Hello Marathon runners and rowers of all walks of life.
I cam across Nordic Walking. I even got some poles for Christmas. Yes poles! At first I thought that the concept of using poles for walking is sort of goofy, BUT I tried it and I am completely sold on the idea of working out with such poles. Above is a youtube clip that I dug up. The fellow is in his fifties and rips it up a steep mountain side as if it were a flat surface. It is pretty cool to watch the different techniques that he displays.
For marathon runners this could be a great way to stay fit without the pounding of each running step. The back during Nordic Walking gets a nice workout. It helps posture and distributes the body weight among the pole tips and the feet.
For rowers, you know, we rowers are not built for running, at least most of us are not, this type of exercise with the poles is really cool. Since rowers have a lot of upper body strength it will come very naturally to use those lat muscles that we use every day when we row. The other neat thing about walking is that we get to face where we are going, unlike rowing where we chronically long for looking towards the bow...
I bought my telescoping walking sticks at Target for $20, they work great, except I need to make an adjustment for the wrists straps, they slip a little and I need to periodically adjust them. There are Nordic Walking poles that are WAY more expensive than that, made out of carbon fiber with neat wrists straps, that is cool, but dang paying a $100 PLUS for that, you will find me in the Target aisle.
That is it for now. I truly enjoy writing about Xtraining and getting fit on your feet as well as on your butt. :-)
Cheers, walk, run, and row far.
Xeno
