Seniors throughout Wellington and Dufferin Counties in VON (Victorian Order of Nurses) exercise programs have collectively walked enough steps this year to travel across Canada over six times.
VON decided it would calculate the number of steps taken by each participant in every SMART (Seniors Maintaining Active Roles Together) exercise class between Jan. 1 and June 30 to calculate how many times participants could walk across Canada if they worked together.
Crossing Canada, as defined by VON, is traveling 6,688km or 8,829,580 steps from Victoria, British Columbia to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland.
“People are more accountable to exercise programs when they’re accountable to other people or to a goal or a commitment of a team as opposed to just doing something for themselves,” said Kelly Gee, SMART program coordinator.
“So, we thought with … the goal to achieve this for Canada’s birthday we would also see an increase in the number of participants and people coming on a regular basis, which we actually did.”
To calculate the number of steps taken in each class instructors wore a pedometer and multiplied the total steps by the number of participants in the class.
In total Wellington and Dufferin SMART program participants walked 55,244,476 steps over the last six months, which translates into 41,851km or 6.25 trips across Canada.
There are two SMART program classes offered in Mapleton, one at Conestoga Estates in Moorefield (521,904 steps) and the other at the Drayton Reformed Church (2,721,400 steps). Combined Mapleton seniors walked 3,243,304 steps or 2,457km between January and June.
There are also two SMART program classes offered at the Palmerston United Church. The first class walked 1,530,270 steps and the second walked 842,044 steps, for a total of 2,372,314 steps or 1,797km.
One of the goals of the SMART program is to help anyone 55 years of age or older achieve 150 minutes of physical activity in a week, which is the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines recommendation.
For more information visit vonsmartexercise.com, email Kelly Gee at kelly.gee@von.ca, or call 519-323-2330 ext. 4954.
“It’s a free exercise class that works on your endurance, your strength, your flexibility, your coordination and balance,” Gee said.
It’s for anybody who, “wants to improve their fitness, regardless of their fitness level.”
While the age of participants does range from 55 to 97, the average is close to 70, Gee said.
“Just goes to show that age is just a number and that regardless of your age you can be active and you can live healthy…” Gee said.
