Pole new fitness fad of Nordic Walking (From York Press)

Pole new fitness fad of Nordic Walking

12:00pm Monday 14th February 2011 in Features By Stephen Lewis

It looks a bit like skiing, but it’s actually a form of power walking. STEPHEN LEWIS checks out the craze that is Nordic Walking.

I’VE always enjoyed walking – striding out over moors and hills, with the fresh air in your lungs and a new and exciting view always opening out ahead. Once, long ago, I took that love of walking to the extreme, by chucking in my job and setting out to walk from John O’ Groats to Land’s End with only a tent and a rucksack for company.

It took 11 weeks and I’d walked about 1,100 miles by the end, meandering from side to side of the country as I worked my way down.

That was a long time ago. Older and stiffer, I’ve kept my love of walking and the fresh air, but find the thought of doing 30 miles a day or camping out in a damp field less enticing. So I restrict myself to shorter walks. The problem is that shorter walks don’t give your body that full workout that a 30 mile yomp over hills and moors does.

And then I discovered Nordic Walking.

They’re clever fellas, those Nordics. The sport they have invented is every bit as easy and satisfying as ordinary walking – but somehow it manages to use just about every muscle in your body, giving you a thorough, all-over workout without putting any of your joints under too much stress, or leaving you puffing helplessly for breath.

It is apparently all the rage in the UK at the moment. “It is a new craze and it is really taking off,” said Catriona Sudlow, older people’s physical activity officer at City of York Council. In fact, she says, it is thought to be the fastest growing physical activity in the world.

I didn’t know any of this until I turned up at Hull Road Park last week to take part in the first of the new Nordic Walking sessions being offered free to the over-50s by the city council, thanks to funding from Age Concern York and Natural England.

I was late – unforgivable – and a group of ten or so walkers were already being put through a warm-up routine by qualified Nordic Walking instructor Jason Feavers.

I quickly joined them, and was issued with a set of special poles and gloves. The poles are lightweight and finely balanced: the gloves little more than loops which fit over the thumb and to which the poles are attached by a clip. I found this odd: but it soon began to make sense.

Jason took us through the warm-ups – ankle twirls, standing on tiptoe, knee rises and kickbacks, plus an odd little march in which we held our poles half-way along the shaft and then walked swinging our arms vigorously.

Then we clipped poles to gloves and we were off, on our first circuit of Hull Road Park.

The secret, Jonathan told us as we walked along, was to keep our arms straight but relaxed, and to use the poles to push from behind. You don’t reach ahead with them as you might with walking poles. As you swing the arm holding your pole forward, the pole’s tip should never really be ahead of your feet.

It felt odd and ungainly at first. Relax your hands, Jason advised, grip the poles as lightly as if you’re gripping an egg – the clips will ensure you don’t drop them.

I did as he instructed, and gradually I began to get into the rhythm of it: hands relaxing, arms straightening, stride lengthening. Before long I was swinging along with a will, my stride helped by the push of the poles through my arms.

After a couple of circuits, Jason called a break. Then he paired us up and got us walking in tandem, the person behind holding the tips of the pole of the person in front so that we had to time our strides to work together.

“It’s to help you get the rhythm right,” Jason said.

It did. Soon, we were off again, working up a light sweat as we ‘skiied’ around the park. By the time we came to a halt at the end of an hour, my legs and arms alike felt pleasantly exercised, without being overtired.

Nordic Walking originated in Finland, said Jason, where super-fit cross country skiers started using their poles in the off-season to keep in training when there was no snow.

But it has since been developed for use in what Jason calls the “well-being market” – those who want a gentle form of outdoor cross-training exercise that will keep them fit and healthy without exhausting them.

It is a great way of losing weight, Jason says, because it burns up to 46 per cent more calories than ordinary walking. “And it uses 90 per cent of the muscles of the body, a lot more even than swimming.” So it tones the upper and lower part of your body at the same time, and because you have assistance from the poles, the pressure on knees and hips is reduced.

It is great for people with neck, shoulder and back problems, Jason said – and even for people with osteoporosis. And you can go at your own speed, so you never need to over-exert yourself – although if you do push a bit, it is great for your heart and lungs too.

On top of all that, it’s fun. I was glowing all over by the time I finished – and other members of the group were equally enthusiastic.

“It was very enjoyable!” said 61-year-old Marjorie Stephenson after we’d all warmed down together with a few stretching exercises. “I feel I’ve had a really good workout, but I’m not knackered. And it was nice to meet some like-minded people as well.”

Her friend Janet Gray, 68, was equally keen. She’s hoping next year to do the Scarborough to Whitby walk for her 70th birthday: and this was the ideal preparation. “I really enjoyed it.”

Nordic Walking, I suspect, could soon become all the rage in York. So don’t be surprised if one day soon you catch sight of someone ‘skiing’ across Clifton Ings or along a riverside path beside the Ouse. It might even be me...