Quick Tip: Walk for Life

Walking is one of the most underrated and underutilized forms of training for performance skiers and paddlers. The gains are bountiful and it can really dial an athlete into moving better, being more aware, and improving overall technique in any sport.

A walk can be apart of your recovery Zone 1 and or Zone 2 aerobic conditioning or just a relaxing time with yourself or others.

Here are some cues I use for myself that have upped my game for success.

1.) Be aware of the proper alignment of your feet and getting a good drive off of your big toe.

2.) Inhale fully, quietly, and smoothy for diaphragmatic function.

3.) Increase your situational awareness by feeling your senses with your surroundings. Put the phone away!

4.) Control and align your chest so as not to have rib flair.

5.) Move slowly and fluidly while visualizing your sport and how you can be better at that task.

6.) Feel your chest and hips rotate smoothly. Allow for the arms to move as well. This one helps awareness for harnessing shoulder power for paddlers and hip countering for skiers.

7.) Check in with your balance fore and aft and side to side for harmony verses asymmetry.

8.) Whatever your glitch in your sport technique is, walking is a great place to feel, correct, and cognitively ‘dial it in’.

9.) Do you walk with good, strong posture or hunched and weak posture?

10.) Throw in some occasional skipping and then bring it back down to a walk and be observant how well or not you have moved.