Nordic Walking

Group Walks (West London)

Join us for a guided walk through nature. There are different levels of walks - see below. What you can expect on a walk (besides walking...):

Warm-up and cool-down exercises
Feedback and tips on how to improve your technique and get more out of your walk
Walk with a nice group of people, enjoy a chat on the more gentle walks
Exercises to improve your technique
Speed drills (only dynamic/challenger walks)

Please note
Before you join our walks, we recommended that you take our Foundation Course first (or demonstrate solid Nordic walking skills from a similar tuition course). This ensures that you use your poles in the right way and can turn your walk into a full body workout. It also prevents you from building bad habits or damaging your joints.

Group Walk Schedule

Please sign up for each walk.

Email: vitalityleap@gmail.com, phone/text: 07766 464623, or join our Whatsapp groups.

Mondays

Dates:

10, 17, 24 June
1, 8, 15, 22, 29 July
12, 19 August
9, 16, 23 September
7, 14, 21, 28 October
further dates will be announced

8.45-9.45am: Challenger
Meet Studland Road/High Lane

10.15-11.15am: All Abilities
Meet Golf Club Parking (Brent Valley)

Tuesdays

Dates:

11, 18 June
2, 9, 16, 23 July
6, 13, 20 August
10, 17 September
1, 8, 15, 29 October
further dates will be announced

8.15-9.15am: Mini and Gentle Walk. The Mini Walk ends at 8.45, the Gentle Walk continues to 9.15am)
Meet Golf Club Parking (Brent Valley)

9.30-10.30am: Dynamic Walk
Meet Studland Road/High Lane

11.00-12.00pm: All Abilities
Meet Golf Club Parking (Brent Valley)

7.00-8.00pm: Dynamic Walk
Meet Golf Club Parking (Brent Valley)

Sundays

Dates

2, 9, 16, 23 June
7, 14, 21, 28 July
11, 16, 25 August
8, 15, 22 September
6, 13, 20, 27 October
further dates will be announced

8.45-9.45am: Challenger
Meet Studland Road/High Lane

10.00-11.00am: All Abilities
Meet Golf Club Parking (Brent Valley)

11.30-12.30pm: Mini and Gentle Walk. The Mini Walk ends at 12.00, the Gentle Walk continues to 12.30pm)
Meet Golf Club Parking (Brent Valley)

Information; what to bring, costs etc.

Where?
In green spaces around Hanwell, Greenford, West Ealing. The starting points of each walk are mentioned below (maps attached if you scroll down).
Costs:
All 1-hour walks: £8 with your own poles, £10 with pole hire
Mini walks: 30 min: £5 (poles included)
Discounts:

If you pay in advance, you can buy 6 walks for the price of 5 (BAC or cash).
If you do both the Challenger and the all Ability Walk on Monday or Sunday morning, the challenger walk is 5£ (with/without pole hire).

Equipment:

You do not need any special equipment; just comfortalbe walking clothes and trainers / walking shoes (no hiking boots with hard soles). Rain gear as needed.
If you have 'poles', make sure they are Nordic Walking poles, not Trekking or Walking poles. There is no point in joining our walks with Trekking poles as they do not support the Nordic style of walking; you may struggle to keep up with the group.

More info/directions:

You will get more information/directions once you sign up.

Description of our walks: Something for everybody

Gentle Walks (1 hour)

These are relaxing walks at a moderate speed, which still improve your fitness and agility. In the warm-up and cool-down phase, we will do some exercises that help with flexibility and strength. You also receive some ideas how to improve your walking technique, but there are no specific speed-drills or exercises.

Target group:
Ideal for you if you would like to build up to the more fast-paced walks, have health issues, would like to bring your baby (rucksack-carrier) or just like to relax and enjoy nature while you are walking.

Prerequisites:
We recommend that you complete our Starter course before you join these walks, but you can come on a few walks before the course.

Mini Walks (30 min)

These are 'Gentle Walks' that only last 30 minutes. If you would like to build up your fitness levels slowly, recover from an injury or surgery, or just enjoy a shorter walk based on your busy lifestyle; this is for you.

Prerequisites
No prerequisites; you will receive basic instructions and exercises to get started with your walking technique. Once you feel fit enough you can take the Starter course and join the other walks.

All Ability walks (1 hour)

Spend some time outdoors and get fit in a fun and sociable way. We will choose the route/distance to cater for all levels in the group and add some extra loops or challenges for more advanced walkers.

Prerequisites:
You must have completed our Starter course or a similar tuition course to participate in these walks. If in doubt, please talk to us about your skill level.

Dynamic Walks (1 hour)

These walks are faster paced than the All Ability Walks, and there will be some drills and exercises to help you improve your technique. As with all our walks; the goal is to have fun, but we also intend to achieve an intense whole body workout while walking (using fully-extended arm swing, rolling foot technique, dynamic shoulder rotation, etc.).

Target group:
If you like to use your Nordic Walking as a workout and gain fast results, these walks are for you. Ideal to build up for the skiing season or supplement gym work.

Prerequisites:
You must have completed our Starter course or a similar tuition course to participate in these walks. If in doubt, please talk to us about your skill level.

Challenger Walks (1 hour)

These are walks for people who want an intense workout. We will walk at a fast speed and do some speed and agility drills, including uphill/downhill walking. You must have good Nordic walking technique to join this walk.

Fine-tuning your technique while walking

On our walk you will receive feedback to improve your technique (if you like). Here are some examples of some 'best mistakes'. Thank you, Caroline, for helping us demonstrate (she would not make these mistakes, of course...) !