INDIANAPOLIS — Walk It Out America may sound like an average fitness group, but the Indianapolis-based wellness program goes far beyond walking laps around a track.
Founded by Michael X. Banks, the program combines movement, nutrition education, and community support to address chronic health conditions, something that’s crucial in Indy neighborhoods facing health disparities and shorter life expectancies.
“We’re always striving to improve body, mind and spirit,” said Faith McKinney, a Walk It Out America member, who now helps lead the group.
For McKinney, that mission led to a dramatic personal transformation. Two years ago, she weighed more than 250 pounds and struggled to walk.
“I knew that if I could walk, then I could get healthy and I could lose weight,” McKinney said.
She said seeing Walk It Out America signs across the city — and seeing participants who looked like her — motivated her to join.
Since joining the program, McKinney has regained her mobility and completed two mini marathons, a 13-mile race.
“We are suffering from the same things we are as a nation,” Banks said. “Heart failure is destroying us. Chronic illnesses, diabetes, and high blood pressure.”
While the group incorporates walking as a core activity, Banks said exercise is only one part of long-term health.
“Getting healthy and losing weight is really done in the kitchen more so than the gym,” he said. “90% of getting healthy, especially if you have a chronic disease, is nutrition.”
Banks has studied nutrition and fitness for decades, and much of the program’s work takes place in a classroom setting.
Participants learn how food choices affect the body’s organs and overall health.
“We teach you how to empower your organs by eating food that actually feeds your organs,” Banks said.
For participant Mary Maxie, the education has been life-changing.
“When I started the program, I was on 17 medications. I had a rollator. I could barely walk,” Maxie said. “Since joining the program, I’m off all my medications. I can walk. I weigh 125 pounds. I’m about 157 pounds down.”
Maxie is now able to do things like horseback riding and jumping on the trampoline with her grandkids.
She told WRTV the impact goes beyond physical changes.
“It’s really lifted my self-esteem and self-confidence,” she said.
McKinney said the supportive environment has been just as important as the instruction.
“What I found is the environment that you have — the support system — is really key,” she said.
Group members WRTV talked to say the community aspect and being able to push one another is a big part of the movement too.
Banks said the program now serves more than 300 people, including some participants from outside Indiana.
His goal is to expand Walk It Out America beyond the Midwest.
“We’ve been very successful in helping people lower their blood pressure and lose weight,” Banks said. “We want to take it all over the country.”
Walk It Out America meets Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. and Tuesdays at 11 a.m. at the Frederick Douglass Family Center.
Some programming is free and open to the community.
