Nordic Walking
Get Fit Today UK
Nordic walking is basically walking with poles, it is said that it can increase your energy consumption over 40% gotta be a good thing, using Nordic walking would require buying poles, so thats the down side but the gains may well be worth it.
Nordic walking as said is walking with poles you can do it anywhere that you might walk normally however in Liverpool City centre you might get a few funny looks (who cares lol).
It combines simplicity and accessibility of walking with simultaneous core and upper body conditioning similar to Nordic skiing. The result is a full-body walking workout that can burn significantly more calories without a change in perceived exertion or having to walk faster, due to the incorporation of many large core, and other upper-body muscles which comprise more than 90% of the body's total muscle mass and do work against resistance with each stride. 'Normal walking' utilizes only 70% of muscle mass with full impact on the joints of the legs and feet.
They are some impressive stats and those of you who are serious walkers might want to consider the gains possible.
Compared to regular walking, you also need to put pressure onto the poles with each step, or for the bold stride. Nordic walkers use more of their entire body (with greater intensity) and receive fitness building stimulation not as present in normal walking for the chest, lats, triceps, biceps, shoulder, abdominals, spinal and other core muscles.
This extra muscle involvement leads to enhancements over ordinary walking at equal paces such as:
- increased overall strength and endurance in the core muscles and the entire upper body
- significant increases in heart rate at a given pace
- greater ease in climbing hills
- burning more calories than in plain walking
- improved balance and stability with use of the poles
- significant un-weighting of hip, knee and ankle joints
This is something we think you should consider check out our article on Hiking for so practical Tips and safety issues.
Always let someone know where you are going and when you will be back when walking.