Make 2012 a healthy year with the Every Body Walk! mobile application that Kaiser Permanente helped launch last month. The app is a fun, interactive tool to create and maintain a daily walking routine. It’s an easy way to get active, stay healthy and burn calories during the holidays.
Simply download this free app from the Apple Store [1] or the Android Market [2]. The Every Body Walk! app is accessible to everybody, and complements a robust walking hub — powered by Kaiser Permanente — www.everybodywalk.org [3]. The app is a perfect holiday companion — it tracks detailed walking stats.
“The Every Body Walk! mobile app makes it easy to take steps toward a healthier lifestyle. Whether you’re already a walker or want to start walking, the app is a great tool you’ll want to use,” said Bob Sallis [4], MD, family physician at Kaiser Permanente Southern California.
What makes this app a total breakthrough? The Every Body Walk! mobile app allows users to monitor three important workout elements: time walked, distance covered and calories burned. Using GPS to establish the user’s location, walking paths are identified from a database of thousands of maps covering the United States at www.everybodywalk.org [3]. There’s also an option to create custom walking routes using MapQuest. Whatever the course, by walking 30 minutes during a day with the Every Body Walk! mobile app, users earn a motivating badge for progressing toward the goal of walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week.
Walking routes can be saved in the app to create a personal walking history. The app is fully integrated with social-media platforms, so sharing messages about walks is possible via Facebook and MeetUp. The app also serves as a distribution channel for motivational Every Body Walk! videos.
The app is an interactive addition to Every Body Walk!, an online, public awareness campaign aimed at getting people up and walking — 30 minutes a day, five days a week — to improve overall health and meet adult physical activity recommendations and requirements.
A robust hub, www.everybodywalk.org [3] contains news and resources on walking, health information, walking maps, links to walking groups, inspirational videos, and a personal pledge form designed to motivate walkers. The Every Body Walk! mobile app provides a perfect path to access this rich content. The Every Body Walk! hub is accessible on Facebook [5], Twitter [6] and YouTube [7].
Every Body Walk! is powered by Kaiser Permanente. Campaign partners include America Walks [8], American College of Sports Medicine [9] and its Exercise is Medicine® [10] global initiative, American Hiking Society [11], AnyTime Fitness [12], Brazos Walking Sticks [13], Environmental Media Association [14], Everyday Health [15], Healthy Child Healthy World [16], Molina Healthcare [17], Power Rangers emPower [18], The Purpose Institute [19], Rails to Trails Conservancy [20], Safe Routes to School National Partnership [21], Technical Consumer Products [22], WalkBoston [23] and Yummy Earth [24].