Nordic Walking Guy has his own website!


Go to Nordic Walking Guy's new website, https://afootnwg.com/, for great content about Nordic walking and the Afoot lifestyle. That's where you'll see updates on the latest Nordic walking activities!

We'll keep this up for a while longer.

Lifestyle creep 15

Money concerns can create stress and affect our general well-being.

Lifestyle creep 14

Money concerns can create stress and affect our general well-being.

Lifestyle creep can lead to greater personal spending.  "...consider finding a circle of friends who share the same financial goals as you." 

Lifestyle creep 13

Money concerns can create stress and affect our general well-being.

Lifestyle creep can lead to greater personal spending.  "...make lists." 

Lifestyle creep 12

Money concerns can create stress and affect our general well-being. 

Lifestyle creep can lead to greater personal spending.  "...you aren’t likely to get out of debt if you keep adding new debt." 

Nordic walking through your life changes

 An article described life changes that can lead to weight gain and suggested how it doesn't have to be that way. Keep in mind, the issue isn't about appearance but about one's health numbers. Weight can be a symptom of less than optimal health numbers, so doctors pay attention to such changes.

Main point: "...if that weight gain persists, is that it can leave you vulnerable to related problems like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. But just because these events can trigger weight gain, it doesn’t mean a spike is inevitable."



Things to consider:

  • Going to college: "...weigh yourself regularly...consume less alcohol."
  • Becoming a new mom: "...a balanced diet is key...importance of sleep...exercise will also help."
  • Changing jobs: "...planning ways to stay healthy that fit within your new constraints...preparing your own lunch and healthy snacks."
  • Starting a relationship: "...focus on pursuits that promote better health..maintain some of your own interests."
  • Going through a breakup: "...adequate sleep and water consumption, healthy eating and regular physical activity...increasing your adaptive coping mechanisms."
  • Entering menopause ("men gain weight in mid-life, too"): "...adjust for it with diet and exercise."

The article provided some closing recommendations:

  • "...you’re better off filling up on more nutritious foods and enjoying them ["foods with little or no nutrition, such as alcohol and those with added sugars"] less often."
  • "...getting 150 minutes (about 30 minutes a day) of moderate or vigorous exercise per week and at least 2 sessions of resistance training weekly."
  • "Resisting the urge to eat after dinner."

Some parting thoughts:

  • Turn the advice into college student habits.
  • Well-being supports your mission of momhood.
  • Well-being practices can be a center in the turmoil of changing jobs.
  • In relationships, plan your well-being jointly.
  • Well-being practices can give stability when relationships end.
  • Your well-being practices can keep negative health numbers at bay.
  • Remember #NordicWalkingGuy's 3rd rule: Don't eat like a teenager!
  • Nordic walking easily gets you to 150 minutes and then some.
  • Find alternative activities to keep your mind off snacks.

Lifestyle creep 11

Money concerns can create stress and affect our general well-being.

Lifestyle creep can lead to greater personal spending.  "What’s your endgame?" 

If you're thinking about ankle weights and Nordic walking

 One thing that might come to Nordic walkers' minds is using something like ankle weight to improve their walking pace and endurance. One article suggested a different perspective on ankle weights. Although speaking to runners, the article has points that are useful to walkers.

Main point: "Ankle weights are a great tool when doing strengthening exercises, like standing hamstring curls and leg lifts, but using them when walking or running can put too much of a load on your back, knees, and hips, affecting your natural gait."

Why not use ankle weights:

  • "...running with ankles weights (and doing other types of cardio and aerobic workouts) is not recommended due to the repetitive movements and the load of the weight favoring some muscles and not others, causing muscular imbalances."
  • "...can lead to less knee drive and more of a leg drag...Because of this, your legs are closer to the ground, which increases your risk of injury such as tripping or rolling your ankle."
  • "...may cause you to adapt to the knee dragging or hip flexion lag, which could in turn affect the efficiency of your gait."

What to do instead to improve pace and endurance:

  • Consider "playing with the tempo (speed) of your run and the volume (distance)."
  • "...do isolated tempo exercises such as performing slower or faster high knees (try this stationary or moving forward if you're more advanced), lunges, or plyometric lunges."
  • "For distance, you can insert short sprints [walk as fast as you can] within a distance workout or work on maintaining a higher speed for a longer period of time."
  • Overall, the article recommended "Working with a certified run [Nordic walking] coach is another great option to improve your overall running [Nordic walking] skills"

Some parting thoughts:

  • Ankle weights and walking don't always mix.
  • Ankle weights on a walk may lead to gait changes.
  • Other ways ankle weights on a walk may lead to injury.
  • Ankle weights can impact walking efficiency as well.
  • Instead of ankle weights think about technique drills.
  • Some explosive work might be more effective than ankle weights.
  • Intervals could be better than ankle weights.
  • Coaching always helps with improvement.


Lifestyle creep 10

Money concerns can create stress and affect our general well-being.

Lifestyle creep can lead to greater personal spending.  "...automate as many payments and contributions as possible." 

Lifestyle creep 9

Money concerns can create stress and affect our general well-being.

Lifestyle creep can lead to greater personal spending.  "If you really struggle with this one, there’s an app for that." 

Maintain your New Year's resolutions

A short article described a technique to help you stick to your exercise program. They call it the copy-paste method.

What is the method? "The copy-paste method involves identifying and trying out an acquaintance's goal-achievement strategy."


Other points:
  • Researchers found among people " the ones who used the copy-paste method spent more time exercising than the others."
  • "If you see a strategy from someone you admire, you're more likely to want to mimic it—especially if it's someone you know in real life."
  • "It's also something you can customize, since you can copy the behaviors of friends who are into what you are (and who may share the same goals you do)."
The advice: "...if you've been struggling with figuring out how to stick to a workout routine, just get some tips from a friend. Copying their routine and trying it out for yourself could be the missing puzzle piece you've been trying to find for years."

Lifestyle creep 8

Money concerns can create stress and affect our general well-being.

Lifestyle creep 7

Money concerns can create stress and affect our general well-being.

Lifestyle creep can lead to greater personal spending.  "...give all of your income a job." 

Active agers and nutrition

Active agers, those who used to be called senior citizens, have different nutritional needs.

Main point: “Although the nutritional needs of a growing body disappear with age, the challenge in the older years is to maintain the aging body, preserve its function, and avoid disease.”

Things to consider:

  • The article lists “8 Simple Guidelines for Healthy Eating in the Later Years".”
  • The article also describes “Physical Changes of Aging That Affect Nutritional Habits with Suggestions for Change.”

Is Nordic walking only for people who want to take it easy?

Check out this variation on the Tough Mudder

Sleep and health

This article about sleep and health made some good points.

Main point: “Deficient shuteye — meaning not enough or low-quality sleep — has been linked to poorer dietary choices, increased risk of chronic diseases, decreased lifespan and reduced psychological well-being, suggesting that sleep should be higher up on everyone’s to-do list.”

Things to consider:

  • “A lack of sleep may result in making poor food choices.”
  • “Increases in chronic disease and deficient sleep have many scientists wondering how, or if, the two are related.”
  • “Growing research shows that children with deficient sleep are at higher risk of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and mental health and behavioral problems.”

Big hands and wrists? No problem!

A video from York Nordic showing you how to expand the glove strap to fit larger hands and wrists. Many thanks to Lauren DeLong!


Lifestyle creep 6

Money concerns can create stress and affect our general well-being.

Lifestyle creep can lead to greater personal spending.  "...resist the urge to run to the store for that expensive thing you’ve had your eye on." 

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

Lifestyle creep 5

Money concerns can create stress and affect our general well-being.
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