If you go to almost any park, you will see at least some people walking. Whether they are doing it for leisure, for exercise or a combination, walking is widely popular. There is a type of walking that is becoming popular in the UK: Nordic walking.

Nordic walking is a workout that adds onto regular walking. You walk with poles to incorporate your upper body and you actually burn up to 46% more calories than just walking.

 

Nordic walking actually originated with cross-country skiers in the 1930s and in 1997 it was created in its own right. It is widely popular in the Nordic countries (no surprise there). There are actually around 10 million Nordic walkers worldwide.

There is a list of benefits to Nordic walking:

 

Trynordic.co.uk is a Nordic walking company that adds a little bit more to their workouts: they use resistance bands. The resistance bands help to bring in the upper body and tone your arms and shoulders. They also do interval training, which helps to improve fitness. It is also great for anyone with injuries that may not be able to do high impact activities, like running.

 

Nordic walking is a social workout as well. You can easily talk to other people while doing it, unlike some sports where talking isn’t easily done. Instructors are encouraging and help motivate and help people achieve their goals.

 

The trynordic.co.uk instructors are registered personal trainers and Nordic walker instructors.

 

There are many Nordic walking classes around London. Trynordic.co.uk offers classes in Bushy Park and Richmond Park. Classes are usually around 90 minutes in length starting with a warm-up, then walking, interval training, resistance bands, social walk and finishing with a cool down. They offer taster sessions that are 90 minutes and cost £15 and happen every Sunday in Bushy Park. If you enjoy the taster session, you can sign up for a 5-week course. In a typical session, you will walk 3-4 miles and around 8,000 steps (the suggested number of steps taken per day is 10,000).

 

You can also pay £40 for 5 sessions and those 5 sessions can be on any day of the week and can be used for any class.

 

You should wear light, comfortable clothing. It is suggested that you wear leggings or tight yoga pants to prevent your pants from snagging on anything. You do not need to bring any equipment, trynordic.co.uk provides it all.

BodyFit

BodyFit is an outdoor circuit training course. It is for beginners to advanced, because each exercise is adapted for your skill level. It is a mix of cardio and toning exercises. You use resistance bands to work every muscle in the body and to tone your body.

The course is as challenging as you want it to be. Sessions are an hour long: 30 minutes of hardcore exercise and 30 minutes of warm-up/cool down. Sessions are in Bushy Park.

For more information go to the trynordic.co.uk website.