Four months to better hearts and buffer bodies begins Saturday

Southeast Missourian

Cape Girardeau is a city about to become more active, physically fit and healthy. n Well, at least some people living and working in Cape Girardeau, that is. More than 330 people have pledged to "Shape Up Cape" through a workplace exercise program that begins Saturday. n The program is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce and runs through Sept. 25. It's the third consecutive year for the program, which focuses on cardiovascular health and regular exercise for a four-month period.

Businesses form teams of various sizes, from two to 10 people per team. Each team must record its point totals for the week, and those points are averaged to create the team's ranking.

Participants can receive up to 15 points per day doing a variety of exercises ranging from strength training to jogging, walking, swimming or aerobics. The points you receive are based on the length of time you spend doing a particular activity, as indicated in the chart.

For example, if you walk for 20 minutes you get five points; walking an extra 10 minutes earns you one more point for the day. If you jog for 20 minutes nonstop, you earn 10 points. An additional 10 minutes of jogging, raises your score by two.

"The idea is that you want to push yourself for that extra five or 10 minutes so you get that extra point," said Annette Hunt, who will coordinate the program at the chamber office.

Each week throughout the competition, the Southeast Missourian will publish point totals for each team, as they're ranked by the chamber. The weekly results will be published in the Health section on Thursday. We'll also tell you how our own team, The Disseminators, is doing in the competition.

Lori Lynn, team captain for Southeast Missouri State University's "Red Hawks," said having a team to compete with keeps people motivated. "It helps to have the people you work with every day to motivate you and ask if you've gotten all your points," she said. "It forces you to make sure you work out or get all 15 points."

The university's team was among one of the top winners in last year's Shape Up Cape competition. This year the university has two teams competing in separate divisions.