Mall-walking

Mall-walking is a new fitness trend which became something of a cult in the Summer of 2008.

It originated in the United States more than ten years ago and over the past few years has become popular in Europe, above all in Britain. In contrast to most types of sport, it is not practised in a gym or fitness-centre but in a shopping mall. This sport, in fact, involves long walks at a fast pace along the galleries of a shopping-mall or the aisles of a hyper-market. You do not do any shopping while you are training: in fact, the best time for this activity is when the shops first open in the morning; then the mall-walker can enjoy the use of long, empty unimpeded aisles.

In a 30-minute session of Mall- Walking you can burn up about 200 calories. There are plans to produce a special gymnastic aid in the form of a high-tech shopping-trolley, which you can programme to produce greater or lesser resistance to the force you want to exert. This would definitely be a way to lose weight.
As yet, there are only a few practitioners of Mall- Walking in Italy and it does not appear that it will become very widespread and popular. Nevertheless, there are blogs and societies for Mall-walkers springing up. Their purpose is to gather together as many enthusiasts as possible and exchange information on the best malls to use, with reference to their opening hours, availability of space, ideal routes and extent of crowding.