Lately, a lot has been written in the American press about the benefits of Nordic Walking. Nordic walking is a workout popular in Europe.
Nordic walking is an entire body workout that gives many additional benefits to regular walking. Nordic walking uses more muscles than just regular walking. It also burns more calories than normal walking. To Nordic walk, you must have a set of Nordic walking poles, good walking shoes, and comfortable clothes.
Table of Contents
Nordic Walking Is The Full Body Workout
If you go to Europe, you may see people out on the weekend with their walking poles, ready to go up into the mountains to go Nordic walking with their walking sticks. Recent research has shown that Nordic walking is a much better workout than regular walking.
Nordic walking is a fitness workout that originated in Finland. Trekkers, backpackers, and skiers have been using the concept of walking with poles for decades.
Nordic walking was used as training for the cross-country skiers in the off-season. It started taking off throughout the world as a way to increase the benefits of regular walking.
Benefits of Nordic Walking
It has been found that Nordic walking has many added benefits compared to regular walking. This is because Nordic walking benefits your health more than normal walking
Here are some of the top benefits of Nordic walking:
Nordic Walking Is A Cardiovascular Exercise
Nordic walking is a cardiovascular exercise that is an excellent muscle workout for your shoulders, arms, core, and legs. When you walk without the nordic poles, you only activate the lower part of your body.
When you walk with the Nordic poles, you start to activate all the muscles of the lower and upper body when you walk. Adding Nordic walking sticks to your walk allows you to use 80 to 90% of your body muscles.
Nordic Walking Burns More Calories Than Regular Walking
Nordic walking and the poles give you a lot of added benefits for not only using your muscles but also burning more calories. Compared to regular walking, Nordic walking is said to burn up to 65% more calories than just normal walking.
Nordic walking is your answer if you want a walking exercise that will burn more calories than just regular walking.
Nordic Walking Is Known As A Healthy Exercise
Nordic walking is known as a healthy exercise. Nordic walking reduces fat mass, the “bad” LDL cholesterol, triglyceride, depression, anxiety, and chronic pain and improves waist circumference measurements.
As a healthy exercise, Nordic walking helps improve the “good” HDL cholesterol, endurance, muscle strength, and flexibility. Also, as you are using poles, you improve your walking distance, cardiovascular fitness, and overall quality of life.
Nordic Walking Helps Adds Walking Stability
With Nordic walking, as you walk with poles, it adds stability to your walking. If you have difficulty with balance, Nordic walking is an excellent exercise.
Even if you have no balance or stability problems, Nordic walking can be beneficial for most people because, with Nordic walking, you use so many more muscles than regular walking.
How To Nordic Walk
Nordic walking can be a great social activity. Nordic walking clubs continue to pop up across the country.
To Nordic walk, you will need to have the following:
Nordic Walking Poles
Nordic walking poles differ from trekking poles as they have a loose strap around the wrist. Nordic walking poles have a particular glove-like system that attaches to each pole.
Nordic walking poles need to be purchased according to your size. If the poles are too short, you will not get all the benefits from Nordic walking, so you need to make sure you purchase the correct size of Nordic walking poles.
You put your hand into the glove to walk with the poles behind you rather than in front of you.
Listen To Our Podcast About The Benefits Of Nordic Walking by clicking here.
Basic Nordic Walking Technique
The basic Nordic walking technique is when you walk with your right foot; you use the pole for your left side. So you walk opposite each side with the pole.
Once you walk with the Nordic technique, you get a rhythm going with your walking. It becomes pretty easy to be able to Nordic walk.
Other Tips For Success For Nordic Walking
Nordic walking is relatively easy once you get the hang of the essential waking step. Here are a few things that can add to your Nordic walking success:
- Dress Comfortably – When you Nordic walk, you must dress comfortably. I usually wear my sports clothes that I would wear for running or walking.
- Good Shoes – Just like if you are going to run, you need good running or walking shoes. I like New Balance shoes as I find they fit my feet.
- Warm Up, And Warm Down – Nordic walking can be more strenuous than regular walking, so you should do a 10-minute warm-up and cool down.
- Stay Hydrated – When you are Nordic walking, you should also stay hydrated.
When you start to Nordic walk, you will find that it is a great way to walk but also, you will burn more calories than just regular walking. The nordic walk is a tremendous fitness sport and is a great way to increase the benefits of regular walking.
Reluctant Low Carb Life explores all aspects of keto and low carb lifestyle, fitness, health, wellness, and aging gracefully. At the Reluctant Low Carb Life, we strive to give honest and accurate information from people trying to live the low carb and keto lifestyle while improving their fitness and health.
We have a free monthly newsletter that is filled with information and helps you remain updated. Subscribe to the Reluctant Low Carb Life newsletter by clicking here.
Listen to our weekly podcast, Reluctant Low Carb Life, on all the major podcast platforms by clicking here.
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook by clicking here.
Related Question
Why Is It So Important To Maintain A Healthy Lifestyle?
We can all choose to maintain and keep a healthy lifestyle. There are many reasons why this is important, but one of them is that we will live a more prosperous whole life if we choose to maintain and keep a healthy lifestyle. We have listed out ten reasons why we feel maintaining a healthy lifestyle is essential.
You can read more about Why Is It So Important To Maintain A Healthy Lifestyle? by clicking here.
Being On A Keto Diet Without Exercising
You can lose weight on a keto diet without exercising, but there can be many added benefits if you add exercise to your keto diet. Being on a keto diet is about changing and improving your lifestyle for good, and adding exercise into this will help you change and improve your overall lifestyle.
You can read more about Being On A Keto Diet Without Exercising by clicking here.
