Nordic Stick Walking

One year ago Jan Sirevag, from Oslo, introduced us to Nordic Walking. Jan's testimony is that a few years ago he looked at his wife and said, "Gudweig, I'm fifty, fat and finished." He then took a four month sabbatical, studied nutrician an began Nordic stick walking. After losing 65 lbs, and keeping it off for four years, he is on his way to being "sixty, svelt and sexy." Jan is delightful. That's the only way to describe him....delightful. At 57 he is full of godly insight and wisdom and has a "delightful" sense of humor. He loves telling the story of the Norwegian bishop who accompanied men on their seal hunting voyages...the punchline being, "Vell pastor...you do it your way and I'll do it my way." OK, back to stick walking. Jan claims that because you are using the upper body you are burning 40-45% more calories. Here's his regimen. First thing in the morning drink at least 8 oz of water and a cup of coffee and eat an eggwhite or two (from hardboiled eggs or fried egg whites). "The protein is excellent and you need it for walking. If you eat carbohydrates, your body will burn those and if you don't eat anything your body will burn muscle...so a little protein is good." This is what Jan calls "laying the foundation" (Of course he also uses the same phrase when we are eating a big meal the night before). Jan cautions about alignment...keeping the sticks close to the body and pushing harder on the sticks in order to cover more ground with each stride as opposed to walking faster. We keep the sticks around our hips and plant the sticks by our heals as we walk lest we walk with the sticks ahead of us and be mistaken for a "German grandmother." This year Don Wilcox, John Lamb, Ryan McReynolds, Rich Lotterhos, Axel, Hans-Peter, Joe Thompson, Geir and Kay are converts! Multiplication is happening..

I've attached a couple of other pics of man's early attempts at stick walking.