Walking sticks will not do a better job of melting off the fat or upgrading your fitness!
A better way to burn calories and get fitter is to ditch the sticks and ambulate the way nature designed the human body to move.
Contrary to all the hype, trekking poles do not increase calorie burn or fitness when compared to hands-free movement.
Using trekking poles interferes with the cardio and fitness elements of hiking and fails to cause higher calorie burning.
Ever notice that the fittest looking people on hiking trails or off-trail
never have trekking poles?
I’ve been a member of the Colorado Mountain Club and have thus gone on dozens of incredible hiking ventures into the great Rockies. I also do a lot of “rough walking” in the foothills on my own.
Trekking poles interfere with improving balance and do not burn more calories when used to assist in ambulation.
Freepik.com
Your body has a built-in “sonar” system that allows it to continuously adapt to ever-changing external forces.
This sonar, known as proprioception, can be fine-tuned by hiking on various terrain – without trekking poles. Trekking poles cheat your body’s proprioceptive system from a full workload.
Freepik.com
Before I go on, hear this: This article refers to hikers who do not have a condition that impedes balance or for which bearing full bodyweight causes pain. The “but I have a bad knee” group does not apply to this article.
The more you ambulate in a natural state, without holding onto anything, the faster your body will become more efficient.
This is extremely important in the mountains, because the more efficient your body is and the more highly developed its proprioception, the less likely you will fall.
And if you do start falling, the more likely you’ll be able to stumble out of it, or at least break it in a way that spares you from serious injury.
Don’t trekking poles burn more calories?
The calorie burning conundrum: Few forms of steady state cardio burn more calories than hiking up rough terrains for extended periods of time, making the legs do all the work while the arms move naturally about to maintain balance.
If you avoid trekking poles, virtually all the work will be generated from the legs and buttocks, the largest muscle groups, thus burning maximal calories.
Trekking poles won’t burn more calories if all you do is use them to assist with ambulation, which is the way people generally use these devices.
Freepik.com
As they take strides, they plant or tap the pole into the ground. This is not to be confused with the panaerobics technique, which will burn more calories when applied to standard hiking.
When going downhill with trekking poles, you’ll burn fewer calories; without the sticks, your entire body, especially the lower half, is forced to absorb a significant amount of work to maintain balance, and this means more calories burned.
What if you’re “klutzy”?
There’s no better way to improve and eventually eliminate this problem than to go hiking sans the poles.
Just choose an easier route; don’t go attempting unstable trails until your neuromuscular system achieves adaptation to being independent rather than relying on trekking or ski poles.
Don’t get ahead of yourself. Improve your natural maneuvering ability first on gentler trails.
Your neuromuscular system will then start adjusting to this unfamiliar stimulation.
New neural connections will form. Simply put, your balance and agility will improve.
While your proprioception adapts (improves), your knees, hips and soft tissue (muscle, tendons, ligaments, etc.) will become stronger and more capable.
One of the best ways to strengthen knees is the so-called “negative” contraction.
As you ambulate downhill without the trekking poles, the muscles in your upper legs will contract negatively, and this strengthens the entire knee joint.
Hiking poles will absorb some of this force — ideal for people with “bad” knees — but if you have healthy knees, a graceful pole-free descent (as opposed to an erratic, sloppy one) will increase joint integrity.
I will admit, though, that trekking poles will come in mighty handy if you encounter a mountain lion, and fighting off the animal will definitely burn calories.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained clients of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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