Many arguments for Nordic walking

Health, well-being, resuming activity after childbirth, getting back into shape, figure, muscle strengthening, breathing, seniors, Nordic walking moves more than 80% of the body’s muscles and is suitable for everyone… With summer, come out the walking poles.

Real story

It was a while ago. He had the perfect eco-smoker look, which is not incompatible. Pure pili-pili product, arugula, clear water and unfiltered Gitanes. Clearly not bothered by my mocking look. I was struggling at a little ten minutes fifteen seconds per kilometer, as the suave voice of my application had just announced to me, or not yet 6 kilometers/hour, my goal for the week. The sight of this flayed man, lost on the banks of the Seine while he was equipped like a cross-country skier, had put a smile back on my face. Straight as an I, throwing two large ski poles in rapid windmills, the vision had been quite fleeting, but still joyful. Then I had forgotten him, focused on my suffering.

It started with a noise like a badly adjusted bike, then a hoarse breath and – I swear it’s true – a kind of tailwind, when he overtook me a few dozen minutes later. Just enough time to recognize him and he had quickly gained about fifty meters. I had promised myself not to run. Too traumatic for my joints. But I wanted to be sure. Very quickly, my speedometer exceeded 10 kilometers per hour. Without me gaining a single meter. My lungs cried out for mercy before my body.

It was my first contact with Nordic walking which since then, as you must have noticed during your Sunday jogs, has attracted many followers… And they are right!

Nordic walking was not a hobby of depressed Swedes, but a real way to intelligently optimize the effort of walking, thanks to two poles that have only a vague resemblance to those of cross-country skiing. They allow, in addition to real stability when hiking, to gain in power and efficiency.

Since that day, I no longer make fun of these strange walkers who have not had so many followers. It is a pity, but in our country, the fear of ridicule often prevails over pragmatism.

Resolutely pro-walk…

The natural physical exercise of all bipeds is walking, which allowed them to move. It is a very gentle activity for the joints, unlike running. An easy concept to understand. When running, depending on the intensity of the race, the lower limbs support a constraint and shocks representing 2 to 4 times the weight of the body. For comparison, walking only opposes a constraint of 1.5 times the weight of the body.

There are walks and walks…

Weekend shopping is also walking… And we can’t be against it, provided it lasts long enough. The difference between an athlete and an obese person running a marathon… Is that the athlete will finish faster. In total, for the same distance, it is the obese person who will have burned the most calories.

All means are good for walking: walking goals (and during the walk, even fast, conversation must always remain possible, which is the best method to control breathlessness), Nordic walking with poles, mat in the gym, etc.

The main thing is to walk as quickly as possible, but without causing pain or shortness of breath. The ideal is to use a pedometer (or a suitable application on your Smartphone) and a heart rate monitor, to increase each day, if possible, the duration and especially the distance.

If you don’t like walking…bike!

For those who are significantly overweight, the impact on the joints argues for practicing a physical activity in “relative weightlessness”. This is the preferred domain of cycling. Weather conditions, traffic, or the risk of falling, can be perfectly avoided by practicing indoors, on a bike designed for this function, or quite simply, with a road bike, on a home trainer. Pedaling, faster and faster and more and more energetically, thanks to the counter that these exercise bikes have as standard, can then be done in front of a television screen, which allows you to maintain the habits of an inveterate sedentary person!