If you haven’t flipped your poles upside down recently to examine your boot tips, now might be a good time, especially if you’re new to Nordic walking.
What you might find is one boot tip with plenty of tread and the other one worn smooth. If this sounds familiar, it’s sending you a message about your technique.
The reason behind this uneven wear is usually all about our dominant and non-dominant arms.
For many people, the dominant arm tends to pick up the Nordic walking technique relatively quickly. And it does a great job of lifting that boot tip very slightly off the ground with each swing, as it should.
This lift, ideally just an inch or a few centimeters, is part of proper Nordic walking form.
But the non-dominant arm? Instead of lifting the boot tip, this weaker arm often drags it forward and back, which quickly wears down the tread.
The good news is that this is quite easy to fix.
Here’s how:
First, use a very subtle lifting action with your pinky finger and ring finger to help to lift the boot tip off the ground.
Second, check that the handle of the pole in your non-dominant arm is swinging up to the very same handshake-position height as that of the dominant arm.
For some people, it swings up to a slightly lower height. This causes the boot tip it to slip back occasionally or even with every swing. Very annoying!
To correct this, swing the handle of that pole up an inch or two higher (to get more surface area of the boot tip on the ground) and to get the boot top to land more securely (and not slip back).
In both of these instances, be mindful not to bend your elbow or to adjust your overall technique—it’s all about the small lift with the pinky and ring fingers and/or swinging the handle up slightly higher.
Pro Tip
As you walk, listen to the sounds your boot tips make. You should hear a consistent and quiet “thud” from both of them. If one boot tip is dragging or slipping back, you’ll notice a difference in sound.
