NordicWalking.LifeTips.com
Category: Nordic Walking Basics Subcategory: Nordic Walking Tips Tip: Gentle Exercise Gentle exercise is something of a buzz word now. I guess some experts don't want to scare people away by implying that exercise might be hard, or even require some effort. I've even seen running and weight lifting given as examples of gentle exercise. Calling it that isn't going to make running gentle, and if it's gentle, it's not exercise. Exercise requires some effort, although pain is not necessary for gain. Nordic walking is low impact, but it's still exercise--and that's good. Nordic walking can be low, medium, or high intensity, depending on your skill level, physical condition, and what you want to do that day. Medium (moderate exercise) brings lots of health and fitness benefits. You have to do more low intensity exercise to get the same benefits as with moderate (go longer or farther). You have to be skilled and in good shape to maintain high intensity (strenuous) exercise for very long, but that doesn't mean you should stay away from it. So go out and enjoy Nordic walking, but don't be surprised if it doesn't feel "gentle." Tip: Happy New Year Do you make New Year's resolutions? Having trouble deciding? Here are some suggestions. See if you want to pick one of these. Take up Nordic walking. Do more Nordic walking. Improve your Nordic walking technique. Buy new Nordic walking poles. Join or start a Nordic walking club. Do Nordic walking or some other exercise every day. I don't recommend the most popular resolution: lose weight. Eat right and exercise regularly, and that will take care of itself. Tip: Types of Walking Walking seems pretty basic, and it really is. For most of human history, that's how you got from place to place, if there wasn't a horse or someone to carry your sedan chair available. Of course, walking is still a major mode of transportation, but modern lifestyles have made us so sedentary we have to purposely walk or do other aerobic activities to maintain health. Let's just survey the forms of fitness walking.
If you just walk half an hour or so a day you will improve your health. If you walk farther or faster you can improve health and fitness as well. Power walking is a term often used by people who are serious about walking for fitness and many who want to make it their sport. Originally it was used to refer to walking with hand weights, but now it can just refer to walking at a rapid pace. (I don't recommend walking with weights. It can be hard on your joints.) Racewalking is a distinct sport. It has had a place in the Olympics for over 100 years. It can satisfy competitive urges for runners who have damaged their knees, for instance. It has rules about the form you must use if you compete. Racewalking technique can help fitness walkers go faster. Hiking is another inexact term. It usually involves walking some distance over rough terrain or trails, sometimes involving hills, and being in a natural environment. Urban hiking is a fairly new activity that brings the spirit of hiking into a city environment. Trekking implies traveling long distances on foot, and now generally is applied to hiking or trekking with the use of poles. You can use your Nordic walking poles for occasional trekking, but if you are going to do a lot of climbing or rough terrain hiking, you should get regular trekking poles. Nordic walking has elements of these activities, but is really a sport of its own. Nordic walking is versatile and can be done on a daily basis with no travel required, which makes it ideal for improving fitness. It is almost as convenient as regular fitness walking, and much more fun. Tip: What is Nordic walking? Nordic walking is a specific form of walking with the use of poles. People have been using hiking sticks for a long time, and we can be sure that many people tried walking with their ski poles to help with balance. Still, Nordic walking as a sport or fitness activity is fairly recent, It started with cross-country skiers who wanted to say in skiing shape during the summer. There are an estimated half million Nordic walkers in Finland, a country with many cross-country skiers. Nordic walking has become an independent activity, finding popularity in Japan, the United States,and many other countries. Nordic walking now appeals to people who have never strapped on a pair of skis, along with those who want to maintain their cross-country skiing skills. Tip: Where to Go Nordic Walking You can go Nordic walking on city streets or mountain trails. You can use the same streets, sidewalks, running tracks, malls, parks, or trails you would use for fitness walking. Don't walk on ice and try to avoid slippery or unstable surfaces like wet leaves or gravel. With Nordic walking, you can get a good workout in the morning before work, in the evening, or even on your lunch hour. The only equipment you need is your Nordic walking poles and a pair of walking shoes. Use the same safety precautions about terrain, lighting, and traffic that you would use when fitness walking or running. Category: Nordic Walking Benefits
Subcategory: Fitness Tips Tip: Benefits of Nordic Walking The principal benefit of Nordic walking as compared to regular walking is that it engages most of the muscles in your body. This allows you to get more overall exercise in the same amount of time as you do when you do regular walking. This is a great overall conditioning workout for people with limited time for exercise. You burn more calories than with regular walking. You don't use as many calories as when you run for the same amount of time, but it gives you more upper body conditioning than running. Nordic walking, as a low impact exercise, is much easier on your joints than running. Tip: Calorie Burning Adding poles and doing Nordic walking, compared to walking without poles, burns about 20% more calories. This is with the same perceived exertion. This means you can burn significantly more calories without feeling you are working harder. (Ref. Research Quarterly Exercise & Sport, 2002 Sep. 73(3)296) If you improve your technique and/or go faster, you can expend more energy and increase calorie burning even more in the same workout time. Tip: How Fast Is Moderate? Recommendations for walking for health and fitness often specify moderate walking, as in 30 minutes, 5 times a week, at a moderate speed, effort, or whatever. The question, of course, is what is moderate? Now we have an answer in an article from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. These experts tell us 100 steps a minute is the minimum pace for proper cardiovascular exercise. If you have a pedometer, it's easy to judge your pace. Otherwise, you can just count. (Left, right is two steps.) This comes down to about 3000 steps in that 30-minute walk. For most people, a mile is about 2000 steps. To figure out how many steps you take, use your pedometer on a course you measure with your car's odometer, or do four laps of a quarter-mile track (on the inside lane). No need to be real accurate about any of this. This pace comes out to 3 miles in an hour, or 20 minutes per mile. I will go along with this as moderate. We used to take 15-minute miles as brisk walking, but I have recently seen brisk defined all the way down to 20 minutes. Moderate walking, and sometimes even slower, will give you many health benefits. Try to go a bit faster to improve fitness. Better yet, do what seems moderate or somewhat hard to you, depending on your goals. (This will change as you get more fit.) Of course, you can go faster for a shorter distance, but will slow down as the distance grows. You can do regular walking sometimes and Nordic walking for your workout on other days. You get more out of Nordic walking for the same pace and distance.
Tip: The Magic Pill? Research on walking shows so many health benefits that if you could get them through a pill, it would seem to be "magic." Although most research has been done with regular walking, there's no reason to think that Nordic walking would not be as good, or better. Duke Medicine Health News put together some recent studies and found that walking helps with the following: lowering blood pressure, reducing risk of heart attack and stroke, lowering triglycerides, improving insulin sensitivity, and avoiding dementia. It also shrinks abdominal fat. Walking improves your metabolic profile and guards against metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome, which is becoming more common, is a group of symptoms including high blood presure, high triglycerides, low beneficial HDL cholesterol, abdominal obesity, and insulin resistance. To get these health benefits, you only have to walk 30 minutes every day (or sometimes 5 or 6 days a week, depending on the study). You can even do that 30 minutes in two or three segments, though you will probably want to devote the 30 minutes to Nordic walking all at once. Is Nordic walking even more beneficial than regular walking? We can't really say, because the research hasn't been done. But it is more fun, so you'll be more likely to do it. Tip: Walkers with Orthopedic Problems People with orthopedic problems can benefit from Nordic walking. If you have problems with your knees or other joints that make fitness walking difficult or painful, you may be able to do Nordic walking with less pain. Using the Nordic walking poles distributes your weight so that some of the pressure is taken off your joints, thus relieving the pain in your knees, hips, or ankles. Nordic walking is more stable than basic fitness walking because the poles are extra contact points so people with balance problems can walk more comfortably. With Nordic walking you can get the health and fitness benefits of walking without irritating sore joints. Of course, you should check with your doctor before starting this or any other exercise program. Tip: Weight Loss for Those Who Need It There was an article in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise comparing walking distance and weight loss in over 27,000 women. The researchers found "decline in adiposity" (fat loss) per kilometer walked to be greatest in overweight, sedentary women, and least in those who were lean and active. This doesn't seem to be a big surprise. You would think that overweight people would be more likely to lose weight
from exercise than normal weight individuals. But if exercise burns calories, it should burn calories for everybody. The fact is, the larger your body mass, the more energy it takes to move it, thus more calories are expended per mile for the larger person. The body pretty much takes care of these things, if you listen to it, so that if you are lean and exercise a lot, you compensate for the calories expended by eating more. The same article tells us that the decline in body mass index was more for walkers than for runners. This is not because walking burns more calories per mile or kilometer than running does, but rather that runners were leaner to start with. The good news from all this is that walking contributes to weight loss for overweight individuals, apparently the more walking the more weight loss. This was regular walking. Nordic walking burns more calories for the same distance, so is better yet for weight loss. What about the lean women? They still get all the other health benefits from walking, and these are considerable. Tip: Working Your Core Exercise to strengthen your "core" is big right now, and has been for a few years. Core strengthening is the basis for pilates exercise, and is a benefit of yoga, although the practitioners don't talk about it so much. Personal trainers at gyms can be seen having clients do many ordinary exercises while sitting on an exercise ball because this is thought to work the core. The "core" in this case is the part of your body between the bottom of your rib cage and your hips, both front and back. Strength and stability in this area is indeed important to posture and health, especially to your back. Most of the muscles involved are deep postural muscles. The only one that is seen very much is the rectus abdominus--the source of the elusive "six pack." Products or programs that promise you "a sexy core" are to be viewed with suspicion. Definition in the rectus abdominus depends somewhat on genetics and a lot on having low body fat, no matter how many sit-ups or similar exercises you do. Nordic walking is good for your core. Because Nordic walking uses most of your muscles and most of your joints, and does it while you are upright and using good posture, the core area is strengthened as those muscles work together. This can help prevent or correct muscle imbalances. The core area is important in any full body exercise. Nordic walking does more for your core, and is more of a functional exercise, than doing dumbbell biceps curls while sitting on an exercise ball, where you are probably using your legs to keep from falling off. So you can add core training to the benefits of Nordic walking.
Category: Nordic Walking Gear Subcategory: Gear Tips Tip: Accessories A benefit, or a drawback, depending on your point of view, of Nordic walking is that there really isn't much available in the way of accessories. A pair of poles, with the rubber tip for walking on trails and streets, is the only thing you really need. The basic rubber tip is shaped like a little boot, and you put it on the pole so it is pointed behind you. (The "foot" part of the boot is back.) These tips are more durable than they seem, but they are replaceable. Make sure you buy poles from a manufacturer who also offers replacement tips, although you may not need them for a while. Some manufacturers do offer alternative tips that are designed for more cushioning or faster walking. Check that out when you're shopping for poles. I've also seen carrying cases for the poles. If your friends want to buy you something for your sport, direct them to hats, gloves, sunglasses, and the like. A second pair of poles is nice, too. Tip: Adjustable Poles, or Not I agree with the comments from Pete The Ski Walking Guy that perfectly fitted solid poles are ideal. I haven't had the problems with adjustable poles that he mentions, and I think they are quite adequate for most people, especially if you want to travel with them or share them with another person. Best technique for Nordic walking doesn't have you putting your weight on the poles. If you have balance problems or intend to use your poles for rugged trekking as well as Nordic walking, go with the solid poles. Of course, you can always have two sets of poles for different excursions. This is still very inexpensive for such a great sport and/or fitness activity. Tip: Choosing Gear For Nordic walking, wear comfortable shoes and comfortable clothing, appropriate for the weather. (See tip on choosing shoes.) Remember you will warm up after you get started, so dress in layers in cold weather so you can take off your jacket or sweat shirt if necessary. If you are going to travel with your Nordic walking poles, you will want an adjustable model. Decide if you want adjustable poles or solid poles. Non-adjustable poles, or the adjustable pole when adjusted, should be of a length that your arm will be bent 90 degrees when the tip is planted next to your heel. Read the manufacturer's description and see what pole seems right for you. Solid poles are sold according to your height. You should get a guarantee. Don't choose just on price. Poles are inexpensive and durable, and will give you great rewards in fitness, well being, and fun.
Tip: Choosing Shoes With so many special purpose shoes around, it comes as no surprise that there are shoes for Nordic walking. ASICS offers waterproof Nordic walking shoes for men and women. Several manufacturers make multipurpose trail shoes promoted for Nordic walking as well as trail walking and general outdoor fitness activities. If you expect to do a lot of Nordic walking on trails, consider these special shoes for stability and comfort. If you are going to do your Nordic walking on streets or urban paths, you can use the same shsoes you use for fitness walking. If you don't have walking shoes you like, consider buying running shoes. They are better ventilated than most walking shoes so your feet won't get too warm when you are Nordic walking. Tip: Gloves and Hats Bonnie makes some good suggestions on what to wear for Nordic walking in her comment. Here, I want to concentrate on gloves and hats. Even some of you who do not generally wear gloves for working out outdoors may want to wear them for Nordic walking in cool weather. Your hands are exposed, holding your poles, so that you cannot easily warm them up by putting them in your pockets or sticking them into your armpits, if that is what you usually do. A hat is really a good idea in either cold or hot weather. You will be much more comfortable and stay warmer in cool weather if you wear a hat, and in warm weather you want to keep the sun off your face. (Use sunscreen too in any weather when the sun is either out or filtered.) Choose snug fitting gloves (not your old gardening gloves) that will not impede your walking technique. A knit cap that you can pull down over your ears, or a hat with earflaps, is good for cold weather. In warm weather, choose a hat with a brim. In cold or windy weather, keep your neck from getting chilled with a scarf or turn-up collar. Tip: New Shoes I just bought some new walking shoes (on sale). These are Reeboks and they call them running/walking shoes. I find they have less cushioning than regular running shoes and a somewhat lower heel profile, which is fine for walking, including Nordic walking. We don't need as much cushion as runners because we don't have as high an impact on the ground in our sport. These would be ok for some light running, but if you want to do a lot of running, especially on hard surfaces, get running shoes. It's best to keep your Nordic walking shoes for exercise walking (not for gardening or going to the beach). The rule of thumb is to get new running shoes after running in them for 500 miles, total. You can get somewhat more out of your walking shoes, but don't wear the same ones for years. (Getting two pair and switching off is a good idea.) The material they use for the outer sole is very durable and may look fine, but the midsole will wear down. You may
end up with some mysterious pain, even in your knee, hip, or back, if you do too much exercise walking in shoes that are worn out. Besides, it's nice to have new shoes. I'm enjoying mine. I don't recommend any particular brand. Reeboks fit me. New Balance, for instance, one of the best sports shoes, just don't fit my feet quite right. So find some shoes that fit you well, and think about getting a new pair. You'll feel good and it will be your contribution to the economy. Tip: Nordic Walking Poles You can use your cross-country skiing poles for Nordic walking, but you're much better off with specialized Nordic walking poles. After all, the poles are the only equipment you need for this activity, so you might as well have the right ones. Cross-country ski poles are designed for snow, with baskets and hand straps to aid control. If, by chance, you decide to go Nordic walking on a snowy trail, they could work, but they're not much good on asphalt. Nordic walking poles usually have a rubber tip for walking on streets, tracks, or dirt trails. Some may have metal tips for use on hilly hikes, or you can use trekking poles for that. Don't use poles without the rubber tip unless they have the special metal tip. Check with the manufacturer to be sure. You can choose adjustable or non-adjustable poles for Nordic walking. These poles are more springy and less stiff than skiing or trekking poles. One of their advantages is you can go right out your door and use them for Nordic walking, without traveling to the mountains. Tip: Pedometers and HR Monitors Here are a couple of items that are not strictly Nordic walking gear but can be of interest to anybody doing aerobic exercise of any kind. Heart rate monitors, often used by runners, are not popular with everyone, but those people who like them like them a lot. The purpose is to keep track of your heart rate as you exercise to make sure you stay in your training zone. Most people have trouble getting an accurate pulse rate while they are exercising, and these devices are indeed accurate. (Yes, you can use one in your aerobics class.) However, the standard equations for getting your training HR zone may not be right for you. Current heart rate monitors can figure your calories expended, set up a training program for you, and have memory functions, depending on the model. The dominant company for this device is Polar. If you want to buy another brand, make sure you check out Polar so you can make comparisons. (I'm not recommending Polar or any other brand. I just want to make sure you comparison shop before buying a heart rate monitor, if you decide you want one. Pedometers are low-cost devices used mostly by fitness walkers, but you can use them with Nordic walking as well. These are very popular and fun to use. Unlike traditional pedometers, you don't have to measure your stride length. These are really step
counters, but we will call them pedometers, because that is the term commonly used. A pedometer basically counts how many steps you take, although some have other features. It just clips on your waistband, and does not require a chest strap like most heart rate monitors. On average, 2000 steps equals one mile (left, right is 2 steps). To get a more accurate number for yourself, wear your pedometer and walk a mile measured by your car's odometer, or just walk four laps of a quarter-mile track. You will get a different number for walking, running, or probably for Nordic walking. There is a popular exercise goal to walk 10,000 steps per day, but you can also use a pedometer to just make sure you do more than you have been doing. You can use it all day for all activities, but remember you get more for your steps with Nordic walking. The 10,000 step protocol is useful for improving fitness and has been shown to help weight loss, but by itself it won't get you the level of fitness you can get with more challenging exercise, like Nordic walking. There's no reason you can't use a pedometer to monitor and improve your amount of daily activity, and do Nordic walking to get a more complete and engaging workout. Tip: Poles for Gifts A pair of Nordic walking poles makes a great holiday gift. This can be a gift for fitness, and also for fun. It can also be a gift for yourself, either by just buying yourself some poles or by recruiting a friend to give you another walking companion. There are several good pole manufacturers. Do your research and pick the ones that seem right for the individual. (I don't recommend any particular brand.) Give yourself some time because local stores may not carry Nordic walking poles and you may have to buy them online. Category: Nordic Walking Technique Subcategory: Technique Tips Tip: Advanced Technique This technique is not very advanced, as you will get to it in a few days. It's just best not to worry about it when you're getting the basic arm swing down. Plant your Nordic walking pole lightly, then push down hard for about half a second, and continue. This push will engage your upper body muscles more. Don't hold the handle tightly. If your biceps and/or triceps are sore or fatigued, you are using your elbow too much. Keep the elbow straight, but not locked out, and swing your arm from the shoulder. Tip: How Far, How Long? You can use the same recommendations given for fitness walking for Nordic walking, and get even more benefits. Walking has been shown to improve cardiovascular health,
reduce blood pressure, help prevent and treat diabetes, manage weight, decrease depression, and help prevent some cancers. Nordic walking does all this, and improves upper body strength and endurance as well. (This list does not cover all the benefits of exercise.) The most common recommendation for walking for health improvement is 150 minutes a week. If your main goal is weight loss, you should try to double that. This averages an hour, 5 days a week, but can be done in 15-30 minute increments. The 300 minutes at 20 minute miles is only 15 miles a week. Do more if you want, less if you're getting started exercising or out of shape. Do as much as you can comfortably. If you follow these recommendations, or those of your doctor or other professional or organization, do Nordic walking for the same amount of exercise recommended for normal walking, and enjoy even more benefits. Tip: How to Breathe People often wonder about how to breathe correctly when doing a given exercise. Lucky for us, there's no trick to breathing while Nordic walking. Put your hand on your abdomen, just below your waist. Now breathe quietly so that your hand goes out as you inhale, and comes back in when you exhale. Many people breathe high in their chest, but breathing from your abdomen is much more efficient, as it allows more air in to the lungs. This is how you breathe while Nordic walking. Start by breathing through your nose. This, as you may have read, has the advantage of using your nose to strain pollutants from the air. Still, as you walk faster, you will need more air than you can comfortably take in through your nose. Go ahead and start breathing through your mouth (as well as your nose) when you feel this is more comfortable. Just parting your lips will probably be sufficient. This will happen naturally. There's no need to force any of your breathing. Relax, and above all, don't hold your breath. Tip: Learning to Walk Although Nordic walking is not difficult, you should plan a few practice walking sessions to perfect your technique. Don't be surprised or frustrated if you have trouble coordinating arms and legs at first. If you lose your rhythm, or find yourself swinging the wrong arm forward, just start over. You can carry your poles around obstacles or across streets and resume Nordic walking on the other side. Schedule your first Nordic walking session for about 20 minutes total. Add 5 or so minutes a day until you can work out for 45 minutes. Depending on your time schedule, try to walk for fitness at least 30 minutes most days. You can alternate fitness walking or speed walking with your Nordic walking and vary distances. Or, you may decide to make Nordic walking your regular fitness workout.
Tip: Lower Body Walking Technique Take a normal walking stride when you are Nordic walking. Come down on your heel and push off with your toes as the opposite heel comes down. Swing your leg from the hip, with little knee action. Practice this Nordic walking leg swing technique until it feels natural. Relax and have fun. Tip: Safety No activity is completely safe, as anyone who has tripped over the cat while walking across the living room can attest. Still, Nordic walking is a very safe exercise activity. The Nordic walking poles provide extra stability, so you are less likely to fall or turn an ankle than even with normal walking. Nordic walking is even used in some rehabilitation situations. Because so many muscles are used, overuse injuries are unlikely. Nordic walking gives the cardiovascular system a good workout without overstressing it. If you use normal precautions about extreme weather, stay off slippery surfaces, and use the poles for their designed purpose only, you should be able to enjoy Nordic walking without worrying about safety. Tip: Speed Walking Nordic walking is not a form of speed walking, although you should use a brisk pace. Instead of just going as fast as you can, concentrate on using correct form and a steady pace. The unique benefit of Nordic walking comes from engaging most of the muscles in your body. Speed walking is mostly dependent on lower body action. Tip: Stride Length With any kind of walking, or running, there are two basic ways to increase speed: increase stride length or increase turnover. Stride length is how long your step is. Turnover is how fast you step. There is a limit to how much you can increase your stride length, and often when you do, you do it at the expense of your form or technique. The important thing is not to try to make your step bigger by stepping farther forward, though this seems like the natural way to do it. If you step too far forward, you can actually set up a braking action by coming down too far back on your heel. Stepping too far forward can especially cause a problem with Nordic walking technique, because it can interfere with proper pole placement. Remember your pole is slanted slightly backward, and you don't want to start wobbling it back and forth by moving your wrist. To properly increase your stride, make it a little longer in back by pushing off with your toes. Better yet, concentrate on a faster turnover if you want to go faster. Make sure to maintain form and move smoothly, synchronizing arm and leg movements. Practice moving just a little bit faster for a short distance until you get used to it. Even if you don't want to increase overall speed, knowing how to move faster can come in handy when you're trying to keep up with somebody or you just want to have some fun by varying speed.
Tip: Upper Body Technique Your Nordic walking poles probably are designed one for your right hand and one for your left. Take a normal step with your left foot and swing your right hand and pole forward to about waist height, arm straight. You should be holding the pole handle as if you are reaching out to shake hands. The shaft of your Nordic walking pole should be slanted back toward your body. Plant the tip so it is about even with the heel of your left foot. You will be swinging the poles up past your body, but plant the tip a few inches to the side so it doesn't get tangled up with your foot. If the rubber tip of the pole is shaped like a little foot, it should be pointed backward. Repeat with the other foot and opposite hand. Keep your wrist and elbow straight, but not locked out, and let your arm swing from the shoulder. Practice this poling technique until it feels natural. Tip: Walking Posture Fitness walkers often neglect their posture. If you slump or round your back while walking, you reduce not only the enjoyment but the benefits of your walk. Slumping restricts your lungs and inhibits your breathing. Using Nordic walking poles automatically corrects your walking posture. Proper Nordic walking technique requires an upright posture that facilitates breathing. You will use a very slight forward lean from the ankles, but essentially an upright posture. Hold your head up and you will achieve a good, efficient walking posture. Tip: You Will Walk Faster When you do Nordic walking, you will walk faster than your normal pace (unless you are already a very fast walker). Adding the arm motion makes the feet move faster. Try an experiment. Walk with your arms stiff at your sides. Now let your arms swing naturally, right foot and left arm forward, and vice versa. You should be moving a little faster without trying, just from the arm swing. Now bend your arms at the elbows and pump your arms a bit while you walk. You should be moving faster yet. (Don't overthink this. It will happen naturally.) This is easier to see with running. Jog for a bit with your arms hanging at your sides, then bend your elbows and pump your arms. Watch a sprinter some time. The arm motion seems to drive the feet. So by using your arms deliberately, you will end up walking faster. Practice using a smooth steady motion with your Nordic walking poles, and you will automatically walk faster. Category: Nordic Walking Training Subcategory: Training and Competition
Tip: Air Pollution I was 50 miles from the wildfires last Sunday, but there was ash in the air and on the ground. This was not a good day for Nordic walking or any other outdoor exercise. Most people stayed indoors, which was a mild inconvenience caused by a big disaster. Exercising in polluted air cancels out the benefits of the workout, and can cause additional damage. So cancel any planned walking or other outdoor activities when the air is really bad. You can make up for it by doing a little more next time. Tip: Clubs and Classes Many people enjoy working out with others. Nordic walking is a fairly new exercise, so you may have trouble finding a club or class. Talk to your local parks and recreation department and see if they can start one. Any exercise leader should be able to learn Nordic walking without any problem. You only need to get a few friends together to start your own club, or you could ask an existing walking club to include Nordic walkers. A store that sells Nordic walking equipment may be glad to help form a club. Or, take your Nordic walking poles when you go with your friends who are doing conventional walking. (You will go at the same speed.) Don't be surprised if they decide they want to try what you're doing! Here's a new online resource you can check out: www.nordicwalkingclubs.com. Tip: Core Training Nordic walking provides great training for your core muscles. When you use good technique, your core muscles--chiefly abdominals and spinal erectors--automatically contract and release. This improves strength and endurance of the core muscles, and gives a toning and conditioning effect. Tip: Find a Trail One of the great things about Nordic walking is that it can be done in urban settings. To get the most benefit, you will want to walk almost every day. For convenience, you will probably do most of your walking near your home. This can be on a sidewalk, road, park, or urban trail or path, and will usually be someplace you are familiar with. Still, there will be times you want to look for someplace new. You may be traveling and looking for a place to walk, or you may be looking for variety for a weekend walk. Here are some web sites you can search to find new walking trails. Not every trail will be good for Nordic walking, or for every Nordic walker, so you may have to look a bit to find the ones you will enjoy. Check out all of them. www.railstotrails.org is the site for the Rails-to-Trails Foundation, who are doing some
interesting work for the environment and to further health and fitness for the population. www.trails.com is a subscription site with a large database. www.localhikes.com is one you can both use to find trails and contribute your favorites to. Tip: Indoor Walking Sometimes you may be driven indoors for your exercise due to weather or darkness. The belts on most treadmills are not wide enough for Nordic walking. You may be able to walk at an indoor mall. Some malls open early for mall walking, or you could just go during slow hours. If you work in or otherwise have access to a large building, you may be able to walk the halls. If you have to miss a Nordic walking workout, ride an exercise bike, do some yoga, or do another exercise of your choice so you don't get out of the habit of working out. Get back to Nordic walking as soon as you can. And, don't forget, in winter there's cross-country skiing. Tip: Marathon Competition For the first time, Nordic walking is being included as a separate division in a marathon. The '06 Portland Marathon will allow you to sign up as a Nordic walker. Although walkers participate in most marathons, the Portland Marathon is noted for being especially walker friendly. Individual Nordic walkers or Nordic walking clubs can participate in the walk/run division of other marathons, but they are not timed or awarded prizes separately. The inclusion of Nordic walking at Portland is an indication of the growing popularity of Nordic walking not only as a fitness activity, but as a sport. Tip: Warming Up Don't do a lot of stretching before you walk. Stretching is most effective at the end of your walking workout. Some easy walking, with or without using your poles, is the best way to warm up, and also to cool down at the end if you have done some vigorous walking. You can, however, do some mobility exercises before you walk to get your joints moving. Try the ones described below. Do what is comfortable for you, and avoid anything that causes pain. Do a few repetitions of each. For these, hold your poles horizontal with both hands, one on each end, straight in front of you. Partial squats. Go down as far as is comfortable for you, keeping your knees over your toes.
Overhead raise. Keeping your arms straight, raise the poles from straight in front of you to overhead and back down. Twist. Turn as far as you can comfortably at the waist, to one side and then the other. Turn at your waist, so that your hips stay facing forward. Turn your head at the same time, to give your neck some exercise. For these, hold your poles with tips on the ground, in walking position. Use them for balance, not to support your weight. Bend your knee as though you were trying to kick yourself in the butt. Keep your knees together. Do a few kicks with one leg, then a few with the other. Swing your leg back a few inches, set it down, and repeat. Raise your heel, leaving the ball of your foot on the ground. Alternate feet with this one. Now go for a walk and have fun.