Nordic Walking

Want to get fitter for the hills? Don't like gyms? Try Nordic walking - an exciting new approach to fitness.

Many folk are familiar with and use walking poles when in the hills and know some of the benefits for saving knee joints etc. Nordic walking is fitness walking using specially designed walking poles. The technique is quite different to how poles are used in hill walking but can be incorporated into a day on the hills once learnt. You push off on the poles from behind, rather than using them in front to help with balance and support.

Originating in Finland - as a way for cross-country skiers to train in summer, Nordic walking has taken off all over Europe. Nordic Walking exercises the whole body - using 90% of the muscles in the body and can burn over 45% more calories than ordinary walking. The upper body gets a workout with the big muscles around the shoulders, neck and arms being worked properly. Tension in these muscles is released and the spine is strengthened which can help to ease back pain.
 
'I find Nordic walking a great way to get rid of tension in my neck and shoulders after spending a few hours slouched in front of a computer' says Fran Loots, a qualified Nordic Walking Instructor who runs Breathing Space Outdoors. 'Although I am quite fit - Nordic walking provides challenges to my fitness and I now incorporate it into my general fitness regime as it is low on impact and high on other benefits. I hate gyms and until I started doing this really struggled to workout my upper body - weight training feels such an effort - but with this you are outdoors and getting fit without really realising it.'

Part of the sport's popularity is also due to the health benefits involved. These are considerably greater than those of normal walking. As well as improving your endurance, by strengthening and toning the muscles in the upper body, arms and legs, and releasing muscle tension in the neck and shoulders, Nordic walking also provides an excellent cardiovascular workout. You get your heart beating an average 5-17 times more per minute than normal walking. Many of these benefits can be put down to the use of poles. These improve your posture and help you to walk faster, by propelling your body forward thus increasing the length of your stride. Simply using poles means you consume about 20% more calories than normal walking, and if you combine this with the effects of walking faster, you can actually burn up to 46% more energy than when you walk normally, according to some research. If you add in up hills and then running up hills with the poles then the workout is even greater - a great way to keep fit for the big hill days without damaging joints in the way that running does.

Further information is available at www.breathingspaceoutdoors.com.