AMC Outdoors, January/February 2009

Wild Stride
Nordic walking boosts workout
By Tim Jones

Walking for exercise is self-limiting. If you are overweight or out of shape, walking regularly starts rebuilding your fitness level, but you may quickly reach a plateau: Stride as far and as fast as you comfortably can and your heart rate still goes only so high. You can maintain fitness, but you can’t improve.

Once you’ve plateaued, you can jog or run (potentially hard on your knees and back), walk up and down hills, or carry extra weight. Or, you can try Nordic walking—using specially designed poles and a specific walking technique to mimic cross-country skiing on bare ground. Nordic walking started in Finland as dry-land training for cross-country skiers. Marketing by Exel, Leki, and Fittrek (the major manufacturers offering poles designed for Nordic walking) helped turn it into a full-blown fitness craze in Europe and a minor movement in the U.S.

Cindy Krisanda, a certified Nordic walking instructor, radiates enthusiasm and energy when she describes the benefits of Nordic walking: “Nordic walking with proper poles and proper technique not only burns more calories and strengthens your upper body as you walk, it also forces you into good posture, which promotes back health.”

THE GEAR Under Krisanda’s tutelage, our group of three learned to adjust the poles for proper length: forearm parallel to the ground when the pole is vertical. “Once you’ve gotten the correct length you don’t ever need to change that setting,” advises Krisanda, though you can experiment later with different lengths for advanced techniques.

Next came cinching the wrist straps—identical to the ones used on skate-skiing poles. “Relax the hand and let the pole dangle as you bring it forward,” says Krisanda. “Grip the pole tightly only when you are actively pushing.”

The final step is to align the angled rubber tip of the pole to ensure it faces forward and the ridged surface gets maximum grip on pavement. Krisanda recommends removing the rubber tip and using the hardened carbide on dirt, rock, or slippery surfaces like ice.

THE TECHNIQUE Krisanda eased us into walking, arms held loose and straight, hands open, poles dragging behind. Almost instantly our arms started swinging naturally, left arm with right leg and vice versa. From there, it took only moments before we were planting the pole tip directly under the body (it should not swing forward), and gripping the handle as we pushed ourselves forward—Nordic walking!

Walking on flat land, uphill, or downhill, Krisanda urged us to keep the same basic upright posture with only minimal variation. Uphill, leaning slightly forward if at all, you could really feel the extra thrust of the poles. Downhill it seemed natural to lean back a little, bend the knees, and use the poles more for stability than forward propulsion.

THE BENEFIT As predicted, while I was Nordic walking, my stride lengthened, posture straightened, and walking speed increased without apparent effort. My heart rate jumped about 10-15 beats per minute over my normal walking rate—close to where I settle on a long, moderate hill or while carrying a 15-pound pack.

It felt like working an elliptical trainer, but I was outdoors, not in a gym. That made it fun. The endorphins kicked in quickly. This was definitely a new, improved walking workout.

THE SKEPTIC Before I tried Nordic walking, I didn’t understand why it required special poles. Poles are poles, aren’t they? Krisanda warned that ski poles and trekking poles don’t work for Nordic walking. She was right. The handles and straps on my Alpine ski poles and trekking poles felt wrong for the grip-and-release technique of Nordic walking. My cross-country poles were too long. And, without the rubber tips with angled faces that grip the pavement, all were unpleasantly noisy on hard surfaces.

THE BOTTOM LINE Nordic walking is a simple way to get more benefit for the time you spend wherever and whenever you walk for exercise.