Nordic walking

History

Nordic walking is defined as fitness walking with specially designed poles. It evolved from an off-season ski-training activity known as ski walking, hill bounding or ski striding to become a way of exercising year-round. Ski walking and hill bounding with poles has been practiced for decades as dry land training for competitive Nordic skiers. Ski coaches saw the success of world class cross country skiers who used ski poles in the summer for ski walking and hill bounding and it became a staple of off-season Nordic ski training. Hikers with knee pain discovered they could walk more powerfully with a pair of trekking poles, often eliminate or reduce hip, knee foot pain, and backpackers found relief from painful backs when using poles.

The first specially designed fitness walking poles with optional rubber tips (for hard surfaces, such as pavement) were designed by fitness walking pole pioneer Tom Rutlin. He called the activity "exerstriding", and his Exerstrider® poles were introduced in the U.S. in 1988.

In 1997, a Finnish ski pole manufacturer Exel, working with another pole walking pioneer Marko Kantaneva who developed a method of walking with pole he called "Sauvakavely" (Finnish for pole walking), introduced the trademarked Nordic Walker® poles, and "Nordic walking" became the accepted generic term for fitness walking with specially designed poles which are now marketed by nearly all major ski and trekking-pole manufacturers . Although fitness walking with poles is currently growing in popularity at a more modest pace around the globe, the Nordic skiing savvy Northern Europeans very quickly embraced this dry land hybrid of two of their favorite fitness activities -- Nordic skiing and walking, and a little more than a decade after its introduction in Europe, an estimated 10 million people (the majority in Northern Europe) have taken up fitness walking with specially designed poles as a regular form of exercise^{[citation needed]}.

Description

Nordic walking is growing as an alternative to ordinary fitness walking because it can easily be mastered and can be performed year-round in any climate anywhere by a person of any age or ability who might otherwise walk without poles. It combines simplicity and accessibility of walking with simultaneous core and upper body conditioning and significantly enhanced aerobic effects quite similar to those of Nordic skiing. The result is a full-body walking workout that expends 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.

Nordic walking can produce up to a 46% increase in energy consumption compared to walking without poles. It also has been demonstrated to increase upper body muscle endurance by 38% in just twelve weeks.

Commercial flier from 1999, by Finnish company Exel. (Notice the upper-right corner) With this the term Nordic Walking became internationally known and coined simultaneously. ("Sauvakävely eli Nordic Walking", translates into "Sauvakävely or Nordic Walking")

Benefits

Compared to regular walking, Nordic walking - also called poling, pole walking or urban poling, involves applying force to the poles with each 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 may lead 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
• increasing vascular pathways and oxygen delivery efficiency
• 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
• provides density preserving stress to bones

Equipment

Nordic walking poles are significantly shorter than those recommended for cross-country skiing. Using poles of incorrect length may add stress to the walker's knees, hips and/or back, diminishing the benefits of walking with poles. Nordic walking poles come in both one-piece, non-adjustable shaft versions, and telescoping two-piece twist-locking adjustable length versions. Most Nordic walking poles feature grips with special Nordic walking straps - a kind of fingerless glove, allowing power transmission through the strap, or specially designed ergonomic strapless grips both of which eliminate the need to tightly grasp the pole grips.

Unlike trekking poles, Nordic walking poles come with removable rubber tips for use on hard surfaces and hardened metal tips for trails, the beach, snow and ice. Most poles are made from lightweight aluminum, carbon fiber, or composite materials.

Styles

Ski walking, hill bounding, hiking and trekking with poles were the original styles of fitness walking with poles. Today nordic walking differs considerably from nordic ski walking and striding used by cross country skiers for dryland training. Accepted Nordic walking techniques vary offering a variety of viable choices making the activity accessible to both athletes and the athletically challenged, and accommodating people of all ages and all fitness levels -- including those with balance, stability and gait issues.

The six principal variables distinguishing the different Nordic walking styles are (a) the location of the pole plant (from close to the front foot to close to the rear foot), (b) shoulder range of motion (from none to considerable), (c) elbow range of motion (from none to considerable), (d) elbow angle at pole plant (from nearly straight to an angle of 90 degrees or less), and (e) pole grip/strap configuration (from strapless poles, simple loops straps, Velcro slings to fingerless-glove type straps).

Organizations

Over the course of the activities development several organizations have been created to promote Nordic Walking, such as:

• korea Nordic Walking Federation - kNWF
• World Original Nordic Walking Federation - ONWF
• International Nordic Walking Association - INWA
• (North) American Nordic Walking Association - ANWA
• International Nordic Fitness Sports Association - INFO

See also

• Trekking pole
• Walking stick

References

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