At Home Fitness Workouts,” free of charge. And, Practice has more than 100,000 fitness facilities with fitness events scheduled for May.
All month long on PHITMonth.org, there will be tips, ideas and suggestions to stay physically active and fit.
“The support for PHIT America Month has been wide and deep,” added Baugh. “We are now attracting support from organizations and companies which have not been sponsors of PHIT America in the past. Companies in the private and public sector know we just can’t sit back and wait for people to start a life of physical activity. Physical inactivity will be reversed when we work together as a nation – in schools, in the workplace, in communities, and in neighborhoods.”
The goal for PHIT America Month is to entice people to be more active and offer programs to get sedentary Americans moving.
Participants will be encouraged to contribute to PHIT America’s initiative, “Get A Child Moving For Life.” Those funds will be used to expand PHIT America GO! Grants, which has impacted nearly 200,000 school children through grants awarded to physical education classes. The general public can support the work of PHIT America through their cell phone by texting 50155 with the message: PHIT.
PHIT America Month will hopefully increase consumer awareness of the importance of physical activity and offers solutions to get America moving.
If you would like to learn more or get involved, please contact Alliance@PHITAmerica.org.
