Walking is having a moment. From hot girl walks to the 12-3-30 training, walking is the latest trend in fitness. But have you ever heard of Nordic walking? Imagine cross-country skiing, but lose the skis, keep the poles, and walk instead. Nordic walking isn’t new, but it may be your new favorite exercise.
What is Nordic walking?
Nordic walking is full body walking. low impact training which consists of walking using specialized canes. When done correctly, it can engage up to 90% of your muscles and deliver an intense cardio workout and strength trainingaccording to experts.
“The basic concept is to add upper-body activity in the context of using Nordic poles, or walking poles, to help you move forward when you walk,” said Dr. Aaron Baggish, director of the Cardiovascular Performance Program. of Massachusetts General Hospital, TODAY said. Think of it as a way to enhance your typical rides involving more muscles.
As the name suggests, this form of walking is popular in the Nordic countries and originated in Finland, Jennifer Reed, Ph.D., director of the Exercise Physiology and Cardiovascular Health Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania Heart Institute, told TODAY. Ottawa. While it’s often associated with hiking, Reed said, Nordic walking, or “urban pole,” can be done by anyone, anywhere, as long as there’s room to walk.
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How do you do Nordic walking?
The key is not to overcomplicate it, experts said. The technique involves walking holding each pole along your body and moving the poles in opposition to your legs so that they are at a 45-degree angle, according to the American Nordic Walking Association (ANWA) that has a free guide for beginners on your website.
“Think about what your normal arm swing would be like if you were walking without poles and accentuate it with poles in hand. In doing so, the posts rise to a vertical position with each step, making contact [with the ground] above the foot, you can use them to push forward and accelerate,” Baggish explained.
You’ll need poles specifically designed for Nordic walking, which are different from those used for trekking, experts said. Nordic walking poles often have rubber tips on the ends, which can be removable, and the handles have wrist straps to keep the poles in your hands, according to ANWA.
These canes come in a variety of prices, experts said, but the important part is finding canes that are the right length for your height and grip. Baggish encourages beginners to invest in better quality or glove-like wrist wraps, “because they really reduce wrist injuries and make the hand much more effective as an interface between the body and the tube.”
The proper technique isn’t hard to master, experts said, and once you do, it can offer huge benefits.
The benefits of Nordic walking
Turn walking into a full body workout
Walking works the lower body — legs, quadriceps, buttocks, calves, but not the upper body, Stephanie Mansour, a personal trainer and contributing health and fitness writer for TODAY, told TODAY. “Walking with poles makes it a total-body workout,” Mansour said, because poles add upper-body cardio and strength-training components, working the arms, backupper back and core.
“When you engage the poles, you actually move up to 80 to 90 percent of the major muscle groups, so you’re just getting a better workout,” Baggish said. Nordic walking can become even more challenging if walk faster and interact more with polls, Reed said, getting his heart rate up.
“The more muscle groups you engage significantly, the more calories you burn per unit of time or per distance,” Baggish said, estimating that there is a 40% to 50% increase in calorie expenditure when people use the part upper body in Nordic walking versus normal walking. “The analogy that some people like, that I think can be helpful, is the difference between a Step by Step and an elliptical trainer,” Baggish said.
Reduce risk of injury
Another benefit of Nordic walking? Posts can provide stability and prevent falls, experts noted. “For anyone dealing with frailty or balance issues, I think this is an amazing tool to have in your repertoire,” said Baggish.
An effective workout for heart patients.
Nordic walking is also great for heart health. A recent study published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology found that Nordic walking was superior compared to other exercise methods in improving functional capacity, or the ability to perform physical activities, among patients with heart disease.
“The primary goal of the trial was to look at the impacts of different exercise strategies for adults with cardiovascular disease,” Reed said, adding that the researchers wanted to see if one approach might be more successful at improving long-term exercise or function than a patient. capacity, which is strongly linked to future cardiovascular events such as heart attacks.
All of the study participants had previously had a cardiovascular event or procedure, such as a stent placement, said Reed, a co-author of the study. The researchers compared the long-term effects of three different forms of exercise as part of a cardiovascular rehabilitation program: high intensity interval training (HIIT), moderate to vigorous intensity continuous training (MICT) and Nordic walking.
“Over the course of 12 weeks, Nordic walking actually had superior clinical benefits on exercise capacity than HIIT and MICT… not what we expected,” Reed said. while everyone exercise methods improved depression and the quality of life of the patients, Nordic walking produced the greatest improvement in functional capacity that was maintained over time.
“Nordic walking twice a week for 3 months really helped improve exercise capacity and these benefits lasted up to 26 weeks,” Reed said. The study authors concluded that cardiovascular rehabilitation programs can confidently apply Nordic walking.
These findings are exciting, Reed added, because something as simple and accessible as walking with poles is right up there with conventional exercises like HIIT and MICT.
It can help anyone improve their heart health.
While Nordic walking is definitely beneficial for people with heart disease, Reed said, it’s clear that this is a great option for anyone looking for a heart healthy workout.
“You can walk a few times a week and really get huge clinical benefits when it comes to improving exercise capacity, which will translate to a lower risk of cardiovascular events,” Reed said. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention..
“The bottom line is that all the risk factors that drive heart disease or, more specifically, coronary heart disease, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, these are all improved by physical activity,” Baggish said.
How often should you walk?? It depends on the person and how active they are, experts noted, but any amount of activity is better than being sedentary. The “sweet spot” for most healthy adults is 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity activity, Baggish said, which can be broken up however people feel comfortable.
Given all the benefits, why isn’t Nordic walking more popular?
“Europeans have embraced it much faster and much more effectively than we have here in the United States,” Baggish said, but there can also be a stigma around Nordic walking among young people. “People perceive it as something designed for older adults. I don’t think they really understand how intense it can be,” Reed said.
Most people can safely incorporate Nordic walking into their exercise routine, experts said, but as with any new form of exercise, always talk to your doctor first if you have any concerns.