Ribble Valley Borough Council’s Up and Active team wants to hear from people who are interested joining a Nordic walking group.
Nordic walking transforms a regular walk into a full body workout, boosting calorie burn, improving cardiovascular health and balance, and reducing joint stress. It uses specially designed poles to engage 80% to 90% of the body’s muscles, compared to 50% to 70% in regular walking.
And by involving more muscles it can burn up to 67% more calories than traditional walking, depending on the intensity, terrain and technique.
Ribble Valley Borough Council health and fitness officer Catherine Argyle, who is a qualified instructor with the International Nordic Walking Association, said: “Nordic walking enhances aerobic capacity and heart function, improves endurance, resting heart rate and oxygen consumption, and distributes weight more evenly, making it ideal for people with joint pain, arthritis and lower limb injuries.
“It uses poles to provide support and stability, thereby reducing the risk of falls, by improving posture and stride length. That is why Nordic walking is recommended by a host of health charities, including Parkinson’s UK and Age UK. Walking groups are an effective and practical way to improve health and social wellbeing.”
Ribble Valley Borough Council’s Up and Active team has been helping the borough’s residents overcome health and fitness challenges for many years. Activities include the seated exercise scheme Best Foot Forward, weight management programme Weigh to Go, cardiac rehabilitation programme Heartwatch, and supervised gym referrals.
Stuart Hirst, chairman of Ribble Valley Borough Council’s community services committee and a keen hiker, said: “Regular physical activity can reduce the risk of many chronic conditions, but people avoid it for a variety of reasons, such as they don’t know how or where to start, or have bad memories of PE at school.
“But our programmes, including the new Nordic walking, are specifically designed for people of all abilities and our friendly health and fitness team is on hand to help you get started and keep going.”
