10,000-step journey begins with first stride.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 05 May 2008

Byline: George Barnes

COLUMN: BARNESTORMING

I've been hearing a lot about the 10,000 steps you should take to achieve better health.

Everyone is talking about it, or at least it seems like it comes up all the time lately. The conversation goes something like this ...

"So how are you doing?"

"I'm steppin' baby! Are you steppin'?"

"I'm just shopping for groceries."

"Well step it up man!"

After I threw a glass of water at him to cool him down, I investigated the phenomenon.

Apparently research has been done showing that 10,000 steps would be a good number to get people a bit more fit. I had my doubts because the number seemed, to put it politely, howling-at-the-moon crazy.

Ten thousand steps? This is America, the land of the free, home of the couch and remote. Everyone here owns a car and would need serious retraining before they could understand what "stepping" is all about.

I heard the concept may have originated in Japan and I'm not surprised. They are motivated people, at least the Japanese I know. They probably actually exercise, rather than going to some Web page for virtual exercise. It's almost insulting to...