World-renowned entertainer Donny Osmond has teamed up with the American Heart Association to kick off the National Start! Challenge.

  To get Americans up and moving, the American Heart Association is encouraging people to walk as part of its Start! movement. Start! is for individuals and their employers and emphasizes walking in the workplace. The movement focuses on walking as an activity because it’s accessible, free and has the lowest dropout rate of any exercise.

  Six Challengers from across the country have made a commitment to walk five days a week, strength train for two days and improve their eating habits.

  The Challengers will blog and track their progress on MyStart! Online, the program’s free tracking tool,  and a winner will be chosen based on progress in weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and other metrics over 12 weeks. These results will be combined with online voting by the American public to choose a winner. Osmond will also provide updates on the Web site about his progress in the Challenge and will help the American Heart Association “crown” the winner in April. Americans who want to join the Start! Challenge can register online at www.heart.org/start.