Nordic Walking in - Non Nordic Countries

 

 

Nordic walking was launched in Finland in 1997 as a summer fitness exercise for cross country skiers .It was later promoted by the Finnish government to encourage the people to exercise  .

About 760,000 Finns exercise with this Nordic Walking daily .

The Nordic walking spread quickly  in the Nordic countries like Norway Sweden Germany , where more people are familiar with Nordic style skiing .

In Finland , at the summer, the mean daily temperature is consistently above 10ֲ°C but we know that all the countries mentioned here are mostly not very hot . 

So what happens in the hot countries where the mean summer temperatures are around 30 C ?

Is this kind of activity suitable for those countries , where there is no snow at all ?

I am living in a hot country with summer temperatures around the 30 c. and higher !

From my experience I can assure you It fits also to hot countries but you have to put emphasis the following points :

Walking time: Early morning , is my preferred time . The air is usually not polluted .The car traffic is low . You have a chance to see the sunrise . Not many walkers

Clothing: Use light clothing as possible . Light shirt .Short trousers. A hat if you will meet the hot sun !

Footwear : There are specially designed shoes for Nordic Walking , but a good walking shoe or a running shoe can also do the job .

Water : Very important ! I usually carry on my back a water bag , with a pipe so I do not have to leave the walking poles for drinking .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water Bag To be carried on the Back

 

Nordic Walking poles :

 Using the Nordic Walking poles with gloves is unbearable .The hands feel very hot and sweaty  inside the gloves. The solution is to use walking poles without gloves but they should not be the kind with smooth cork shaft . The reason of course is that the sweating hands are sliding on the shaft , so you can not give that push with the hands , which are part of the Nordic Walking  

This leads to the conclusion that the shaft has to be the kind with curves which fit the fingers. With this kind of shaft you can "play " with the way you holding the nordic walking poles : Before sweating in the hand palms you can have a full grip on the shaft . Later you can hold the shaft with the thumb and index finger only.

Another way is to put the thumb on top of the shaft , and with the remaining fingers hold the shaft slightly . As we can see there are  walking  solutions also for the not so North countries .