Nordic Walking – For any fitness level
Nordic walking is a great low impact all over body workout. It allows you to use your arms to take weight out of your lower body. In effect this strengthens your upper body whilst relieving a bit of tension from knees.
Nordic walking is conducted at Fairfield park which has a great mix of terrain, inclines and stairs. We show you the various ways to approach these environments to make the most out of your poles to assist you in each situation.
To get involved with Nordic Walking, we teach you the technique which can either be as a one on one or within a group of beginners. Learning the technique can be quick for some people or may take a number of sessions to feel confident. Then we are off. We can discover the various trails and parks around Fairfield. Each walk will take on a new route, with new things to see and terrain to cover. Maree has extensive knowledge of the area, so will always choose a track with terrain suitable for the level of clients.
Nordic Walking is also a great way to explore nature and have a chat with our fellow walkers. It is a very social activity. Once fitness levels increase, we can extend our walks to cover more distance, perhaps with a stop at a coffee shop along the way!! The friendships that have formed in these groups have been wonderful, with a number of people now meeting up to go on longer trips out of Melbourne such a Point Nepean, You Yangs and Cape Schank.
Further information in Nordic Walking can be found here. To enquire about upcoming Beginner Technique session or classes please Contact Us.
An account from a long time See Change Nordic Walker: Judy Stanton
Nordic walking with Judy and Jen
“What are you doing?” asks one passer by
“Where’s the snow?” asks another.
Little do they know how much fun we are having and what a good workout “walking with sticks” is giving us.
Every Friday morning Jen and I set off with our imaginative and ever patient Trainer, Maree, to explore the wonderland along the banks of the Yarra. We walk along a myriad of different paths through Fairfield Park, so we can workout up hill down dale and across grassy lands. First it was for forty minutes, then an hour now an hour and a half – we’re addicted – because it gives us such a good work out in the fresh air! Jen and Maree have amazing navigational skills and an intimate knowledge of the territory, ensuring that we can always venture further and be inspired by the countryside and our skills to walk competently.
Poles make up hills a “possibility”
When I started I was apprehensive about how I would manage – what with the extra weight I was carrying, the knee problems, poor fitness and overall lack of coordination-but this style of exercise looked interesting and promised to take “some of the weight off my knees” if I could learn to propel myself with skill, using the sticks. I briefed Maree at length-age, physical limitations etc etc. Then I had to learn to be coordinated and not “trip over my sticks”-round and round the oval we went – with chants to memorize the routine and “engage the core” – miraculously after about three sessions I was powering along – much less presure on my knees and an amazing zing of coordination and power and overall exercise.
An absolutely fabulous way to exercise.
Discovering the many tracks of Fairfield Park
Be absorbed by nature
