Rhela Morris put it best when she said, "Walking is so underrated."
I agree.
It's cheap, nearly everyone can do it, and it provides beneficial results, both on the outside and the inside of the body.
Morris led a group of North Richmond YMCA members in training for the Ukrop's 10K this year. After they walked the race in March, she decided to keep the momentum going.
She named the group Rhela's City Stryders, and it now has more than 15 people putting in nearly 7 miles every Saturday morning. They're planning to walk the Monument Avenue 10K in the spring, and they're working toward walking a half-marathon. That's 13.1 miles.
In addition to the Saturday walk, Morris recommends they walk or do other exercise during the week. And she can tell if they fail to do their homework.
"If they can't pump those hills, you know they haven't been doing it," she said with a big smile.
Rhela's City Stryders takes on some hills. Morris makes sure of that. She and co-coach Alison Allen determine the walking routes, clock the distance and include enough hills so the walkers need to pump their arms in what Morris calls a "fitness walk."
She tries to pick routes with scenery as well, so the group can enjoy the sights and sounds of Richmond.
In addition to that 7-mile group, Morris has a beginner's group, which is logging 3 miles every weekend.
Morris, a patient-account coordinator for Virginia Cardiovascular Specialists, is also a certified fitness trainer at the North Richmond YMCA.
She enjoys helping people get on an exercise program. She recently put together a program to help overweight teenagers. She created Fitness Innovations for Teens after meeting a 15-year-old at the YMCA who weighed 315 pounds.
"I said, 'That's it. I've got to do something.'"
Walking, Morris acknowledges, is a bit of a passion for her. Her business cards for Rhela's City Stryders Inc. carry the slogan "Walking Your Way to a Better You."
She's convinced you can. She's seen physiques change dramatically when people start walking. It takes a couple of months of steady walking, she said, but the changes are often significant.
Juanita Simms has been walking with Rhela's City Stryders since June. She's also been taking water-aerobics classes, doing strength training and working with cardiovascular machines. All of that has led to weight loss, a drop in blood pressure, a drop in cholesterol and a boost in energy.
"The walking just makes me feel really good," Simms said. "Sometimes I struggle to get up on Saturday morning. . . . But I get up and do the walk, and I feel really good after I do it."
Morris encourages everyone who doesn't follow a regular fitness routine to give walking a try.
"You can walk every day," she said. "I would suggest at least 30 minutes a day." The U.S. surgeon general recommends that adults get at least 30 minutes of activity daily.
"Everybody has 30 minutes," Morris said. It doesn't have to be all at once.
She said, "If you've got two 15-minute breaks at work, you're done."
Maria Howard is a group exercise instructor for the YMCA of Greater Richmond. Her column runs every other week in Sunday Flair. Contact her at flair@timesdispatch.com.
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