PHIT America is launching PHIT America Month (PHITMonth.org) in May to promote and encourage millions of Americans to learn and enjoy the opportunity to be physically active, exercise and play sports.
Simply put, the U.S. is suffering from an ‘Inactivity Pandemic,’ as 81.7 million Americans are physically inactive. In many respects, sitting has become the new smoking. Physical inactivity is a current problem with wide reaching implications in the U.S.–impacting health care spending, academic achievement and military readiness.
“Within ten years, the ‘Inactivity Pandemic’ will implode our health care system, accelerate our life-expectancy decline and threaten the military’s ability to defend our sovereignty,” said Jim Baugh, founder, PHIT America. “Sadly, a recent global study on exercise ranked U.S. children 47th out of 50 countries in worldwide fitness. Physical activity needs to take center stage in the country.”
PHIT America and more than 100 corporate sponsors led by ASICS, Babolat, Brunswick, Franklin Sports, Head, Keiser Fitness, Life Fitness, New Balance, Planet Fitness, Reebok, Riddell, Saucony, Speedo, United States Tennis Association and Wilson Sporting Goods; sports celebrities such as football legend Herschel Walker, fitness guru Denise Austin, Summer and Winter Olympian Lolo Jones, U.S. Olympic wrestling gold medalist Jordan Burroughs and tennis-playing brothers Bob and Mike Bryan and thousands of local supporters around the country will be offering hundreds of ways for Americans to Get Moving. PHIT America Month will be open to all Americans, and many of the programs offered will be free.
The goal for PHIT America Month is to get people to be more physically active and offer programs to get sedentary Americans physically moving. Throughout the month, PHIT America will promote and publicize the existence of walking events, running events, swimming events and tennis events. In fact, the tennis industry is so supportive of the concept that it is proclaiming May as Play Tennis Month. For interested fitness participants, there will be a virtual 5K event for runners and walkers. Beachbody is offering 14 days of its popular “At Home Fitness Workouts,” free of charge. Also, Practice has more than 100,000 fitness facilities with fitness events scheduled for the month of May. In addition, and on PHITMonth.org, there will be Fit Tips–ideas and suggestions on how to stay physically active and healthy. “We are attracting support from organizations and companies which have not been sponsors of PHIT America in the past,” said Baugh. “These entities know that physical inactivity will be reversed when we work together as a nation–in schools, in the workplace, in communities and in neighborhoods.”
One sport is stepping up in a major way to support PHIT America Month. Tennis will have more than 1,500 facilities offering events in May to ‘get off the couch and on the court.’ And, the tennis industry has set some high goals. On April 20, the tennis industry will launch Play Tennis Month with an event, The One Million Calorie Burn, with the goal to burn one million calories at one event using 1,000 players on 100 courts at the USTA National Campus in central Florida. In May, the tennis industry’s goal is to burn 10 million calories.
During and after PHIT America Month, participants will be asked to make a small donation to PHIT America to ‘Get A Child Moving For Life.’ Contributions will be used to expand the highly successful PHIT America GO! Grants program which, to date, has impacted nearly 200,000 school children through grants being awarded to their physical education classes.
Founded in January 2013, PHIT America is a non-profit campaign focused on overcoming the severe ramifications of the ‘Inactivity Pandemic’ through four strategic approaches –education, supporting school-based activity programs, a national event and advocating–which will get Americans, especially youth, more active, fit and healthy. Companies or individuals interested in helping PHIT America fight the ‘Inactivity Pandemic’ should contact PHIT America at Alliance@PHITAmerica.org.
