Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum but after reading all the great messages I thought it was my time to contribute.

I am a fitness trainer in Canada, and over the last 2 years i have included Nordic walking into my cross training program. It is a fun and easy way to loose weight and it tones your core muscles. If you like walking then you will love how adding fitness poles will give you a full body workout . Because you are working your upper body you are burning more calories ...25% up to 46% more!

There are many Nordic walking poles on the market but i have been using the urban poling technique. I tested many different types of poles but i really liked the ergonomic strapless grip because it is designed to work your core muscles and reduce joint injuries.

Both the grip and the urban poling technique are designed to create repetitive contractions of the upper body muscles with each stride. If you walk one mile it equals 1800 contractions of your abdominal muscles and 900 of your lateral muscles - this is resistance training.

The other great advantage of walking with fitness poles is the added bonuses of being outside in the fresh air & sunlight. As they say Nordic walkers work smarter (not harder).

Is there anyone else out there that has been Nordic walking? Would love to hear from you.

Cheers,
G.

I've read about it in various magazines and it looks interesting... and the poles could really come in handy for smacking people that irritated me

So I got a subscription to Fitness Magazine and I saw a blurb on something called Nordic Walking. Since walking is my primary source of cardio at the moment and I really enjoy it, I'm actually considering springing for a set of poles on eBay. Has anyone here tried it and had sucess with it (read "have you lost weight?")? Would you reccommend it? Is it too "fadish" to really be any good?

Any kind of walking is good. It very easily leads to more and more activiy of all kinds. But I to have seen the poles and looked at the concept. For back country hiking those poles could be just the thing to prevent sprains and injuries of all kinds. Must be extremely helpful. If I ever found an actual nordic walking group or event I would go in a second. However, not sure I would use them walking down the street to the corner store or through the park on a Sunday afternoon. But give me a rough and tough mountain trail and I think they would be fantastic!!

sirant

Juliette mentions Nordic Walking in her Diary - she also posted a pretty good link to info about it..

I would think you'd get a pretty good upper body workout using the poles, aswell.

based on Juliette's diary i"m considering it.. the poles are a little pricey - but Julie says they last forever you just really replace the footie things occassionally - and from what I saw at sports authority they come in different weights -

I've heard people say that walking with weights in your hand is bad - so i'm honestly not sure why nordic walking doesn't fall in that "bad" category.. I just like it cuz it looks like fun... and it's just a bit eccentric...

There's a guy who skates in the park I walk at - and he does nordic skating has his roller blades and nordic walking poles and zips around the park -now THAT looks lke fun

I'm a nordic walker and I recommend it. It's helped me lose some weight, but more important, I can tell that it's firming up my lower body. I can feel the upper body workout every time I go out too. I think that walking poles are worth the investment. My first pair cost about $70, but when it got into it, I bought a more expensive pair and gave my old ones to a friend. It seems like they will last forever. A new post on Nordic Walking USA talks about buying poles. There are also links to all sorts of other on-line information on nordic walking.

Thank you to everyone who replied. I think I'll give it a try. I'm trying to buy a set of pole off eBay as we speak.