Types of Nordic walking poles

You might check with Nordic walking associations in your country.

• International Nordic Walking Federation (https://www.inwa-nordicwalking.com/contacts/contact-members/) has a list of associations that affiliate with them. The leaders, instructors, and members can share information with you. That might be the best way to identify the premium and moderately priced poles of good quality. Doing an Internet search of other Nordic associations/trainers in your country can lead to good advice.
• I am affiliated with the American Nordic Walking Association (ANWA). That organization sells poles as well as provides training.

Having said that, popular poles are made by Leki and Exel (the link is Exel Poles UK).

• There are other brands, but those were the first that came to mind and are somewhat premium priced.
• In the US, I have used poles by York Nordic (US) and Nordixx (Canada), which are moderately priced.
• The above mentions are my personal experience. I’m sure there are many other fine brands out there.

There is also a form of Nordic walking that uses poles without gloves (Exerstrider, PacerPoles, and Urban Poling come to mind). The proponents also call it Nordic walking but appear to  also brand their methods and equipment by different names.

• Those methods require you to grip the poles throughout the entire motion. I’ve personally never seen anyone using those styles get their hands past the seams of their pants/shorts on the backswing.
• My personal preference is to use gloves so I can have what feels to me a fully natural, relaxed, and comfortable arm swing.
  • The gloves allow me to release the poles on the backswing and extend that backswing farther back beyond the seam of my pants/shorts. I believe that allows the back muscles to more fully engage.
  • The gloves mean I don’t have to grip the poles, keeping my hands from getting tired on longer walks. Even lightly gripping poles can have a bit of a fatiguing effect, I’ve found. My experience may not be the same for other people.
  • I’m at the point in my Nordic walking journey that I don’t grip the poles at all as I walk.
  • This is a good thing for me because I’ve had carpel tunnel syndrome, and the poles without gloves that requirement to grip them constantly aggravates my wrist. The gloves make it possible for me to control the poles without gripping them.

Your first choice may be to make sure you choose Nordic walking poles instead of trekking/hiking poles.

Then you’ll want to decide between adjustable or fixed length poles. I started with adjustable length poles because I found I would fine tune the length during a walk. I also found I and others don’t generate enough force to collapse the poles. That issue usually happens because the locking mechanism is out of adjustment. It’s a simple fix.

I would like to get a pair of fixed length poles, but have not gotten around to it yet. Perhaps I will get to a point where I would buy a set of fixed length poles.

The features I look for in poles are:

• Gloves with a quick release instead of the traditional gloves.
• Snap locking rather than twist locking in adjustable poles.
• The above features are personal preferences only and should not be seen as an evaluation of which one is better.

I’m sure all the companies make travel configurations. The difference I have noticed is in the number of sections.

• The regular adjustable length poles have 2 sections, and the travel configurations have 3 sections to make a shorter profile when collapsed.
• I have seen 2 kinds of travel poles:
  • One is telescoping where the sections collapse into each other like the 2 section adjustable poles.
  • In the other kind, the sections snap together because of an elastic cord running through them.