New government reports shows a quarter of Americans get virtually no exercise

ATLANTA (AP) _ A quarter of all American adults are couch potatoes, getting virtually no exercise either at work or on the weekends, a government study found. <br><br>Three-fourths of all Americans, though,

Wednesday, May 14th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ATLANTA (AP) _ A quarter of all American adults are couch potatoes, getting virtually no exercise either at work or on the weekends, a government study found.

Three-fourths of all Americans, though, engage in least moderate activity three times a week or more, according to the report released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of that number, roughly 20 percent are considered very physically active, exercising moderately five times a week for 30 minutes or vigorously three times a week for 20 minutes.

The study, based on 32,000 interviews conducted in 2000, gauged both work and leisure activities.

``One of the most interesting things we found was people who were active in their usual daily activity also were active in leisure activity,'' said statistician Pat Barnes. ``An example is someone who does landscaping is more likely to do some leisure activity than someone who sat at a desk all day long.''

The government recommends adults get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week to fight obesity, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. It wants 30 percent of adults to exercise 30 minutes five or more days a week by 2010.