What makes Nordic walking a radical innovation?

From Birgitta Sandberg's Managing and Marketing Radical Innovations: Marketing New Technology, some observations about what set Nordic walking apart from other fitness activities:

• Can be practiced anywhere
• Starts as soon as you step out your front door
• Can talk with each other while walking
• People with different physical conditions can still walk with each other
• Doesn't feel like you're working harder than with regular walking

There is enough in that book to motivate business and social science researchers to study Nordic walking. Doctoral candidates will find many research opportunities.

Managing and Marketing Radical Innovations: Marketing New Technology by Birgitta Sandberg
(hardcover) (paperback) (Kindle)

Via Nordic Walking Suffolk on Facebook, some beautiful scenery during a recent walk. I converted to Nordic walking from gym equipment because it got me outdoors.

Ex(ercise) in the city

Now that I got you to click on this, here's what I'm really talking about. If you're like the growing number of people who commute at least 1 hour one-way from the suburbs to a demanding and time-consuming job in the city, you have probably wondered how you can get your exercise.

Because Nordic walking is a full-body exercise, you can get a lot of benefit out of a short intense walk. How can you make it even more effective? I like to do this:

• I eat dinner and then wait 1-2 hours. That gets me to the postprandial spike.
• After that, I go for my Nordic walk, approximately a half hour. If you feel like adding to the intensity of the walk, you can make sure to walk uphill, speed up your pace, or add exercises like pushups, planks, and lunges. The poles help with balance when doing lunges.
• When I get back, my blood sugar has dropped to more tolerable levels.

What about being able to get to sleep right after exercising? Some people worry they will be too revved up after a brisk Nordic walk they might never get to sleep. Not true. There are ways to go to sleep after exercise. It’s encouraging to know that exercise typically helps you get to sleep faster.