Balance Walking is a fitness program that combines fitness walking poles, toning shoes, and good nutrition. This seems to be a growing trend, as Skechers is teaming up with Leki poles and the Nordic Walking North America to launch a similar program this fall. The Balance Walking program is available through their web site and Foot Solutions stores in the US.
About the Balance Walking Program
The stores have their own brand of Balance Walking poles. I've been using them on workouts and they work well as nordic walking poles. The stores also have developed their own line of toning shoes, the Chung Shi shoes. I found the shoes to be well made and I really did feel like they were exercising a wider range of muscles. But I just couldn't get past wearing them for 10 minutes without feeling the urge to change back into regular shoes. I am not a fan of heavier shoes, and these are as heavy as my hiking shoes. The rocker motion is pronounced in the Chung Shi shoes. Take care on stairs until you get used to them!
Review of the Chung Shi shoes
The Balance Walking program also has training and certification for Walk Leaders and for Coaches. I wish this program and the upcoming Skechers-Leki program much success, mostly because I think nordic walking is an awesome fitness activity. I've been waiting for 11 years for it to catch on in North America as it has in Europe. What it takes is having live instruction and walking groups so people can learn to do it properly and do with with less self-consciousness.
While I'm a skeptic about toning shoes and have yet to find any I like, I can highly recommend using fitness walking poles. When used correctly, you improve your posture, open up your chest, loosen your shoulders, burn more calories per mile and achieve a higher heart rate at the same speed. What's not to love about that?
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner
Walking with the right posture is wonderful.