Interview notes from people who walk 30 minutes per day

1. Andrew Evans
Interview Notes
30 minutes/day of walking
Entertainment and Walking—Distraction or Multitasking?
Different behavior patterns or the same?
Only found 2 people who fit this pattern of 30 min. per day of walking
“Leslie”
-Female age 25, Grad School for Voice
-understands physical activity is good, necessary... doesn’t feel like she has much
time to devote to the cause
-has treadmill in her house, moved a tv infront of it... now she watches an episode of
Friends while walking 22 min. Then, as she got more in shape... turned up the speed
-now she slowly jogs on the treadmill while watching
-her mom has started doing it to! (West Wing) Has more time to watch full episodes
-Shaping!
-22 minutes was the thing that didn’t change... but she still wanted to feel the
“effects” of exercise. “I want to be sweating a little when I get off”
-loves “Friends” has no problem re-watching episodes when she goes
through all the seasons
-references come up in daily conversation, “it’s fun to watch that whole
episode as a bit of a break”
-“feels good to be active... but I don’t see the point in running or walking unless
there’s something else going on”
-“although I now get less winded during indoor soccer than before... I guess that’s
probably a direct benefit”
-“soccer is fun though in a way that running and walking just isn’t. Plus, with soccer,
I’m with my friends, yelling, cheering everyone on... it’s fun. And not really about the
soccer.”
“Gary”
-Male age 67, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, focus on exercise science
-used to run 30+ minutes every day
-arthritis led to hip replacement... now he walks
-Still very intentional about it... but with cellphone, he makes a 30 minute phone call
while walking
-The physical activity is the driver for him... but he want to couple it with another
behavior... talking with family, phoning old friends... nothing work related
-Walking doesn’t seem important enough to just do it without getting something
else out of it... running is worthy, but he can’t do that right now

2. -Easily frustrated with “just walking” needs to couple it with something else that
seems worth while