Nordic walking my way to fitness ...

Move over Pilates. Here comes Nordic walking.

Hi again, and apologies for such a long time since my last blog. How time flies! And here we are with Autumn upon us again!

So what's all this talk of Nordic walking? Now for those of you who have never heard of it, don't worry! I'll explain!

Nordic walking is the newest fitness craze! It's the next yoga ... if you look at how yoga started out, it seemed like a very foreign concept. Well Nordic walking is a bit like that. There are already competitions in Europe!

For the uninitiated, Nordic walking consists basically of walking with two poles; think cross-country skiing in cross-training shoes. It turns walking from a lower-body workout into a full-body exercise. No, Nordic walking doesn't involve climbing some Norwegian peak or traversing a fiord.

Nordic walking originates from Sweden and Finland where it is huge. In Finland almost 28% of older adults participate once a week and it's close to that percentage for baby boomers. They're doing it for weight loss. It's a convenient low-impact sport. And in Germany, Nordic walking is now practiced by 4.4 million people compared to just 10,000 four years ago.

Research shows the two poles reduce the stress by 20% on your knees and ankles, which for me is a good thing. I've been having quite a bit of trouble with my knees so anything that helps relieve the pain is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Despite x-rays and MRI scans, there's nothing to show for all the pain I'm suffering. As a last resort the doctor is going to administer a cortisone injection tomorrow --- though I think that's his way of keeping me away from the surgery for a while!

... sorry I digress.

Back to Nordic walking --- for weight loss, you burn between 20 to 46% more calories than normal walking so that should be good also, and you get about a 25% more cardio vascular workout. Not to mention, carrying those sticks in the countryside could be darn handy warding off the cows/bulls! But, that's a whole other story!

What it means is that when you finish your walk you don't have to hit the gym or do any abdominal crunches! You've got it all done in one nice package.

So for all of you out there who are feeling a little sluggish and need an affordable alternative to a year's subscription at the health club --- I'd advise getting yourself some Nordic walking sticks and pacing it out ...

Just give it a few weeks, maybe months, and someday me and my better half will not be the only couple walking around with big sticks getting weird looks.

Bye for now.

Linda