Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm 64 and 74 and 84 and 94...?

I came across an interesting sponsored blog post from a financial institution that had some useful facts about aging.

Best factoid: "...there are more centenarians, or people living above the age of 100, than at any point in history."

Key points:
  • "Breakthroughs in healthcare, sanitation and nutrition; mass urbanization; and the introduction of social security systems to supplement old-age income have all helped elongate the human lifespan."
  • "More than 80 countries worldwide already have fertility rates lower than replacement levels, and by 2050, the share of the global population above 65 is expected to rise to 16%, up from 8% today and 5% in 1950."
  • "While emerging markets are younger relative to developed economies, they are following a similar trend, often aging more quickly than historical precedents."
Implications for the aging phenomenon:
  • Study, work, retire is an obsolete model.
  • Older people will have greater spending power.
  • Economic sectors relevant to longevity are: pharmaceuticals, medical devices, healthcare providers, assisted care and senior living facilities.
Apparently, no one really knows what to expect as populations age.

Grow new brain cells. Wait, what?

It looks like you can grow new brain cells even into late old age. A recent study said that neurogenesis (growth of new brain cells), while happening mostly in embryos, can still happen even into your 80s.

Couple that with the concept called neuroplasticity (the brain's ability to adapt and change), and you have a nice recipe for maintaining higher levels of cognitive ability than you might have realized.

Nordic walkers will be interested in learning that researchers want to deepen their understanding of how exercise facilitates neurogenesis and neuroplasticity.

The best may be yet to come, but exercising can give us a glimpse of what's possible.
Nice use of a spare tire

Thanks to Milton Keynes Nordic Walking, a good hype video about Nordic walking that includes a creative way to add to one's training.


Nordic walking meetup in Jefferson County (Aldridge Gardens) on 4/13

Join us on Saturday to find out what Nordic walking is all about! No charge; poles provided. Look for the white Nordic walking sign.
  • When: 9:00 AM, April 13
  • Where:  Aldridge Gardens. 3530 Lorna Rd, Hoover, AL 35216

We'll also connect people together to form walking groups so you can walk on your own with old and new friends.

Instructor: Leroy Hurt, ANWA-certified Advanced Nordic Walking instructor

Why Nordic walking?
  • Full body, low impact
  • Increase weight loss
  • Improve cholesterol
  • Improve blood pressure
  • Facilitate rehabilitation
  • Maintain stability and balance
  • Maintain posture
  • Facilitate stress relief
  • Support muscle toning
  • Improve cardiovascular function
  • Improve lung capacity
  • Support immune system
  • Socialize with walking companions
  • You determine the intensity of your workout


Learn more about Nordic walking at my Nordic Walking Guy blog and Nordic Walking Guy Facebook page.

Happy National Puppy Day!

March 23 is National Puppy Day, so celebrate humanity's long and fruitful relationship with dogs.

What does this have to do with Nordic walking? You may have thought you wanted to take up Nordic walking, but how in the world would you walk your 4-legged child as well? Here are some ways to do it, including my preferred approach.

This video shows you can let the dogs  walk with you off-leash, but that means they have to be well trained. Some of you might be saying, "Good luck with that!"



This next video shows the walker holding leash and pole in one hand. She's able to hold the leash because she doesn't use poles with  Nordic walking gloves. Hand fatigue and strong dogs may be concerns.



This third video shows a walking using a waist belt to which the leash is attached. It's inspired by the sport called canicross, In the same way Nordic walking grew from cross country skiers who wanted to stay in shape without snow, canicross developed by dog sledders who wanted to keep themselves and their dogs in shape during the off season. You dog may need to be trained well enough stay at your side.



Here's my preferred approach: use one pole, making sure your pole has quick release gloves. You can hold the leash in one hand and push off with pole on the other. That way, you can easily switch arms. You only need one pole because it's ambidextrous. The gloves are left and right-handed, so you just wear the gloves. You can easily hold the leash in either hand, allowing you to get the upper body benefit for which Nordic walking is known.

Here's a video. Notice the walker is pushing off with the pole with one hand and holding the leash with the other hand.



Happy walking!
National Puppy Day coming up!

March 23 is National Puppy Day, so celebrate humanity's long and fruitful relationship with dogs.

What does this have to do with Nordic walking? You may have thought you wanted to take up Nordic walking, but how in the world would you walk your 4-legged child as well? Come to McCallum Park on 3/23 to find out more.

Here are some ways to do it, including my preferred approach.

This video shows you can let the dogs  walk with you off-leash, but that means they have to be well trained. Some of you might be saying, "Good luck with that!"



This next video shows the walker holding leash and pole in one hand. She's able to hold the leash because she doesn't use poles with  Nordic walking gloves. Hand fatigue and strong dogs may be concerns.



This third video shows a walking using a waist belt to which the leash is attached. It's inspired by the sport called canicross, In the same way Nordic walking grew from cross country skiers who wanted to stay in shape without snow, canicross developed by dog sledders who wanted to keep themselves and their dogs in shape during the off season. You dog may need to be trained well enough stay at your side.



Here's my preferred approach: use one pole, making sure your pole has quick release gloves. You can hold the leash in one hand and push off with pole on the other. That way, you can easily switch arms. You only need one pole because it's ambidextrous. The gloves are left and right-handed, so you just wear the gloves. You can easily hold the leash in either hand, allowing you to get the upper body benefit for which Nordic walking is known.

Here's a video. Notice the walker is pushing off with the pole with one hand and holding the leash with the other hand.



Happy walking!
Nutrition, wellness, and community

Nutrition is an important part of wellness and goes hand-in-hand with exercise. According to this article about a grocer who started a faith-based nonprofit,  Harvest Community Charities, to combat food deserts, nutrition is also a community effort and an important part of overall community wellness. There is also a spiritual element in the enterprise.

Main point: “We’re trying to eliminate food deserts in the state, reduce food hardships and see folks saved,” Campbell said. “We want to bring them in, feed them, organize them into churches and establish relationships that make all the difference.”

Key points:

  • "Food deserts are low-income communities without ready access to healthy and affordable food."
  • "It [Harvest Community Charities] doesn’t work with donated food — it seeks to build up ways for a community to access and afford healthy, nutritious food directly from grocery suppliers."
  • “What we do is not a giveaway; it’s a long-term, sustainable program to get good quality food into a community.”
  • "Harris said at the end of the day, it’s about meeting people at their place of need, both with accessible food and the love of Christ and even with help finding a job so they can better afford food in the future."
The overall impact appears to be in mobilizing local churches to partner with the rest of the community. Stop listening

Maintaining and fixing the snap (external) locks of your adjustable Nordic walking poles

The video refers to trekking poles. The shafts and locks of adjustable trekking/hiking/walking poles are the same as the shafts and locks of adjustable Nordic walking poles

The video covers:
  • Fixing the lock when it doesn't tighten
  • Cleaning inside the poles


Employers getting on board with wellness


The county government offered its employees an incentive for losing 10 pounds in 10 weeks, "paid time off from work for employees who could achieve weight loss."

Other incentives in other organizations included health premium discounts and tickets to ball games and fitness devices.

Increasing physical activity through activities like Nordic walking contributes to overall wellness.


Nordic walking potential for artificial hips


Main point: "…the materials in artificial hips have improved enough that doctors are now confident putting them in younger patients."

The scale of the operation: "In 2014—the most recent year for which data is available—370,770 people in the United States got a new hip. That number is increasing steadily: According to one recent study, by the year 2030, an estimated 635,000 people will receive a new artificial hip every year in the U.S."

Problems the researchers are still working on: "Today, one of the biggest problems with artificial hips is that they’re easier to dislocate than natural ones. Another is infection—a human-made hip has no blood flow, so bacteria can accumulate on it."

Since Nordic walking enhances the low impact nature of walking, those with artificial joints will benefit from a greater level of activity.


Nordic walking meetup in Tuscaloosa County (Sokol Park) on 4/20

Join us on Saturday to find out what Nordic walking is all about! No charge; poles provided. Look for the white Nordic walking sign.
  • When: 9:00 AM, April 20
  • Where: Sokol Park. 5901 Watermelon Rd. Northport, AL 35473

We'll also connect people together to form walking groups so you can walk on your own with old and new friends.

Instructor: Leroy Hurt, ANWA-certified Advanced Nordic Walking instructor

Why Nordic walking?
  • Full body, low impact
  • Increase weight loss
  • Improve cholesterol
  • Improve blood pressure
  • Facilitate rehabilitation
  • Maintain stability and balance
  • Maintain posture
  • Facilitate stress relief
  • Support muscle toning
  • Improve cardiovascular function
  • Improve lung capacity
  • Support immune system
  • Socialize with walking companions
  • You determine the intensity of your workout


Learn more about Nordic walking at my Nordic Walking Guy blog and Nordic Walking Guy Facebook page.

Nordic walking at Tuscaloosa's McAbee Center

We had a great time today. We got so much from Nordic walking together.

Some good knowledge from Nordixx 

The active ager's anthem

Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote "Ulysses," a poem from the viewpoint of an aged Ulysses, he of Homer's Odyssey fame. I like to read it as an anthem of how to face the aging process, something relevant to anyone who has been called a senior citizen. The phrase "senior citizen" seems limiting in some ways. I encountered another phrase: active ager. These are people in that 50 years old age bracket who don't want to slow down.

Some great lines from Ulysses:

  • "I cannot rest from travel: I will drink / Life to the lees"
  • "All times I have enjoy'd / Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those / That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when / Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades / Vext the dim sea"
  • "For always roaming with a hungry heart / Much have I seen and known"
  • "I am a part of all that I have met"
  • "How dull it is to pause, to make an end, / To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!"
  • "Come, my friends, / 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world."
  • "Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' / We are not now that strength which in old days / Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; / One equal temper of heroic hearts, / Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Come on out to a Nordic walking session and come alive!

Maintaining and fixing the spin (internal) locks of your adjustable Nordic walking poles

The video refers to trekking poles. The shafts and locks of adjustable trekking/hiking/walking poles are the same as the shafts and locks of adjustable Nordic walking poles

The video covers:
  • Fixing the lock when it doesn't tighten
  • Cleaning inside the poles

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