Tom Rutlin Invited to Teach German Master Trainers His Technique
Madison, WI, October 10, 2007 – The first time Tom Rutlin, U.S. pole walking pioneer personally shared his original Nordic walking technique with a group of certified German Nordic walking trainers was at ISPO 2003 - the world-wide sports expo in Munich, Germany. After first taking a session of instruction in the International Nordic Walking Association’s (INWA) Nordic walking bent arm/opening elbow/ passing of the arm to the rear, and releasing the grip technique from INWA Master Anke Faller’s group, Rutlin offered to introduce them to his original fitness walking pole technique.
While Rutlin says the response from the INWA instructor group at ISPO 2003 was generally quite positive, and the group seemed quite impressed with the way that his “handshake and pump-handle” technique activated the important core muscles of the trunk, he says the official INWA reaction to the introduction of his “American Nordic walking” technique was dead silence (at least outside of the organization).
In the over three years since then, Rutlin’s “handshake and pump-handle” extended arm pole plant has apparently won widening approval as more and more Nordic walkers have discovered the biomechanical advantage of maximizing the involvement of the large back and core muscles in Nordic walking by extending the arm at pole plant. What Rutlin now calls the “European Hybrid” technique, that has become increasingly popular with the formation of numerous instructor certifying organizations which have over the intervening years greatly eroded the unchallenged supremacy of INWA, has evolved to include both his extended arm at pole plant, and INWA’s passing of the arm behind the body with a release of the pole at the end of the push. Rutlin believes that while the longer stride length that necessarily corresponds to a longer arm excursion may be in sync with the “sports/high-performance” paradigm of Europe’s Nordic walking movement, it makes the European Hybrid technique both more difficult for average fitness seeker to master -- as well as more prone to impact related injury. Rutlin believes that “the faster pace and the longer stride of the European Nordic walking movement appeals to athletes, but not to the vast majority of people who just exercise to look, feel and function better”.
Rutlin has gained increasing recognition over the intervening years for being “the father of Nordic walking” (or fitness walking with poles), and he says his original Exerstride Method™ Nordic walking technique was specifically designed to avoid putting any art of the body to abuse, opting instead to recruit as many large muscle as possible to “good use”, promoting what he calls a “high-function” paradigm of total body fitness. Rather than the longer, quicker strides of ordinary walking and the European NW technique, Rutlin stresses the importance of a comfortable, natural pace and stride length combined with maximum force applied to the poles with each stride. “Exerstriding is not about speed, that’s why it can work so well for people of all ages and abilities. It’s about gradually increasing a person's ability and the intensity of force applied by critical large muscles” according to Rutlin.
Until the hot Nordic walking trend in Europe recently began to cool off considerably, Rutlin’s “good use” version of Nordic walking had generally been dismissed in Europe as “inferior”. A recent trip to Germany at the invitation of a group of Nordic walking Master Trainers to teach them his technique likely indicates that the flagging European Nordic walking movement may be in search of alternatives that might have greater and more enduring appeal to the vast majority of people who, as Rutlin likes to say, “just want to look, feel and function better”.
He encouraged the German Master trainers to expand their menu of Nordic walking offerings to include his more natural and functional fitness aimed techniques. Time and public acceptance will tell whether Rutlin’s less abusive and athletic performance oriented vision of Nordic walking can help breathe new life into a flagging European Nordic walking movement that was until recently the fastest growing fitness trend across most of Northern Europe.
For more information on the new Exerstrider Method™ Nordic walking, contact Tom Rutlin at 1-888-285-7392 or visit www.exerstrider.com.
About Exerstrider® and Tom Rutlin – Exerstrider has been providing innovative world-class fitness walking poles since 1988. The company and its founder Tom Rutlin are recognized for having pioneered “Nordic walking” (for people of all ages and abilities) as a total body exercise activity which is currently among the world’s fastest growing fitness trends.
