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Welcome to Fun and Fitness Nordic Walking in Devon and Somerset.

This website will tell you about the comfortable easy way to get fit by using the nordic walking technique – the advantages it has over ordinary walking, and where and why we go nordic walking on Exmoor and the Quantocks, in Mid and North Devon (Braunton Burrows), and in West Somerset.

This website has been written by Angela, an experienced International Nordic Walking Association Instructor who teaches the nordic walking technique.

Please scroll down for explanations of what the nordic walking technique is, where and how people do it and why they do it.

How about giving a Fun and Fitness NordicWalkingDevon gift voucher for a birthday or anniversary present and if you are a member of a social or activity club, how about a Club Day Out.

I also team up with local hotels and bed and breakfasts on Exmoor to offer nordic walking weekends. There is a package which offers a discount for a fantastic stay in Dunster when booked with a nordic walking activity - have a look at the Links page of this website for further details.

What is the nordic walking technique? Why use the nordic walking technique? The history
(For cost, location, and tuition details please go to the activities page and then click on the introduction page)

An introductory workshop below Haddon Hill next to Wimbleball Lake, nordic walking is enjoyed by people of all ages and levels of fitness

^ top of home page
What is the nordic walking technique ?

The nordic walking technique is a comfortable, easy yet very powerful way to walk and to exercise your whole body as you walk; you can learn from me how to use the special nordic walking technique, and the special high tech poles, to help power yourself along as you walk. When you have learned the technique, the effect for most people is to feel invigorated, and more stable, surefooted, comfortable, and powerful, because you now have 4 “legs” and you are using all that normally untapped power in your arms to help you move powerfully along.

The advantage over walking with just two ordinary hiking poles, is that for most people, you feel far more comfortable, and without necessarily being conscious of it, you are at the same time giving your whole body a really good workout.

And, you don't need to join other nordic walkers in order to go nordic walking.

You can do it anywhere any time, on your own, with friends and family, with any other ordinary walkers, who may be just doing ordinary walking, who may be using hiking poles, on rambles, hikes, on streets, up and down hills, but, if you come to me for a lesson and use the benefit of my advice and experience to master the technique thoroughly and use your poles effectively, and safely, you will probably be walking far more comfortably and powerfully than you would if you were walking ordinarily. Why not bring some of your friends and family to come along and learn the technique from me; it is particularly good fun to use the nordic walking technique in company with other nordic walkers; join me on Exmoor and you will find out how and why.

Why nordic walk? - 2 options - personal reasons:

There are basically 2 ways to use the nordic walking technique.

You can go nordic walking gently and use the nordic walking technique to find greater comfort and power in your walking, to spare any aching joints, and to get fit in a gentle, enjoyable way out of doors,

or,

you can use the nordic walking technique as an intensive vigorous exercise to obtain an allover body workout.

Have a look further down this page to see individual personal reasons for having a go.

Many people try nordic walking in order to walk more comfortably and easily. Because they are comfortable, they will probably walk more often, and without necessarily trying to, they will become fitter. 90% of people are happy just to do this basic technique, it’s all they need.

You can also do it a lot more energetically to really work at your fitness, to lose weight and build up your strength and stamina. You achieve this by learning more advanced points of the technique and incorporating nordic walking into your exercise regime. It’s not difficult, and it's a way to exercise more intensively and make the best of your time. I recently taught someone who is in training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and he is using nordic walking as a cross training exercise integrated with his regular gym workouts.

At either level, nordic walking is a lovely way to socialise, and to enjoy the outdoors.

These are some of the reasons which people have given me for why they have lifted that phone, got into the car, and come to Exmoor to have a lesson in the nordic walking technique :

"to use the technique to improve my fitness/as an alternative to the gym " - this applies to lots of people of all ages
"to walk regularly and meet people" - said particularly by people who are new to the area
"to gain extra stability" - several people who have had knee/ankle/hip operations have said this
"to lose weight" - lots of people of all ages
"to enjoy sharing a leisure activity with their partner" - often said by the newly retired
"to keep walking/fit longer" - very often this is ladies in their 70s
" to keep up with my husband/partner" - ladies of all ages and this includes Angela!
"because I hate running/I used to run/I used to power walk, but now my knees hurt so I am looking for a way to walk and exercise with less pain ".

Nordic walking is generally regarded as a low impact exercise. Despite this, it is also a weight bearing exercise for all your four limbs, and it has been shown by research studies to be beneficial for sufferers from osteoporosis
"I learned the nordic walking technique to strengthen my upper body, and to tone up my arms" - said by both men and women
"to fly up the hills" -usually said by anyone who lives in a hilly area
I have a house in Spain and I want to learn nordic walking before I go"
"to get the best out of walking holidays abroad/here"
People who have trained with Angela have since used the nordic walking technique on their holidays in Spain, South Africa, Portugal and New Zealand and walking along the Coast Path around the South West of England

Dr R W Johnson and Mrs Johnson from Bristol trained with me at Dunster, and some time later visited Switzerland. They emailed me afterwards to say: “We were amazed just how well we managed and how efficient and ‘joint saving’ we found the technique.”

- other very good reasons are all the usually quoted benefits you get from ordinary walking and any kind of exercise, PLUS the particular extra health benefits you can gain from the nordic walking technique. The health benefits page on this website has details of the scientific research into the benefits of nordic walkiing.

As a last point, many of the other nordic walking instructors are also GPs, osteopaths or physios; I think that speaks volumes for the belief of health professionals in the nordic walking technique..

It is well worth learning the technique properly from an experienced instructor like me, because there is a lot to the technique, but with proper tuition, it's easy to master. There is a lot more to nordic walking than just walking with 2 poles. (For cost, location, and tuition details please go to the activities page and then click on the introduction page)

Here's an unsolicited testimonial which I received in April 2007:

"Hi Angela,

Thank you so much for guiding us around East Anstey.

The pleasure it gave us both is tremendous. The walk was gentle, yet quite a lot of up and downhill. The nordic poles (which we bought after an initial lesson with you, followed by a "refresher" session in Dunster, another beautiful setting) helped me walk, (and helped my husband, simply because I was not hanging on to his arm on the uphill bit.) When we got to the steep and rough path back up to the top of the hill, I found that the poles gave me the help and support to enable me to "climb" the hill without getting out of breath, or my legs aching. When we then paused to look back over the valley where we had just walked, I could not believe that I had done it so easily. Even fording a stream - you just stride along taking all the obstacles in your path quite easily.

The beauty of this walk in the warm spring weather was delightful, wild flowers adorned the hedgerows - we even saw orchids.

We are so pleased to have found nordic walking, thank you for your excellent tuition and guidance.

With very best wishes,

John & Hazel Ridd
Tiverton"

and

" I went out with the poles this morning with the dog as well and walked roughly twice the usual distance in the same time so I am very happy with the experience."
Brenda Townsend Hall, Exeter. August 2007

The History ^top of home page

Nordic walking was started in Finland as a summer fitness exercise for cross-country skiers and was later promoted by the Finnish government to encourage the population to exercise. Nordic walking has now developed as an all year round general purpose form of exercise for people of all ages and all levels of fitness. It is extremely popular on the Continent, especially of course in the skiing countries, where millions of people do it, from schoolchildren to senior citizens, and it is now spreading rapidly across the world.
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