US Adults Adding Fitness to Routines

More US adults are making fitness a habit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The percentage of adults reporting regular exercise or physical activity jumped nearly 9% from 2001 to 2005, the CDC says. The findings come from telephone surveys of more than 205,000 adults in 2001 and more than 356,000 adults in 2005. Participants answered questions about how often and how long they got moderate or vigorous physical activity. Moderate physical activities included walking, biking, and gardening; Vigorous physical activities included running and aerobics. In 2005, nearly half of the men — 49.7% — and almost as many women — 46.7% — met those benchmarks.