I came across an article that made all the points about Nordic walking you can use when explaining the sport to your friends.
Main point: "Nordic walking isn’t just a great way to get your steps in. The fitness trend involves walking with long poles—similar to ski poles or hiking sticks—giving you a full-body workout every time you take a step."
More about it:
- "Nordic walking offers a number of benefits, like added upper-body exercise and increased stability when you walk. It’s lower impact than activities like jogging or running, but it still packs a punch."
- "This full-body workout is suitable for people of all ages and fitness levels."
The article's outline makes for a template that can guide conversations but has some inaccuracies. Here are some notes about how to make the most of the article's information when you're talking with friends:
- What is Nordic walking?
- "Although activities like skiing or hiking utilize poles, Nordic walking differs in that you can Nordic walk anywhere and wear traditional walking shoes."
- “The poles help propel your body forward, so during the cardio exercise, you get an upper-body workout along with the expected lower-body benefits of walking...This makes for an engaging full-body workout."
- Use this to set up your explanation of the poles because the secret to that forward propulsion is the angle of the poles, which sets Nordic walking apart from trekking/hiking.
- Nordic walking benefits
- Full-body workout
- Heart health
- Greater calorie burn
- Added stability
- You can expand this list to even more benefits. Take a look at the article comparing Nordic walking and resistance training. Nordic walking has key benefits not available in resistance training: "NW [Nordic walking] could be considered a total-body version of walking, with greater body muscle activity due to the use of poles and potentially enhanced physical fitness benefits. NW [Nordic walking] has several important benefits for the population, such as resting blood pressure and heart rate, increasing exercise capacity, quality of life, and maximal oxygen consumption."
- How to Nordic walk properly
- The interesting thing about Nordic walking technique, according to a different article, is that no matter how perfect of imperfect your technique: "All NW [Nordic walking] techniques elicited higher muscular activation and metabolic responses than W [walking]."
- The important distinction involves the poles always at a rear-facing direction facilitate the propulsive nature of Nordic walking.
- Nordic walking sticks (I think Nordic walkers would rather call them poles).
- The poles shown in the article are actually trekking poles. You can tell because the images show poles with straps rather than the gloves used for forward propulsion.
- This is an opportunity to explain the difference between trekking poles and Nordic walking poles.
- If you have your own set of Nordic walking poles, you can show what the real ones look like.
- You can also invite your friends to the next Nordic Walking Together group walk. They're free and are a good way to get that introduction to Nordic walking.
- Nordic walking vs. normal walking
- According to another article comparing Nordic walking and regular walking, "Nordic Walking, examined in the field, results in a significant increase in oxygen use and caloric expenditure compared to regular walking, without significantly increasing perceived exertion."
- Note the mention of perceived exertion. An other way of saying is although the action exertion increases, you don't feel like you're working harder.