Urban Poling, or Nordic Walking, Boosts Your Stepping Workout

Walking is a terrific, popular form of relaxation and exercise, of course.

But what if you could jazz it up with a couple of poles?

That’s the premise behind urban poling, or Nordic walking, which is growing in popularity in North America after making a splash in Europe. It was developed to train cross-country skiers, but its health benefits for everyone were quickly discovered.

“Nordic walking is not very different from regular walking—you’re just adding ski poles for your hands,” says champ Karen Asp. “Once you get the hang of it, you can cruise along and even achieve a similar intensity as running but with less perceived exertion.”

The poles distribute the workload among all four limbs, so it’s less stressful on the body than running.

The American Nordic Walking Association says it engages your core much more and is a solid upper-body workout. It’s also low-impact and easy on the knees and other joints.

Harvard Medical School says, “Nordic walking combines cardiovascular exercise with a vigorous muscle workout for your shoulders, arms, core, and legs.” It uses 90 percent of your muscles, not just the half below your waist.

The poles are good for balance, Harvard says. “Nordic walking is also associated with reductions in fat mass, ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and waist circumference.”

You can do it in urban settings, parks, or trails. And all you need is a pair of poles, which you can order online for between $20 and $200.

So, spice up your walk and enjoy the outdoors.

Stuck at Home? Don’t Just Sit There!

We can’t get around as freely as before the coronavirus crisis, but we don’t have to take it sitting down.

Just the opposite actually. Too much sitting was already identified as a health hazard in recent years, particularly among mature adults. It has been blamed for increasing the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and premature aging, as well as cognitive decline among mature adults.

Sitting too much can hurt you even if you exercise regularly, the American Cancer Society says.

So now that we’re all spending more time at home, we need to make sure we’re not resting on our behinds even more than we were before.

A byproduct of too much sitting is tightened hip flexors, which hinder our posture, gait, and athletic performance. And even though we might be working less, we’re still at our desks and computers, rounding our backs and straining our necks.

Proper exercise can relieve muscle soreness and tension to improve your walking, comfort, and mobility. Plenty of simple at-home exercises will do the trick, and we can show you how.

In addition, remember to rise more and walk around. Break up an hour of sitting with a couple of minutes of light activity. Just turn off the TV and the computer, stand, stretch and walk around the house, if nothing else.

The cancer society suggests we:

• Stand to fold laundry
• Exercise or stretch while watching TV
• Walk around during commercials

Stand up for your health, now more than ever.

If you have a dog, here’s one more reason to love him. And if you don’t, here’s one more reason to get one. Scientists say Fido is good for your heart health.

“Those who own a pet, particularly a dog, were healthier from a cardiovascular standpoint,” said Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, author of a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality, and Outcomes.

The study looked at 1,800 people with no history of heart disease and scored them based on Life’s Simple 7 from the American Heart Association: body mass index, diet, physical activity, smoking status, blood pressure, blood glucose, and total cholesterol. The study found that people with pets had better cardiovascular health – and people with dogs had the best of all. Pet owners got more physical activity and had better diets and lowered blood sugar – again, with dogs bringing the greatest benefit.

The heart association has said that owning a dog increases physical activity and engagement while lowering the risk of cardiovascular diseases. These are all important challenges for millions of people over 50. And AARP gathered previous reports showing dog owners have a lower risk of high blood pressure and are more likely to survive a heart attack. Having a dog lowers stress and depression and even eases pain since just looking at a furry friend produces endorphins, our natural painkillers. So, if you don’t have a pet – particularly a pooch – consider adopting one. You can find a shelter near you here

Walk your dog daily!

We know that daily exercise is important. To walk is good for our dogs and for us. In fact, many of us get dogs to help ensure that we get more consistent exercise.

For the 2 decades Your Personal Best Training Studio has been dedicated to helping people in our community become the best they can be and live a healthier and fit life! Walk your dog day is one of the many ways we promote health and fitness in our community.

Here are 10 good reasons to walk your dog daily.

Reason # 1: Track-able Progress

Create a walking schedule; plan to walk 30 minutes total each day. This might include a 10-minute neighborhood walk in the morning and a 20-minute romp with your dog after work. Download a walking progress calendar here.

Reason # 2: Relationship

The walk isn’t just exercise for your dog; it’s a chance to spend some quality time with you. Committing time to a walk does more than just keep your dog in shape; it also helps stave off boredom.

Reason # 3: Fat Loss

Dog owners who reported walking their dogs were almost 25 percent less likely to be obese than people without dogs.

Reason # 4: Motivation

The problem is that dogs sometimes need as much motivation as we do to exercise. I think most of us would agree that it’s more fun to go for a walk or work out with a friend instead of by ourselves. Our dogs probably feel the same way.

Reason # 5: Human Health

Research shows that dogs are actually nature’s perfect personal trainers—loyal, hardworking, energetic and enthusiastic. And, unlike your friends, who may skip an exercise session because of appointments, extra chores or bad weather, dogs never give you an excuse to forego exercising.

Reason #6: Companionship

You can take your dog shopping. PetSmart, many pet stores and even some restrauants now a days will let you bring a constant companion.

Reason # 7: Confidence

Walking helps increase our confidence in doing something that contributes to our daily health. Our dogs build confidence when they’re able to see, smell and experience many different things and can learn about different areas of their world.

Reason # 8: Structure.

We love our dogs and we often believe they should have all the freedom in the world. Structure is hard-wired into dogs: they seek it, crave it and are happier with it. We crave structure too!

Reason # 9: Socialization.

Both the socialization and physical act of walking our dogs can help completely reverse behavioral problems in us and our dogs.

Reason # 10: Health is a Responsibility.

We are responsible for our health, safety, and well-being. Walking our dogs regularly is one of the first steps to both theirs and our physical and mental health.