Let's meet on April 23  to Nordic walk!

Hey there! Now that tax day is behind us, let's recover by taking a walk together! Come out for some Nordic walking, a fun and effective way to exercise. It’s also a great social activity because you can walk with other people and enjoy their company.

Dress for the weather and sun and bring some water. I'll bring the Nordic walking poles so you can burn calories, tone muscle, and improve overall health.

This will be a free session. For more information about Nordic walking, check out the Nordic Walking Guy blog and the Facebook page.

Are you a beginner and never Nordic walked? Don't worry. I'll take time to teach the technique so you can get started.

Instructor: Leroy Hurt, Associate Dean at The University of Alabama and a certified Nordic walking instructor
When: Saturday, April 23, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Location: Let's meet at the trailhead of Sokol Park (5901 Watermelon Rd, Northport, AL 35406). Directions:
·         North on Watermelon Road.
o    Right on Old Colony Road.
o    Left at the entrance to Sokol Park.
o    Park at the trailhead, an open shelter.
·         South on Watermelon Road
o    Left on Old Colony Road.
o    Left at the entrance to Sokol Park.
o    Park at the trailhead, an open shelter.

Here's a map of where we'll meet.

3 tips for walking with purpose

Here are 3 things to remember to help you walk with purpose, one of the Nordic Walking Guy's 3 principles.
  • Stand tall. Nordic walking encourages an erect posture.
  • Gear up. The right gear can help you benefit from the experience.
  • Let go. The poles take care of themselves.


Over time, we'll expand on those points.
In case you're interested: A book about nutrition and weight control that is quite popular. It's in Kindle, hardcover, paperback, and audio.

From the description: "He reveals the bad nutritional science of the last century—none more damaging or misguided than the “calories-in, calories-out” model of why we get fat—and the good science that has been ignored. He also answers the most persistent questions: Why are some people thin and others fat? What roles do exercise and genetics play in our weight? What foods should we eat, and what foods should we avoid? Persuasive, straightforward, and practical."
Nordic walking and mindfulness

What's the connection between Nordic walking and mindfulness? First, a bit about what mindfulness is. Psychology Today calls it "a state of active, open attention on the present." What does that mean in plain English? Phil Jackson, the famous basketball coach, described it in a couple of books I read (Eleven Rings [Kindle, hardcover, paperback, audio] and Sacred Hoops [Kindle, hardcover, paperback, audio]) broke it out into several steps:
  1. Sit still, focusing on your breathing.
  2. Distracting thoughts may come to mind. If so, let them.
  3. Don't fret over distracting thoughts. Just acknowledge them, and return to your breathing.
  4. Over time, such thoughts will become less distracting, and your ability to focus will improve.

Phil Jackson claimed that such practice enabled him and his players to concentrate more effectively in games.

When you're Nordic walking, you're breathing in a steady rhythm, so you can practice that technique. That's helpful because distracting thoughts or daydreaming make it tempting to walk less purposefully and slow to a stroll. Although you don't have to engage in high intensity training, you do want to stride in a way that generates effort in order to engage those extra muscles.

In a future post: some thoughts about how prayer fits in for those who want to integrate spiritual and physical.
Sunday Songs, Serenades, and Symphonies for Your Walking Pleasure

A song about getting around. It does have walking in the title.

Here's a useful article and video that shows you how to get your adjustable Nordic walking poles to tighten properly.


Poles

Available at Amazon: A set of poles with clips for quickly adjusting the length.

Nordic walking as part of community rebuilding at Fukushima

We remember the terrible events at Fukushima when many lives were lost. What may not be as well known is the emotional healing that is part of the rebuilding. Here is an intriguing use of Nordic walking for community rebuilding there from an International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC):
Physical exercise such as Nordic walking can become an important part of a psychosocial programme. Psychologists, trainers and volunteers from the Japanese Red Cross Society have included Nordic walking and other physical and recreational methods in their interventions for the affected of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in north-eastern Japan. 
More than 100.000 people, who had their homes destroyed or got their place of living exposed to unsafe levels of radiation from the blast at the Fukushima atomic power plant still live in temporary housing in the prefectures of Iwate, Myiaga and Fukushima. Near Rikuzenntakata City, which was almost wiped off the map by the devastating tsunami, this group of elderly women, living in one of the many temporary villages, are taking part in a Nordic walking exercise under the auspices of Red Cross volunteers. The ladies obviously enjoy this break in their daily routines and the opportunity to strengthen both their physical condition and psychosocial wellbeing. 
Posted by IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Established by the Red Cross, psychosocial support is part of the organization's response to disasters as communities seek to rebuild. Here's their definition: "The term psychosocial refers to the close relationship between the individual and the collective aspects of any social entity. Psychosocial support can be adapted in particular situations to respond to the psychological and physical needs of the people concerned, by helping them to accept the situation and cope with it."
Poles

Sunday Songs, Serenades, and Symphonies for Your Walking Pleasure

Apropos of nothing except it has walking in it. But Nordic walking is that fun.

Don't just sit there, get moving!

So sitting can kill you, eh? You may have seen articles about how sitting, a restful activity, has become a potential killer. In the workplace, products are starting to show up to help workers deal with that new threat. First some background from the linked interview:
  • "…women who were inactive and sat over six hours a day were 94 percent more likely to die during the time period studied than those who were physically active and sat less than three hours a day."
  • "…men who were inactive and sat the same amount of time were 48 percent more likely to die than their standing counterparts."

Workers don't have to sit the whole day anymore because new products are coming out to change the situation. Those product designs include working your core, a focus of Martin Keen, CEO and founder of Focal Upright, North Kingstown, Rhode Island. He said "the best way is for them to discover their physicality because they’re having to keep their core slightly engaged, which just makes you feel more human again."

While Keen focuses on workspace design, physical movement is clearly relevant to healthy workers. I came across an article about the benefits of Nordic walking that include working your core because of the requirement to stand upright, the posture Keen tries to incorporate in his designs.

Poles

Available at Amazon: Unlike regular adjustable poles that have 2 sections, these have 2 sections to collapse to a smaller size for travelling.
A healthy workforce = a healthy society

As recently as 2012, absence from work due to illness was still at problem levels (7.7 days per year) in the United Kingdom. Estimated costs to the economy ranged from £13.2 billion to £32 billion every year.

What does this have to do with Nordic walking? If we review the benefits of Nordic walking posted in this blog and on Facebook at Nordic Walking Guy, we'll see how this all around activity improves people's health. Here are some additional thoughts about the workplace:
  • Workers may be constrained by time. Nordic walking can be very time efficient because its full body nature activates more muscles at the same time. This can provide great returns from a lunch time walk.
  • Sometimes people need some break or down time to socialize with colleagues. Since the pace of Nordic walking makes conversation, colleagues can set out on a walk together.
  • Step counting is becoming popular in the workplace.  I have many colleagues who use some kind of fitness monitor to count their steps. However, workers may want some of those steps to be at a higher intensity. Nordic walking can increase that intensity.
Poles

The US Navy, body fat, and sustainable exercise

  • "Men ages 18 to 21 will stay at the previous 22 percent body fat max, but from 22 to 29 they're allowed up to 23 percent, 24 percent between 30 and 39, and up to 26 percent over 40."
  • "For women, it's 33 percent from 18 to 21, 34 percent for 22 to 29, 35 percent for 30 to 39 and 36 percent over 40."

Why did the Navy do this?
  • "It started with the Navy realizing that there's no "one size fits all" in fitness and certainly not in body composition."
  • "…he'd [Vice Adm. Bill Moran, chief of naval personnel] like a system that could end the twice-yearly testing cycles, and instead actively gauge fitness and health on a year-round basis."
  • From World Magazine: "With the pressure to fill military occupations such as drone operator or cyber-warfare officer, for which body weight might not matter, many are wondering whether body fat standards are even necessary."

How is Nordic walking relevant?
  • The US military has a set budget for exercise equipment and facilities. The Nordic walking poles are a relatively inexpensive investment.
  • Given the interest in year-round fitness, Nordic walking offers a viable way to have a sustainable exercise program. There are enough variations of Nordic walking types of activities to provide something for everyone. For example:
    • Interval training can create a higher intensity experience.
    • Integrating body weight exercises like pushups during the walk can stress different parts of the body.
    • Running and bounding can also add intensity to the activity.
    • The benefits of the full body exercise also contribute to calorie and fat burning as well as muscle toning.

Poles

The experts agree: Nordic walking is good for you

Several researchers compared the health benefits of Nordic walking with brisk walking and jogging. They concluded the following:
  • "...with regard to short- and long-term effects on heart rate, oxygen consumption, quality of life, and other measures, Nordic walking is superior to brisk walking without poles and in some endpoints to jogging."
  • "Nordic walking exerts beneficial effects on resting heart rate, blood pressure, exercise capacity, maximal oxygen consumption, and quality of life in patients with various diseases and can thus be recommended to a wide range of people as primary and secondary prevention."

This particular article was a review of research articles that involved  randomized controlled trials (participants are divided into groups and go through different types of tests; the results are then compared) and observational trials (participants undergo the same test and the results are analyzed). The tests described in those articles involved 1,893 people, a pretty impressive number of people.

In addition to the above broad conclusions, the researchers observed:
  • Nordic walkers increased their lung capacity and improved their overall cardiorespiratory fitness because the activity engaged more muscles.
  • Nordic walking filled an intensity level between regular walking and running.
  • Nordic walkers also lowered their body mass index (BMI) , total fat, LDL cholosterol, triglycerides, and waist circumference.  They also increase HDL cholesterol.


This is a very encouraging statement: "Current [research] literature unanimously identifies Nordic walking as a safe, feasible, and readily available form of endurance exercise training, which exerts a panoply of beneficial effects in a wide range of people with various diseases and the healthy."
Poles

Available at Amazon: The rubber feet on these poles are rounded to facilitate the pushoff.
An idea of how Nordic walking became popular


The authors made the interesting point that, although Exel and other manufacturers promoted Nordic walking, it was the practitioners who actually shaped how others perceived the activity and facilitated the sport's growth in popularity. Those practitioners started with the early adopters like "cohorts of middle-aged ladies" who were willing to be seen engaging in this unusual-looking activity.

These early adopters presented Nordic walking not as a way to get from one place to another but as a form of exercise typically done in one's leisure time without the inherent risks of more vigorous and elite sports. A relationship developed between the manufacturers and practitioners, the manufacturers formally promoting the sport and practitioners evangelizing for the sport, person to person.

PS. One point I might clarify in that article: the Leki (a manufacturer of Nordic walking poles) concept that "people should learn to walk all over again…[because] walking with two sticks does require a minimum of new technique."

Reading

In case you're interested: A book about cross country skiing and Nordic walking in Kindle and paperback. It emphasizes the skiing part and introduces Nordic walking to skiers as a way to stay in skiing shape when there's no snow.
Good things all around

  • Joints
  • Balance
  • Confidence
  • Endurance
  • Posture
  • Cardio-pulmonary
  • Strength
  • Bone density
  • Exercise
  • Focus
  • Weight
  • Injury
  • Swelling
  • Time
  • Equalization
  • Compliance
  • Function
  • Proprioception


Poles

Available at Amazon: These Exerstrider poles are designed with the idea of not letting go of the poles to get full extension. Notice the use of conventional wrist straps instead of Nordic walking straps.
Move well to think well

Via the New York Times, information about the mental benefits of exercise: "Learning in midlife to juggle, swim, ride a bicycle or, in my case, snowboard could change and strengthen the brain in ways that practicing other familiar pursuits such as crossword puzzles or marathon training will not, according to an accumulating body of research about the unique impacts of motor learning on the brain."

Key points:
  • "...running and other types of physical activities increase the number of new brain cells created in parts of the brain that are integral to memory and thinking."
  • "...learning a new physical skill in adulthood, such as juggling, leads to increases in the volume of gray matter in parts of the brain related to movement control."
  • "...increased myelination of neurons in the animals’ motor cortexes. Myelination is the process by which parts of a brain cell are insulated, so that the messages between neurons can proceed more quickly and smoothly."
In short, the physical activity of exercise stimulates the growth of new brain cells, and learning new movements makes it easier for neurons to carry their signals around.

Nordic walking can yield those 2 benefits. The benefits from the physical activity are self-explanatory. Learning to Nordic walk also requires learning some new motor skills, something that requires you to focus on what you're doing. Learning new motor skills promotes that myelination mentioned in the article.

Notice in this very short video mention of learning new motor skills:

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