Why We Need to Move Together Outside

The Moving Together Outside campaign, created by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) has a big goal -- to increase the number of shared-use agreements across the United States. These agreements are created between two parties (like a city and a community) and allow for an outdoor space to be used when not otherwise occupied.

I had a chat with the Moving Together Outside spokesperson, Dr. Amy Bantham, to learn more about this campaign and how we can all get involved. Listen to the full audio interview or get the highlights below: 

Dr. Amy Bantham is the CEO and Founder of Move to Live More. She has 20 years of experience working in consulting, health and fitness, and healthcare. She holds a doctorate from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, with concentrations in Health Communication and Obesity Epidemiology & Prevention. Her doctoral project focused on physician exercise prescriptions/referrals and patient exercise behavior change. She is a certified group exercise instructor, personal trainer, and health and wellness coach. Dr. Bantham also holds a Master of Science from Northeastern University, a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University.

Here's what she had to say:

Move to Live More

"I think that there are tremendous barriers to accessing physical activity. I actually launched Move to Live More as part of my doctoral fieldwork while looking at integrating health care and health and fitness in communities, through physician exercise referrals. And so I recognized that integrating those three sectors was critical to addressing chronic disease and physical inactivity. I launched Move to Live More really looking at ways to increase access -- safe, affordable, convenient ways for broader population groups to become more physically active." 

"We have a really significant physical inactivity crisis and obesity crisis in the U.S. and it's been exacerbated by COVID. We have decreased physical activity levelsa dn at the same time, we have increased attention on the extent to which physical inactivity and obesity are risk factors for severe illness from COVID. And that is one reason why I was really drawn to the Moving Together Outside campaign when ACE fitness approached me about being the spokesperson for it. It absolutely fit in with my mission and vision of expanding access to physical activity."

Moving Together Outside campaign

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