Maple Syrup Time - Ideal Time of Year for Cross Country Skiing and Nordic Walking!

Cold nights and warm days are ideal for the tapping of maple trees for maple syrup. It is also an ideal time for spring skiing and/or Nordic Walking.

This has been a perfect spring for making maple syrup and the snow is still holding up and very skiable.

And for those deprived of snow - just get out and beef-up your walking campaign with walking poles. Walking with poles provide many of the awesome health benefits of cross country skiing. The walking poles also radically reduce the stress to the shins, the knees, the hips and back.

Originally skiers deprived of snow knew the secret benefits of walking, hiking, trekking, ski walking, hill-bounding, ........... with poles. And now the word is out. You can burn 20-40% more calories by walking with poles. That is 20-40% more calories than regular walking - walking without poles. The poles also radically improve balance and stability.

When deprived of snow and not cross country skiing I use my poles for hiking in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and during my lunch break I run with my poles up the hill here behind the office and then ski walk back down. I not only get a better workout, but my knees find the poles eliminate the stress and strain.

When looking for walking poles be sure to not get scammed by all the cheap/flimsy 2-piece and 3-piece collapsible poles flooding the market from China and costing anywhere from $20.00 per pair to $200.00 per pair. If the poles are equipped with twist-locks or flip-locks be sure to avoid them. Skiers only use one-piece poles and the same quality one-piece poles work best for hiking, walking, trekking, running, ski walking and hill-bounding with poles.

Skiers and other athletes would destroy cheap/flimsy collapsible poles. Plus they rattle, vibrate, gradually collapse or fail altogether unexpectedly. Seniors and anyone with a balance issue should NEVER use cheap/flimsy collapsible poles. Quality one-piece poles that are sized correctly will always prove to be safer, lighter, stronger, more durable and much more user-friendly.

Perfect length poles help us to automatically walk with a super straight back - better walking posture is biomechanically a good thing. This improved walking posture when combined with the unique 4-Wheel-Drive type action of walking with poles radically reduces the stress to the shins, knees, hips and back. Nordic Walking is low impact and yet provides a highly effective workout - burning more calories and working more muscle groups than regular walking.

According to Nick Mahood, SWIX USA Nordic Walking Director, "Pete Edwards, The American Nordic Walking System and SKIWALKING.COM's owner/founder/coach, has single handedly introduced thousands of Americans to Nordic Walking through his enthusiastic Nordic Walking clinics! I have no doubt that Edwards is the #1 retailer of Nordic Walking Poles in the USA! You can quote me on that!".

We are the #1 retailer of quality one-piece poles in North America. Unfortunately thousands of Americans in the USA and Canada are getting scammed everyday into purchasing cheap/flimsy collapsible poles from China. When those collapsible poles prove unfriendly they find us and our 100% positive satisfaction ratings.

Walking with poles is the best! Walking with one-piece poles that are sized correctly makes a good thing even better.

The Best Poles For Nordic Sports

 

While cross country skiing out on the Shore To Shore Horse Trail here in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park and the township of Empire, Michigan, I had time to contemplate all the advantages of one-piece poles for cross country skiing, downhill skiing, roller skiing, ski walking, hill bounding, running with poles, snowshoeing with poles, Nordic Walking, ....... The simple fact is that one-piece poles in all those situations are far superior to the alternative of cheap/flimsy 2-piece and 3-piece twist-lock or flip-lock collapsible poles currently flooding the market from China and falsely marketed.

 

And when it comes to walking poles seniors and anyone with balance issues should never be sold cheap/flimsy collapsible poles. Collapsible poles aren't ideal for everyday use either. One-piece poles that are sized correctly will always prove to be safer, lighter, more durable and much more user-friendly than cheap/flimsy collapsible poles.

 

 At SKIWALKING.COM and the American Nordic Walking System we have 16 different lengths of walking poles. These poles are ideal for use in the city (with the rubber tips/asphalt paws on), out in the country and up in the mountains. They are very versatile and user-friendly. Unlike collapsible poles, these quality one-piece poles are dependable and hassle-free.

Olympic Ski Star Lindsey Vonn Promotes Nordic Walking

The 1st Americans to embrace Nordic Ski Walking have typically been skiers. When deprived of snow skiers often grab their poles for hikes, ski walking and hill bounding.

When celebrity athletes endorse a virtually unknown and misunderstood fitness activity like Nordic Walking only good things can result. Awareness and curiosity are good things. And an enthusiastic celebrity endorsement is fantastic. When more Americans realize the many wonderful health benefits of Nordic Walking this fitness activity will take off here like it already has in Europe. Nordic Walking Poles often empower individuals to start walking taller, faster, longer and remain much more happy.

Typically skiers know that one-piece poles are safer, lighter and much more durable than cheap/flimsy 2-piece and 3-piece poles from China. These collapsible poles tend to rattle, vibrate and often collapse unexpectedly. While one-piece poles that are sized correctly prove to be safer, lighter and much more durable than collapsible poles equipped with twist-locks or flip-locks.

At WWW.SKIWALKING.COM we carry 16 different lengths of SWIX and EXEL one-piece Nordic Walking Poles. We also carry rubber replacement tips/asphalt paws for both SWIX and EXEL Nordic Walking Poles.

Roller Skiing and Nordic Walking

I'm totally hooked on the Swenor Finstep Cap Classic Roller Skis. These super smooth roller skis even come with a slight Nordic camber. These roller skis are light years ahead of classis roller skis made of aluminum.

The Salomon  S-LAB SKIATHLON is my favorite roller ski and cross country ski boots. WOW. Best boots ever. Even with my weird feet they all skied great right out of the box.

My favorite Nordic Walking Poles are the original SWIX VIP's from Lillehammer, Norway and made exclusively for us here at WWW.SKIWALKING.COM and the American Nordic Walking System. All of our SWIX and EXEL Nordic Walking Poles are equipped with durable metal tips and removable rubber tips/paws that act as shock absorbers and silencers on pavement.

And when it comes to roller skiing my favorite poles are my SWIX CT1's - equipped with special SWIX "road" ferrules (metal tips) that hold a sharp point even when pounding down the pavement.

The similarities between roller skiing and Nordic Walking are many. The most important however is the simple fact that durable one-piece poles that are sized correctly prove to be lighter, stronger and much more dependable than cheap/flimsy 2-piece and 3-piece collapsible poles that tend to rattle, vibrate, gradually collapse or collapse unexpectedly. Skiers also use dependable one-piece poles while ski walking and hill bounding with poles - they would never considering heavy collapsible poles.

Skiers ski with one-piece poles because collapsible poles don't hold up and are a hassle. The same goes for hiking, trekking and Nordic Walking - one-piece poles will always prove to be superior to cheap/flimsy collapsible poles.

Many Nordic Walking Enthusiasts Started Out Using Old Ski Poles

Like myself, many of my customers launched their personal Nordic Walking campaigns using ski poles and then graduated to real Nordic Walking Poles.

Old ski poles work great on trails - especially if they are sized correctly. After my last running injury my ski poles provided a huge relief while hiking with poles on my favorite running trail. I already knew that ski poles worked great for ski walking and hill bounding - as a means to keep in shape and get ready for the next ski season. After coaching ski racers for over 25 years I knew that ski walking and hill bounding with poles, combined with running and roller skiing, were the secret weapons to prepare over the summer for another successful ski season.

One-piece ski poles, like one-piece Nordic Walking Poles, prove to be far superior to the cheap/flimsy twist-lock and flip-lock 2-piece and 3-piece Nordic Walking, trekking and snowshoe poles flooding the marketing from china.

One-piece ski poles and one-piece Nordic Walking Poles are safer, lighter and much more durable than  2-piece and 3-piece poles. One-piece Nordic Walking Poles have also proven to be lighter and much more user-friendly while hiking in the Grand Canyon. Skiers know that one-piece poles are better and skiers trust their one-piece poles.

At SKIWALKING.COM and the American Nordic Walking System we have 14 different lengths and we also custom build poles for individuals over 6' 7" (at no extra cost). We also offer a Perfect Length Guarantee.

While taking orders today, Judith, an enthusiastic 71 year young lady told me about her success with her ski poles this past winter while walking in her apartment and around the neighborhood. She mentioned that her ski poles were a huge improvement over her walker. She also informed me that she had PD (Parkinson's Disease). She had recently purchased some adjustable poles, but she said "they sucked" and then told me that she sent them back. She was delighted to find our company offers 14 different one-piece lengths. Her new Nordic Walking Poles are shipping out first thing tomorrow.

As Judith discovered, one-piece poles don't rattle, vibrate and/or collapse unexpectedly like the cheap/flimsy twist-locks and flip-locks from China do. I would recommend old ski poles, including the old bamboo poles, over these cheap/flimsy twist-lock and flip-lock poles coming in from China.

Be sure to ask where your poles are made. Judith's new SWIX Nordic Walking Poles are made in Lillehammer, Norway. Her poles are also equipped with comfortable patented straps (patented by the Salomon Ski Company) and include both durable carbide metal tips for trails, the beach snow and ice, plus removable rubber tips for pavement, carpet, tile and other hard surfaces.

Our company has donated hundreds of pairs of quality one-piece poles to the Wounded Warriors Programs. Once we know how tall a Wounded Warrior is we select the Perfect Length Poles for his/her height. While providing free Nordic Walking Classes for Wounded Warriors I quickly realized that they do not like their canes or walkers. The perfect length Nordic Walking Poles provided everyone that participated in our classes with improved walking posture (straighter back), plus greatly improved balance, stability and gait. Cheap/flimsy twist-lock and flip-lock poles could not hold up to the added stress put on the poles by the wounded warriors.

Walking with poles is the best, but be sure to avoid the cheap stuff from China and look for quality one-piece poles in the correct length for your height.