Nordic walking allows you to engage more muscles and therefore burn more calories
With Nordic walking, you engage 90% of all the muscles in your body. During a regular walk, you engage only your legs and a part of your torso. The main difference is that Nordic walking allows you to fully use your arms and the entire upper half of your body along with them. What’s more, swinging your hips forwards automatically prolongs your stride and increases your walking speed. That’s why, when walking regularly, you burn approximately 800 – 1000 kilojoules per hour, while during Nordic walking you may burn up to 1300 kilojoules in the same time frame. However, the most important aspect of walking is not the number of calories burned per hour, but the regularity of your movement. There is no aerobic effect during a short walk without poles. Basically, during a regular walk you won’t start breathing heavily, you won’t sweat and you won’t burn any calories.
Nordic walking is healthy
Nordic walking has many beneficial effects on your health:
- While Nordic walking, up to 30% of the strain on your legs is transferred to the upper half of your body. Relieving the pressure on your legs is significant, especially for overweight people. Using poles while walking reduces the stress put on your hips, knees and ankles. Thanks to this, even people with joint problems can practice Nordic walking. That’s why this activity is often used as a rehabilitating or even a healing method.
- Nordic walking strengthens not only your lower back muscles, but also your back, neck and shoulders, correcting your posture. This will relieve back ache.
- Engaging the upper half of your body increases your heart rate frequency, improves the regularity of your heartbeat and stimulates blood circulation.
- Constantly flexing and releasing the muscles in your arms and shoulders, will improve blood circulation in the upper half of your body.
- Thanks to the support of your arms, there is a lower risk of an injury, losing your footing, spraining or falling.
- Nordic walking poles are recommended.