This photo was taken at Yuva Yoga Centre on the south coast of Turkiye
Nordic Walking originated in Finland when people were frustrated that they could not do their favourite cross-country skiing in the summer time. A ski-pole company refashioned ski-poles for non-snow walking. In doing so they now give us the option of, in effect, being a 4 legged animal as the arms are as valuable as the legs in forward propulsion.
The benefits of Nordic Walking
There are at least 10 special benefits of using Nordic Walking poles when going out for a vigorous “power” walk.
(1) 4 LEGGED PROPULSION:
Like any 4 legged animal you get extra push when you employ the poles since you are using your opposite arm to assist the action made with either leg. This extra push is obviously not available in the same powerful way in ordinary walking or running or not at all in cycling. Your natural coordination of right arm swinging forwards to place the pole when you stride out with your left foot, or the left arm extending to place the pole as the right foot strides forwards means you get two limbs propelling you forwards with each stride (right foot and left pole / left foot and right pole) – these natural coordinations of ordinary walking are thereby exaggerated and fully expressed in Nordic Walking. And additionally the Nordic Walking action tends to encourage us to take a slightly longer stride than is the case with ordinary walking.
(2) DOUBLE POWER WALKING
When thinking of going out for a Nordic Walk it could be that you are feeling a bit tired, a bit jaded or even a little bit out of sorts. But with the double power provided by the Nordic Walking poles you at once get a sense that the walk will not only be possible but will actually re-energize you. This is certainly my experience. I would have to feel very ropey not to at least attempt to start, and once I have started I get an immediate boost from appreciating how the thrust of the poles ensures I get maximum purchase out of every stride. I always feel refreshed and re-energized after every outing.
(3) OVERCOMING KNEE or ANKLE or HIP ISSUES:
If you have any knee troubles, or ankle troubles, or hip troubles, it is still possible to go out walking as the poles help you to reduce the downpressure on your joints and indeed on your whole body, so that even if you are experiencing slight niggles you can safely stride out. I have extra tips below to ensure that the legs and knees are being used most efficiently & safely (see Correct Nordic Walking Action below). You might hesitate to go running or go out for an ordinary walk when you are concerned about niggling pain or discomfort in your knee, ankle or hip, but with Nordic Walking these issues need not put you off going out. And going for a Nordic Walk may even relieve these issues as I have found for myself on several occasions.
(4) IMPROVING POSTURE IN ACTION:
Using the poles gives you a definite help in encouraging you to improve your posture as you walk. There is a clear message coming into your awareness as you use the poles of the value and importance of keeping one’s full height at all times. And this is coming from the way you are holding the poles to maintain upright posture as you move. You will more easily remember to keep your back back and up to maintain your overall length and avoid your guts dragging you forwards and down. Also, you will void crouching forward and rounding your shoulders which may be a habit of some people when they run or even when they go for an ordinary walk. This issue of keeping the body upright and lengthening is much more challenged when cycling as it is necessary when cycling to round the back to take hold of the handlebars, or even to lean down onto the handlebars, plus the problem of looking forward in cycling requires the head to be retracted on the neck which can then easily lead one to contract the neck muscles at the back of the neck and thereby shorten the spine. When out Nordic Walking you can safely look around and even upwards for a short while without compromising your posture or safety as you move.
(5) WIDEN YOUR SHOULDER GIRDLE & ENHANCE YOUR BREATHING:
Using Nordic Walking poles also encourages the tendency to open out the shoulder girdle and widen across the upper body. This tendency can even be exaggerated as you walk if you wish as you can deliberately bring the arms out much more sideways to produce a strong upward and an opening out widening tendency simultaneously for the whole torso. In this way your breathing is enhanced as your ribs are given complete space to move up and out with every breath as there is no inadvertent restriction placed on rib movement by the way you employ your arms – which might be an issue in both running and cycling. Of course it will not be necessary to continually have the arms out exaggeratedly sideways but if you do this for a short while then you will notice these postural and breathing benefits, and so whenever you notice you need to refresh your uprightness and width it is immediately easy to do so. It would not be so appropriate to open out your arms exaggeratedly sideways in either running or cycling!
(6) UPHILL WALKING IS NO PROBLEM
Using the power of all four limbs to propel you on your walk at once encourages you to go out and get moving because immediately as you begin to walk you notice that you need less effort to move. This is especially the case when going uphill. The 4 limbed action makes hill climbing very much easier. If you are out in the woods and you want to go off the pathway in among the trees, it is simply done by removing the rubber feet caps that cover the spikes at the ends of each pole – these rubber caps are important on tarmac or stone surfaces. When the spikes are revealed they are not straight but are cleverly angled to give maximum purchase when they are dug into the ground. When later you return to the pathway or tarmac it takes almost no time to reapply the rubber feet to give good purchase on a tarmac, stone or other hard surface. If you need to remove and replace the rubber feet when out walking it is a good plan to have with you a small cloth to briefly clean the spikes after they have been used to dig into the ground if you are alternating between soft and hard surfaces .
(7) DOWNHILL SLOPES ARE SAFELY NAVIGATED:
If when you are in the woods, or in some locations where you find you are having to descend an unusually steep slope, then you can stagger your descent by sending a pole out ahead of you to gain stability in the movement. When I was living in Switzerland this method was very helpful. On my walks in the woods or across some of the fields the hill or mountain-side slope was quite steep.I was able to avoid falling by alternately prodding each pole down the slope ahead of me. Without poles I would have to have been much more cautious as I would not have had the security of support from the poles. The same technique is useful on steep tarmac roads as well.
(8) EASY TO PAUSE, STOP & ATTEND TO WHATEVER COMES UP:
Stopping to look at the view, or to pick up anything from the ground is simple in Nordic Walking. Although you are out for an energizing walk it is so easy to stop walking and attend to something that has come up. You might find something on the ground that needs picking up, or you might need to answer a call on your mobile phone, or you might simply want to admire the view. Yes, all this is also possible with ordinary walking or even with cycling but it is a bit more unlikely in cycling as you are probably more destination bound, and in ordinary walking you are not engaged so much in an energetic action. Gaining the benefits of more energized movement in Nordic Walking does not mean you have any difficulties to stop at any time. I am interested to clear some of the rubbish that gets deposited alongside the roads I walk on so I carry a plastic bag with me and pop beer or pop cans or tissues in the bag as I go along. It is no trouble to stop and collect these items and the back roads of my neighbourhood become rubbish free. My poles can actually sometimes help me in dislodging items or even, if they are on the beach a meter below me from the road, to actually pick them up in a chopstick-type manouvre to bring them onto the road for then putting into my bag.
(9) ENJOY VOCALISING WHILE OUT NORDIC WALKING:
Since Nordic Walking encourages a more upright and open posture during movement another aspect that comes in is that one may find one gets stimulated to recite poetry aloud or even to sing. Since I am walking on backroads or along the coast road I rarely come across other people walking in the same direction as me or in the opposite direction, as I would not want to alarm them with my reciting or singing efforts (!). Consequently, with the road ahead free, I frequently find I am minded to recite poetry and also sometimes to sing. This is an extra energizing activity. I have learnt several poems and also some speeches from Shakespeare so the trees and the birds get my amateur efforts. I have even memorized several songs from plays by Shakespeare and Berthold Brecht which I again can recite without any trepidation of giving a performance to other humans! I can only recommend it. Such activity could certainly be done in ordinary walking but is less likely when cycling.
(10) VARIATIONS OF COORDINATION ARE AVAILABLE
Once you get familar with the coordinated use of the poles as a 4 limbed animal it becomes apparent that when the opportunity and the wish arises you can employ different coordinations and pole actions. You could, for example bring both poles forward at the same time to get extra leverage uphill or support downhill, and on level ground walk through them or even make mini jumps using the support of the poles as you go. You could even evolve into a skipping action by hopping forward on one foot and then traversing to the other – just like you may have done as a child that delights in movement. It is unlikely when you go for an ordinary walk that, as an adult, you would spontaneously break into a skipping or jumping action. But the lightness and freedom of movement promoted by Nordic Walking can evoke such actions which reconnect us to our childlike joy in movement.
(11) BALANCED & UNTWISTED COORDINATION
If you have a tendency to twist to the left for example when walking ordinarily then this tendency will be unmasked and corrected as Nordic Walking actions promote evenness and smooth, balanced coordination. Such body twists or rotations are sometimes seen in runners who are repeatedly slightly rotating left as they run. A rightward rotation is less likely because most humans (90%) are right handed whereby they have a hidden tendency to slightly rotate leftwards as their right hand and arm is so dominant. Left handed folk tend to be on the whole less twisted and more balanced in action generally speaking.
(12) SECURITY:
In my area there are one or two dogs that bark furiously when I pass and fling themselves at the fence. No doubt they are excellent guard dogs and thankfully they are trapped behind fences, but it is a mild concern that if the fence was ever to give way or the dog was in some way able to get out, I have my Nordic Poles to defend myself if need be. I have never had to beat off an aggressive dog and dearly hope I shall never have to do so – but I admit to feeling a bit safer having my poles with me.
Correct Nordic Walking Action
THE SPECIAL NORDIC WALKING GLOVE:
In using the Nordic Walking poles, the way the hands travel forwards and backwards is in a slightly more deliberate way which adds to the dynamism of the activity than is the case in casual walking. Also the glove attached to the top of the pole handle allows the hand to open and close, to either take hold of the pole handle or to fully release that hold without the pole falling to the ground. This special Nordic Walking glove is completely different from ordinary gloves or skiing gloves. When wearing an ordinary glove or skiing glove the pole would simply drop to the ground if you opened the hand fully out, but with the special Nordic Walking glove the glove is strongly attached to the pole so when you open your hand off the pole handle the pole simply hangs from your wrist with the handle conveniently positioned so it is easy to take hold of the pole again.
OPENING THE HAND FULLY IS RECOMMENDED:
Because of this special feature of the Nordic Walking glove it is possible and recommended to fully open the hand repeatedly, and this can be done when you stride past your front placed pole so that the pole on that side then becomes the one more behind you. As you are not putting any pressure on that pole for the moment prior to bringing it forward again for the next stride, it is a good idea to fully open that hand momentarily, before taking hold of the handle again as you swing the pole forwards. This means your hands will be opening and closing onto the pole handle in alternation. My original Nordic Walking teacher said that the action of opening the hand that was travelling behind you was rather like throwing out sand behind you with each hand alternately as you stride forward. There may well be a tendency among runners to always hold the hands in a particular way which does not alter much while running. The cyclist will need to have a particular way to hold the handlebars so the brakes can be quickly applied when needed. Neither of these activities pays any attention to repeatedly opening and closing the hands, and so this hand opening and closing becomes a special feature of “exercise” in Nordic Walking.
A SECRET EXTRA TECHNIQUE TO LINK THE ACTION TO YOUR BACK:
As you take hold of the pole handle in the alternating way to bring it forward as just described, it is a good plan to particularly engage the little finger side of the hand when you are taking hold of the pole handle again just after having had your hand fully opened. The little finger side of the hand, it may surprise you to learn, is the strong side of the hand. The thumb side is also strong but is more linked to feeling textures, or flipping through banknotes, whereas the little finger side is more connected to the karate “chop”, i.e. it is the power side of the hand. Another example of this is in horse riding where the rider will usually want to have the reins slipped through the gaps between the little and ring fingers and also between the ring and long fingers. In this way there is a recognition that this little finger side of the hand will give more control. The little finger side of the hand is more anatomically linked into the back, and the thumb side more linked into the front of the body. So, when you re-take hold of your Nordic Walking pole in this way by noting the connection of that side to the back, you will not only be connecting to the stronger part of your body, your back, but will also be allowing the front side of you to be more open.
CONSCIOUSLY DIRECTING YOUR KNEE:
When you have even the slightest hint that all is not well with any of the joints in your leg – ankle, knee or hip – it is well to be aware that since the ankle is a more-or-less a simple hinge joint, and since the hip joint is a firm ball and socket joint, neither of there joints are easily and directly manageable during movement. However, your knee joint, although it is the most complex joint in the whole body, is much more easily directed as it is freely moving between the more fixed ankle and hip joints and can be aimed in different directions. To describe the anatomy and physiology of knee joint articulation would be a long and detailed process, but in simple terms the way that will bring about the ideal articulation is when you aim the knee to travel slightly out to the side when it goes forwards and the foot lands. If you do not have any joint issues in your leg joints you need not trouble too much about it. But if there is the slightest indication of an issue with any of these leg joints then it will be important that you deliberately aim your knee to go slightly out to each side as you walk. The knee action is “forwards and away to the side” as it might be said. Obviously I do not mean to indicate some exaggerated bow-legged Hoppalong Cassidy type movement as if you have just got off your horse after many days ride over the hills, but make sure that your knee is not going inwards towards your midline when flexing it but instead is aiming somewhat outwards without exaggeration. (Of course it comes in towards the midline when straightening underneath you to support your weight). If this idea of “forwards and sideways” fails to relieve any issue in any leg joint that is troubling you then perhaps you could additionally consider the idea of the upper leg slightly spiralling as it travels forward and slightly sideways right and left as you raise and place the foot to stride forwards. If ever I get the slightest sense of a twinge in either of my knees I always use this technique and I always find it works to releive the trouble.
WHERE TO LOOK
The appropriate direction for your vision is out front without looking too far down to the ground or too far up in the sky. Yet both these up or down options are available to you when needed. Obviously, you need to be aware somewhat of the nature of the ground you are traversing as to whether it is hard, soft, muddy, sloping up or down and so on. But an advantage of Nordic Walking is that it is easy to look around while walking to wherever your attention is invited to go. When I walk along the road by the coast the water is no more than 15 meters away from me to one side. I like to look at the sea and even across the sea to the coast of Turkiye ten kilometers away, yet I must be continually aware of traffic coming on my side of the road. The aim is not to fix the vision or restrict it. In cycling it is more likely that vision will be directed pretty much continuously forwards (you are unlikely to allow yourself to gaze over to Turkiye across the water), in casual walking it might go anywhere, but in Nordic Walking the whole liveliness of the activity tends to encourage liveliness of looking as you walk.
In Summary
Correct Nordic Walking action can be quite a skilled activity if you want to examine closely what is going on in the movement at every moment. But these details can be accumulated one by one as it is more important to get out on your walk and enjoy it than worry too much about technicalities. However, to gain the most out of Nordic Walking it is a good plan to keep your height, keep your width, let your breathing be free and full, and your gaze lively and interested; ensure you are not tense in the jaw or tensing down into yourself. Your whole body is happily employed in the activity and if you are walking with a friend you can easily maintain a conversation. If you are alone you could recite or sing. You can travel at any speed you like with strong propulsion and support from your two poles. I am nearly in my 80th year and I go out and enjoy Nordic Walking almost every day as it is an all-weather activity. I am always finding that my mind gets clearer after a Nordic Walk and I am confident that it is good for my overall healthy functioning.