| Jenny Lee |
| CanWest News Service |
Friday, March 30, 2007
|
Brian Robinson likes cross-country skiing, so he was intrigued by Nordic walking, a cross between power walking and cross-country skiing.
"I heard you use 90 per cent of your muscles as opposed to 60 per cent when running, and you can burn 40 per cent more calories than in regular walking," says Robinson, director of studies at a Vancouver language school. "I needed to get fit and I heard that this is a full body aerobic workout, but not inside a gym."
Nordic walking -- you use poles -- is low impact and gentle on the joints, but is indeed a full body workout that burns more calories than walking while perceived exertion is about the same. In other words, you burn more calories (about 20 per cent and increasing with poling intensity), work more muscles and gain greater aerobic benefit, but don't feel as though you're working that hard.
"If you're in an office all day, it's good for loosening the area around your shoulders and neck," says Paula Artley, a International Nordic Walking Association master trainer and a consultant with pole manufacturer Exel.
"It tones your upper body. You're getting almost a double workout."
The sport, which developed out of cross-country skiers' summer training programs, works well for runners who want to keep up their aerobic training but reduce strain on their knees.
"You're taking some of the load off the knee with the poles," Artley says.
For this reason, Nordic walking is also particularly suited to people who have been on joint or rehabilitation programs.
Artley introduced Nordic walking to a client with poor peripheral vision. The poles gave her more confidence for dealing with unstable surfaces, Artley says.
Robinson found the Nordic walking technique took a little getting used to. Surprisingly, the extremely light poles are not swung in a forward and back motion like a walking staff, but are planted behind the body, and stay behind the body at all times.
"It doesn't feel comfortable and natural yet," Robinson said. "It's the swinging. When I started trying to swing the shoulder, they started going all over the place!"
But he says that Nordic walking feels better than regular walking.
"When you're pushing with the poles, it's a nice, powerful feeling." Robinson said. "When you're going fast into high gear, you can feel the strength and the power. If you try to walk fast without the poles, it's completely different."
Nordic walking burns about 400 calories per hour compared to 280 calories per hour of normal walking (depending on exertion), and a Nordic walker's heart rate tends to be five to 17 beats per minute higher, according to a small study conducted by the Dallas-based Cooper Institute and funded by Exel. The study supports findings of two earlier Nordic-walking studies.
NORDIC WALKING PRIMER
The single biggest mistake among novice Nordic walkers is to swing those poles back and forth like walking sticks. You want a different action altogether:
- Plant the poles behind you, not in front of you. The poles should be on 45-degree slant. As you walk, the tips never come in front of your body.
- Rotate! Using big movements, turn from the waist, using your obliques and allowing your shoulders to follow through.
- Planting the poles creates resistance for your arms, core, shoulders and back. As you walk, move your arms forward and back, and rotate from the waist. The upper body rotation increases the strength, flexibility of neck, shoulder and spine, Artley says.
