Baby Boomers Choosing Fit Over Fat

Sun Herald

Sunday May 18, 2003

By MIRANDA WOOD

What are the most popular activities for people aged 15 to 24?

Swimming (17.4 per cent) followed by aerobics (15.6 per cent).

MORE baby boomers in NSW are participating in organised sports to boost their longevity.

Fitness NSW chief executive Ian Grainger said older people were realising the importance of keeping fit.

``They're starting to recognise they have to improve the quality of their life," he said.

``We all want to stay young. The health message says you have to be more active."

About 500,000 people in NSW are members of a fitness centre.

Grainger said more people were choosing to hire personal trainers.

``It's more accessible these days and more acceptable," he said.

``It's no longer linked to being a movie star.

``We are finding that quite a lot of people are deciding to take up rigorous exercise but are doing it outside a fitness centre."

The latest figures from the Australian Sports Commission show that walking is the exercise of choice for about 30 per cent of people and had the highest participation rate for both men and women.

This was followed by swimming (16 per cent), aerobics (13 per cent), cycling (9.5 per cent) and tennis (9.2 per cent).

In NSW, about 39 per cent of people aged 15 and over take part in at least one organised activity, compared with nearly 45 per cent in the Northern Territory.

Slightly more men are into exercise than women while people in the 15 to 24 age group had the highest participation rate (88.8 per cent).

The rate declines consistently with age with about 60 per cent of people aged 65 years and over undertaking exercise. Walking and golf are the most popular activities among this age group.

Grainger said lifestyle programs that incorporate yoga and Pilates had grown in popularity.

``People are looking at other opportunities within the fitness sector," he said.

Grainger said it was recommended that people took half-an-hour of low-level exercise each day to stay healthy but only 50 per cent of people achieved that target.

More Australians were also aware of the risks associated with not exercising after recent research forecast that by 2050, 50 per cent of Australians would be overweight or obese.

Obesity costs Australia $13 billion a year while the number of overweight people has doubled in the past 20 years. Women are more likely to be obese than men and about 8 per cent of our children are obese compared with 10 per cent in the US.

TOP 10 PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES
                        Men     Women
1       WALKING 19.5%   38%
2       SWIMMING        13.6%   18.3%
3       AEROBICS        9%      16.9%
4       CYCLING         13%     6.1%
5       TENNIS          9.5%    8.8%
6       GOLF            13.4%   3.2%
7       RUNNING         9.8%    4.7%
8       NETBALL         1.1%    7%
9       SOCCER          5.8%    1.6%
10      BASKETBALL      4.4%    2.7%