At 70 years old, Al Roker is still adamant about getting his steps in.
So much so that he doesn’t always call himself a car to get from place to place. Every now and then, he takes public transportation — just to walk more.
“I might take the bus home and then walk, or take the subway and walk, as opposed to getting the cab,” the weatherman and co-host of the TODAY show tells CNBC Make It.
Roker enjoys walking because “you can do it at any time. You can do it anywhere. You don’t necessarily need, really, any equipment, just a comfortable pair of shoes.”
He began walking in 2020 when his doctor ordered him to walk five miles a day after he underwent a surgery for prostate cancer, according to TODAY.com. And when he was hospitalized for blood clots in 2022, he believes his daily walks helped protect him from a more severe outcome.
Just pick one thing that’s easy and do it.
Al Roker
TODAY Weatherman and Co-Host
“My doctor said the physical condition I was in because of the walking — because of the cardio — probably helped save my life,” Roker said on the TODAY show in 2023.
“My doctor told me that if I wasn’t in the shape…that I was in, there was a very good chance I did not survive.”
Roker who is the Chief Motivation Officer for the new wellness app, Start TODAY, walked 10,000 steps a day for 210 days straight, TODAY.com reported last year. He logged 100 miles in 19 days last January.
For every 2,000 steps a person walks, their risk of cancer, heart disease and premature death lowers by 10%, peaking at 10,000 steps daily, according to two studies published in JAMA Neurology and JAMA Internal Medicine.
With Roker’s schedule, walking is convenient because “it’s something you can do on the way to something else” and he admits he isn’t all that fond of other forms of exercise. “I feel like you set yourself up. ‘Oh, I’m gonna do this,'” he says.
“Just pick one thing that’s easy and do it.”
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