The nordic route to fitness

From Next magazine issue 1/2004. Text by Tapio Nurminen, Arja Liinamaa

Nordic skiing, Nordic walking and other Nordic fitness sports are safe and effective ways of improving one's physical fitness. In Germany, the popularity of Nordic walking has grown explosively.

Weight control

Nordic fitness sports are well suited to people who want to lose weight, because the heart rate can be easily maintained between 100 and 130 beats per minute, which is a suitable fat-burning rate. At such a level, making long skiing, walking or skating loops four times a week for five months reduces the amount of fat in the body by as much as ten per cent. This is dependent on there being no corresponding increase in energy intake.

This possibility has already been recognized in Germany, where slimmers have been recommended to take up the sport by different kinds of clinics. These people now make up a significant group within the Nordic walking community.

"We already offer courses where the main focus is on weight control," says Wörle.

Nordic fitness sports also offer other positive health benefits: easing of muscle tension, lowering of blood fat values, raising the level of good HDL cholesterol, reducing the level of bad cholesterol, and lowering blood pressure.

"If someone has just slightly elevated blood fat values and high blood pressure, and is a bit overweight or suffering from neck pain due to tension, participating in this kind of exercise on a regular basis may be the only treatment necessary," says Jari Parkkari.

At the same time the risk of heart and cardiovascular disease is reduced long into the future. Fresh air improves both the lungs' ability to take in oxygen and the muscles' use of oxygen. Natural daylight, beautiful scenery and smells activate the body's sensory system and raise the spirits. "For example, spending two hours a day outdoors significantly reduces the frequency of headaches," says Parkkari. As Nordic walking does not involve physical contact or collisions, it is less risky than other sports from the perspective of injury.

Skiing is even more effective

Nordic skiing and Nordic blading are even more effective fitness sports than Nordic walking. The muscles in the buttocks and thighs get a grat workout. However, in the skating disciplines the often unexercised muscles of the lower back are susceptible to excessive stress if the legs are in an open posture.

"It is important to stretch the ankle flexors well after skating and to take breaks," says Jari Parkkari.

It is also important to get the technique right. Any Nordic walker wishing to improve his or her level of fitness level must push off the poles forcefully in order to raise the heart rate.

Nordic walking is the fastest growing fitness sport in Germany. According to representatives of the country's Ski Federation, the actual number of practitioners is difficult to estimate. We do know that it was zero when the sport first came to Germany in the year 2000, and that last year its popularity was growing at a record-breaking rate.

"The number of people passing through our training centers rose by several hundred percent. At the present time there are perhaps 2-3 million practitioners in Germany," estimates instructor Alexander Wörle, who runs Germany's biggest Nordic walking center on the shores of Lake Chiemsee in southern Germany.

The German Ski Federation has set up five specialised Nordic walking training centers in different parts of the country. On the one hand, the centers train club instructors, but there is demand from other quarters too.

"Different kinds of clinics and sickness insurance funds have included Nordic walking in their rehabilitation programmes. This is also reflected in the people taking courses at our centers," says Wörle.

Spokesperson from Nordic race skiing

Nordic walking has also found a high-level advocate in Germany. Peter Schlickenrieder, silver medallist in the Nordic sprint at the Salt Lake City Olympics, is employed by the Ski Federation to popularise the sport.

Wörle says that having a top athlete as a spokesperson is always a good thing. The Olympic skier's advocacy of Nordic walking has certainly helped to dispel doubts about the sport.

"In the first couple of years Nordic walkers here in Germany felt very self-conscious and tried to get as far away as possible from towns and scornful onlookers," says Wörle.

Last year, however, the situation changed completely. More and more groups of Nordic walkers can now be seen exercising in the parks of large cities.

Some time ago Bild am Sonntag, a Sunday weekly with a large circulation in Germany, published a supplement devoted entirely to Nordic fitness sports, which include Nordic skiing as well as the summer sports of Nordic blading and roller-skiing.

"In two to three years' time there will probably be 5-10 million Nordic fitness sport practitioners in Germany," predicts Schlickenrieder. "For me the challenge is to introduce people who have never practiced any kind of sport to the benefits of physical fitness and wellbeing. In so doing, I also hope to get more people interested in cross-country skiing," says Schlickenrieder.

One reason for the attractiveness of Nordic fitness sports is that practitioners receive good performance feedback. They feel good immediately after the exercise and it's easy to control the level of exertion.

"These sports have a beneficial effect on the whole body. Anyone can participate in a Nordic fitness sport at his or her own level. And raising the level not only poses new challenges but also motivates one to learn new things," says senior physician and docent Dr. Jari Parkkari of the Tampere Research Center of Sports Medicine, UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research.

Low-intensity Nordic walking is very suitable for an unfit office worker who suffers from neck and shoulder tension. And the same sport also offers more vigorous exercise when the walking pace is raised and the poles are used more actively.

Suitable equipment for cross-country skiing

Getting the stiffness right is the most important consideration when selecting skis. If a freestyle ski is not stiff enough, it flexes too much in the kick; too stiff, and it is difficult to ski.

When skiing in the classic style, too stiff a ski will not grip, while too flexible a ski will not glide properly.

A freestyle ski boot provides plenty of ankle support, while the classic ski boot is cut lower and has a more pliable sole. Freestyling in classic ski boots should be avoided as it puts too much stress on the knees and ankles.

A freestyle ski boot should fit snugly on the foot, but in a classic ski boot the toes need more room.