Earlier this month I attended the Professional Instructor Certification seminar conducted by the American Nordic Walking Association (ANWA) in Pacific Palisades, California. This is the first time ANWA has offered this level of training, open only to its Advanced Instructors, and which qualifies Professionals to train and certify Basic and Advanced Instructors. There were 9 of us total from across the U.S. who attended – from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, California, and myself from Minnesota. In the future we will be working with ANWA to conduct trainings across the US and further promote Nordic walking and other related Nordic fitness products and activities.
At the training, we spent three days with Gottfried Kuermer, Master Trainer for ANWA, who is based in Vienna, Austria.
Gottfried has extensive experience teaching and training Nordic walkers in Europe, the US and Asia. He was one of the original Master Trainers for the International Nordic Walking Association, trained and developed walking poles for Leki, and has recently completed an advanced degree in sports science in Austria. I’ve trained with Gottfried twice before, and each time I’ve made major strides (!) in improving my walking and teaching technique. This is because Gottfried is both a good teacher himself, and is extremely knowledgeable about both the kinesiology of Nordic walking and other sports, and about the Nordic walking industry.
During this training we spent significant time (most of it in places with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean!) learning to teach proper technique and how to analyze and correct a wide range of errors.
We also discussed how and when the technique might be modified, based on an individual’s fitness level and abilities. For example, since classic Nordic walking technique does NOT relieve a significant amount of weight load due to the pole angle, it may be that for people who cannot put a lot of pressure on their knees, trekking poles may actually be a better option. This needs to be balanced with the fact that classic technique can help people feel more secure in taking longer strides and thus get a better leg extension, as well as engaging their upper body and arms more.
We also received training in power walking, speed walking and a more advanced form of Nordic walking developed by Gottfried, which more effectively engages core muscles. I really appreciated the opportunity to practice these techniques in the context of Nordic walking, to see how they overlap or are unique. One point that Gottfried made is that Nordic walking is actually very inefficient, which is what makes it such great exercise – you are expending more energy to walk and thus burning more calories over a given distance.
Beyond reviewing Nordic walking and associated stretching, strength-building exercises and games, we had the opportunity to
learn about some new products that ANWA will be introducing in the near future. One product we were able to try was Skike – a type of roller ski that has the advantage of brakes.
Being a novice/intermediate cross country skier myself, I loved how Skike really allowed you to skate just like on skis! And the part of me that is a wimpy scaredy-cat loved the brakes! Here is one of my fellow instructors, Daniela Josi of Swiss Mountain Fitness in NJ, trying out the Skikes.
That leads me to another great thing about this training – all the people involved! Bernd Zimmerman, President of ANWA, and Gottfried are incredibly kind and gracious people. There is a spirit of sharing and service to the sport that I have found consistently with ANWA since I received my first Basic Instructor training in 2007. This is not just about selling poles or getting people Nordic walking. It’s about providing instruction from a base of knowledge, experience and integrity, while keeping things fun. Without fun, I probably wouldn’t be doing this, and you probably wouldn’t either! I saw these values in my fellow instructors as well, and we had a great time together!
(Our 9th instructor, Ed Lowe of Pacific Palisades, was taking the picture)
Because of all this, I felt very honored to receive my Professional certification, and am eager to help others improve as Nordic walkers and Nordic walking instructors. If you are reading this and have an interest in having a Walk Leader or Instructor training in your area, you can contact me at Nordic Walk for Life! or ANWA to set something up.
(Thanks to Michael Josi of Swiss Mountain Fitness for these photographs)
Nordic Walk for Life! 