Your Dog, Your Exercise Partner?

Working out with your pet is a growing trend in the physical fitness community and health researchers like the idea. The past few years have seen several new dog-friendly fitness centers open, including K9 Fit Club, a chain with locations in Illinois, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Florida. The club offers fitness classes for humans and dogs including, ‘Bow Wow Bootcamp’ and ‘Pupilates’. The idea of working out with your pet is also being taken more seriously by public health officials desperate to get overweight Americans to exercise. The Center for Disease Control recommends adults 18 - 64 get at least two and a half hours of moderate physical exercise a week, but recent estimates suggest that more than 80 percent of US adults fail to meet these guidelines. However, a 2011 Michigan State University study found that people with dogs met the standards 34 percent more than non-pet owners. The Michigan study suggested that beyond the necessity of attending to the pets needs, the pets provided their owners the motivation and companionship many need to stay active. They also suggested that the pets non-judgmental companionship may offer therapeutic benefits to the morbidly obese and others whose self-image issues keep them away from the gym.