New Plan To Get Americans Moving

Michelle Obama made fitness a priority when she launched the Let's Move campaign to to wipe out childhood obesity within a generation this past February.

Do you have a question for Michelle about her plan? You can ask her on Tuesday, July 13 at 10 a.m. Eastern time during her first-ever live web chat on AOL Health. The first lady will be discussing the newly enhanced Let's Move! website and answering your questions live! To submit a question, send an email to askmichelleobama@aol.com(please include your name and town) between now until Monday, July 12th at 10:00 a.m.

Now, the American College of Sports Medicine is following the first lady's lead by launching the U.S. National Physical Activity Plan, a first-of-its-kind initiative to encourage physical activity among all Americans.

The ACSM has determined public policy changes across eight broad sectors to increase Americans' ability to get active and stay fit in the future.

Recommendations run the gamut from increasing physical education classes and monitoring their effectiveness, to asking doctors to include questions about physical fitness and activity levels during annual check-ups.

Other parts of the plan include spending money on "complete streets" that would accommodate cars, bikes and pedestrians to guarantee that children can walk or ride their bikes to school safely.

"This is a national initiative that goes well beyond just telling people to exercise. We are recommending policies, programs and initiatives that will change our communities in ways that enable all Americans to be physically active," Russell Pate, an exercise physiologist and the chair of the National Physical Activity Plan, said in a press release.

If implemented, this plan, the creators say, could significantly improve public health, cut health care costs and reduce disparities in health care because it is aimed at changing behaviors and attitudes surrounding physical activity. It's also aimed at creating these changes as quickly as possible.

"There are concrete and significant steps to implement the plan," Barry Ford, the president of the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity, said. "There are some parts of the plan that don't require additional resources, and those elements of the plan will be in the forefront."

Among the practices that will not require additional resources are cultural changes, like adding recess back into the school day and promoting healthy workplaces, said Dan Henkel of the ACSM. Other initiatives, such as building complete streets, would require a reallocation of funding that is already available.