What is Nordic walking?

The short answer

Nordic walking is walking with a pair of specially designed poles that you push against with each step, so your arms, shoulders and back work as well as your legs. British Nordic Walking describes it as “an enhanced walking technique that uses poles to work your upper body as well as your legs”, with an arm action “similar to the upper body action of classic cross-country skiing.”

How it works

You walk normally, and the poles move with your arms in the natural opposite rhythm: left arm forward with the right leg, right arm with the left. Instead of just swinging, each arm pushes on its pole as you step. That push is the difference. It turns the arm swing into work, and it is where the cross-country skiing comparison comes from.

Nordic poles are not trekking poles

They look alike but are built for different jobs. British Nordic Walking stresses that its poles are “specially designed” and “not to be confused with trekking poles.” Trekking poles are mostly used for balance and support on rough or steep ground. Nordic poles are made for the pushing technique above. If you already own trekking poles, you can walk with them, but it is not the same thing.

Does it burn more calories than walking?

Yes, by about a fifth. In a field test (Church and colleagues, 2002), 22 adults walked 1,600 m on a track with and without poles. With poles, women burned about 17% more energy per minute and men about 21% more, and their oxygen use and heart rate went up too. The interesting part: they did not feel like they were working any harder. British Nordic Walking quotes the same order of figure, around 20% more calories than walking without poles.

What the research says about health

A systematic review in 2013 (Tschentscher and colleagues) pulled together 16 randomised trials with 1,062 patients and 11 observational studies with 831. It found Nordic walking had beneficial effects on resting heart rate, blood pressure, exercise capacity, maximal oxygen consumption and quality of life in people with various diseases, and that on several of those measures it did better than brisk walking without poles. Most of the people studied were patients with existing conditions, so the review says more about Nordic walking as part of treatment and rehabilitation than about healthy walkers.

Does Nordic walking count toward your steps?

Yes. The poles change what your arms do, not what your legs do, so a phone in your pocket or a watch on your wrist counts your steps as it would on any walk.

Nordic walks, counted toward somewhere

In reTrek your steps, poles or not, move you along a real route, with a short film about the place waiting at each milestone. Long routes like the Camino de Santiago or Hadrian’s Wall Path suit a walker who goes far and often. Everest Base Camp is free if you want to start there. Take your poles somewhere.