This is an excerpt from a post by Claire Walter in her Nordic Walking blog. It talks about when I rolled out the Nordic Walking program on Crystal Cruises in 1990. An oldie but I wanted to sahre. Claire is a strong advocate of Nordic Walking and has even written a book on it!
A great book on Nordic Walking
>>>
I have been on one cruise, on an assignment to write about its culinary program. While at sea, I went to the gym every day and made laps around the Promenade Deck, trying to walk off the calories ingested during research about food. Of course, I didn’t have Nordic Walking poles with me, but it certainly occurred to me that Nordic Walking would be an ideal shipboard fitness activity. After all, people were already strolling, walking and jogging and the deck was even measured off in fractions of miles. With rubber paws affixed, poles would not damage the decks’ surface.
Crystal Cruises, a luxury line if ever there was one, is putting my thoughts into practice with a new Nordic Walking program in partnership with LEKI USA. Crystal is proud to be “breaking new ground in fitness options at sea.” Use of Nordic Walking poles will be gratis next month aboard the “Crystal Symphony” (sailing October 8, Athens to Venice) and “Crystal Serenity”(October 19, New York to Montreal). Nordic Walking Poles specialist Rick Deutsch will be on board those two cruises to teach the opening classes and train the ships’ fitness instructors, who will lead demonstrations on following voyages. He might be the same Rick Deutsch who wrote One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome. Or maybe not.
In addition to the 360-degree promenade decks, which Crystal says is “a rarity in luxury cruising,” both ships have well-appointed fitness centers with state-of-the-art cardio and strength training equipment. Recently introduced indoor cycling classes and Kinesis machines join fitness offerings like the Walk on Water program utilizing weighted Walk vests, complimentary yoga and Pilates mat classes, and lectures from Cleveland Clinic experts.
Passengers who want their own set of Nordic Walking poles may buy them through the fitness directors on board. For more information about Crystal Cruises or reservations, call 888-799-4625.
>>>
Thanks, claire! I have finished a YouTube showing how to do it.
Carpe Diem