The benefits of walking in cold weather.

Welcome to Walking as Fitness.

This is a podcast of action, providing a little extra motivation to help you keep that fitness promise you made yourself.

Hi, I'm Dave. I've been walking for fitness since 2013. Still taking an intentional fitness walk every single day.

I'm walking right now and I would love to have you join me for the next 10 minutes.

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day here in South Carolina.

I'm out pre-sunrise. The temperature is below normal. It is breezy. We have a

wind chill in the 20s. But this is nothing like what I experienced on February 14th, 2016.

I was in Chicago for a two-day one-night business trip.

We arrived early enough on the first day that after checking into the hotel,

I did what I loved to do in cities, particularly cities like Chicago.

I knew it was going to be cold. There was snow in the forecast. In fact, it was even starting to snow that afternoon.

And so I bundled up and went for a walk and my goal was to reach the bean.

That's what they call it in Chicago. Its official name is Cloudgate. It's a stainless steel sculpture that looks like a huge

coffee bean. The metal is almost like a mirror. And you've probably seen pictures of people

taking selfies up against the bean. I don't know how far. I don't remember how far the hotel was from the sculpture,

but that's what I was going to do.

My goal was to go down there, take a picture, and then return.

And I knew it was cold.

But what I experienced as I turned the corner

and suddenly was exposed to the wind off of Lake Michigan.

I have never experienced cold that deep, that bone chilling.

...