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Walking tall: Strapping on a simple pair of poles turns walking into a full-body workout   Karen Gram Vancouver Sun October 17, 2005 You are a walker -- maybe you were a runner, until your knees gave out, or maybe you never really got into fitness. You're the kind that just takes the dog and heads out. Sometimes you go with friends, combining exercise with a bit of social time. It feels good, but you really don't feel yourself get much stronger. But strap a pair of poles on to your wrists, like millions of Europeans are doing, and you'll be amazed at how you can increase your fitness level, without exhausting or hurting yourself. Nordic walking -- walking with poles -- is a huge fitness craze in Europe. It evolved in Finland in the 1930s as a form of summer training for competitive cross-country skiers and for many years, that's where it stayed. But in 1997 the form was modified to suit the entire population and it just took off. According to the International Nordic Walking Association, 3.5 million Europeans practiced it regularly in 2004. Based on its sales in Germany, the Finnish walking-stick maker Exel estimates the numbers of nordic walkers in Germany alone soared from 10,000 in 2001 to 120,000 in 2002 -- to around 2.2 million in 2004. "It's so hot because there are no reasons against it," says Bernard Zirkl, a German transplant who teaches nordic walking from his home in Comox. Zirkl went looking for criticism and found only benefits. It's easy to learn, inexpensive, doesn't stress the body, provides stability and burns more calories than walking without poles. More than that, it's a full body workout that anyone from seniors to elite athletes can benefit from. "The beauty of this activity is that it is accessible to everyone, it's inexpensive and it can be done anywhere," says Zirkl, who began selling the poles in his outdoor equipment retail store last January. The store has since closed, but not before 120 people -- three times more than the number of people who bought cross country skis in that community -- bought poles and are out walking the trails in the area. It's not surprising that they sold better than skis, says Zirkl. They can be used in all seasons. Nordic walking boosts the old constitutional, a credible form of activity in its own right, into the realm of fitness, says James Retty, owner of the Escape Route outdoor store in Whistler and a nordic walking instructor. A one hour energetic nordic walk is the equivalent to one hour running, he says. A shuffle becomes a power walk. According to a study by Leki, a pole distributer, 30 minutes nordic walking equals 50 minutes walking. Just by using the poles, walkers increase the energy expended by an average of 20 per cent and up to 40 per cent, according to field studies done by the Cooper Institute, a nonprofit health and education research center in Dallas Texas. The heart beat goes up 15 beats per minute over average walking which means you get better oxygen supply to the brain and muscles. The institute also found that walkers did not notice the increased exertion rate the monitors reported them experiencing. Unlike walking, this nordic embellishment uses the whole body. More than just swinging your arms, you are actually planting them, which creates resistance against which your arms, core, shoulders and back work. When doing it properly, 95 per cent of the body's muscles get a workout. Only cross country skiing compares in terms of muscles used. Even the brain gets exercised by the cross body or diagonal stride which links the right to the left side of the brain. Don Deese, 60 and a school teacher, was the first person in Comox to take up the sport with two buddies training for a nordic skiing marathon. Unable to buy the poles, they fashioned their own by cutting some old bamboo cross country poles to size, shortening the straps and cutting off the baskets. It worked fantastically, he said adding the only thing he and his friends had to overcome was the goof factor. People used to stop and stare as they marched by swinging their poles. "They'd yell stuff like; 'Where is the snow," he recalls, adding the sport is common enough now in the Comox Valley that practitioners no longer get that reaction. "It went from me being the only nordic walker to something you see with regularity," he said from his home in Comox. Deese is now an instructor who trains people with mobility problems to nordic walk. A lot of them were athletes until they were injured. Others have chronic illnesses such as diabetes and have trouble walking. Deese says it is the ability of the poles to absorb 20 per cent of the shock load that really appeals to his clients. "That really makes a difference in their ability to go out for a walk and have it be a pain free experience," he says. "Sometimes, the problems people have with their knees or backs seem to just go away," he says. "Not the bone grinding on bone type, but things to do with the muscles and joints. They build up strength and flexibility around that joint," he adds. It is also a good sport for people with balance problems or who don't see well, says Deese, whose father, 87, uses nordic walking poles every day for short spurts on the grass behind his home. A study at the University of Colorado looking at the benefits of nordic walking for survivors of breast cancer who often live with impaired shoulder function found that using walking poles for eight weeks significantly improved muscular endurance of the upper body in breast cancer survivors. Other studies show benefits for people with Parkinson's, osteo-arthritis or osteoporosis. In Germany, if you work in a sedentary job and develop back problems, many insurance companies will pay for you to get nordic walking training. You only need one or two lessons to be a life long nordic walker. Bruce Stevenson, a 58 year old psychology professor in Courtenay with diabetes, says he is an active fit man, but when he runs, he gets joint pain related to his diabetes. "For me, going up and down hills became much easier doing nordic walking," he says, adding it is much easier and he needs to use less insulin. "With running, I'd do a 30 -40 minute run and really feel it, but with nordic walking I get the same sugar burn but I don't feel it." Mandy Shintani, an occupational therapist with Urban Poling, a group of therapists and fitness trainers which has been teaching a form of nordic walking since January 2005, and now offers it in several community centres in the Lower Mainland, including the Kerrisdale community centre, says nordic walking addresses all of the top barriers to exercising quoted by seniors: It doesn't require transportation, it is inexpensive, it provides stability, its not difficult and it doesn't hurt. Zirkl says people with osteo-arthritis of the spine benefit because of the diagonal stride, in which the right arm swings with the left leg a little more than usual. It moves the spine slightly increasing mobility without increasing pain, he says. "It's consistent small movements that keep you mobile," he says adding that nordic walking also increases the blood flow and thus the oxygen to the upper body giving it the nutrients it needs to stay healthy. But Shintani says the European poles with a smaller grip and straps are not suitable for some seniors who often have balance problems. She prefers, and is distributing, a pole called the Exerstrider which has a wide grip and no strap. It's easier to grip, she says adding she recommends a continuous light grip rather than the grip and release style of European nordic walking. The strap which makes the grip and release system work, could be dangerous if a senior were to fall, she says. Shintani works mainly with seniors, but in Europe, nordic walkers are mainly baby boomer women who start out slow but gradually increase their speed, even running or bounding with the poles. Some skip and some climb hills. It's also an excellent cross training activity, says Deese. For example, golfers will find the diagonal stride really improves the strength of their swing. Poles, produced by Exel, Leki and Swix cost between $100 and $200 depending on the make and the lightness and whether you choose adjustable poles or one length. Sigge's on West 4th sells them. Zirkl prefers the non-adjustable, because they are more flexible. But Deese likes to be able to adjust his poles to suit the terrain and the level of exertion. Generally speaking, while holding the pole vertically, your arm should bend into a right angle. "It's only a matter of time before this really takes off here," says Zirkl. "It's an easy way to get into fitness or to maintain it." To book a training course with Bernard Zirkl, go to his website at www.nordicfitness.ca © The Vancouver Sun 2005 Originally Published in the Vancouver Sun, October 17, 2005