Nordic walking versus natural walking: an easy approach to comparing metabolic demands

The aim of this study was to compare the metabolic demands of Nordic walking (NW) versus natural walking (WK) using a highly reproducible protocol in a natural environment. A total of 14 physically active subjects (3 males and 11 females, 36.6 +/- 8.3years, 63.1 +/- 11.4kg, 1.67 +/- 0.06m) walked at a freely chosen speed along a 2.5-km course in a game reserve, using NW and WK in a random order. They were monitored for speed with a mobile phone global positioning system (GPS) receiver, and for lap average and maximum heart rate (HR) with a belt HR monitor. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significantly higher lap average HR (p=0.004) and maximum HR (p=0.004) in NW compared with WK. Due to its increased metabolic load, NW revealed to be an effective means for improving cardiovascular fitness in populations with a low tolerance for exertion. Using this simple and ecological approach promises to be effective for further evaluation of other variables and/or use in other contexts (e.g. high altitude and climbing).