Going skiing?
HYGGE AND LAGOM are just a couple of the Scandi terms Brits have adopted, but how about sauvakävely? In Finnish it means ‘pole walking’, here it’s better known as Nordic walking, and it started to get popular in the late 70s when cross-country ski coach, Mauri Repo, published a handbook about his summer training regime.
As that sporty heritage suggests, this is much more energetic than just using poles for balance. Instead, you angle the sticks back and use them to help propel yourself forwards, exercising arms and upper body in a whole-body workout that can burn up to 46% more calories than walking alone, while also easing strain on the leg joints.
The basic form is simply an amplification of your natural walking rhythm but it can be surprisingly tricky to coordinate without sticking a pole in your foot. The easiest way to get going is to let the poles drag behind you as you start to walk, then as your pace and arm-swing gain momentum, it should feel natural to start placing the pole in the ground to push yourself onwards, like you’re cross-country skiing or as Stuart Heritage put it in The Guardian, in ‘a sort of high-speed gondola punt’.
▶ Nordic walk Instructor Birgit Wilde explains the basics at bit.ly/NordicIntro or find a class at britishnordicwalking.org.uk