About classes :: Beginning last fall we made some significant changes to our programming. First, we introduced a membership option. Each class has a membership option. With this option, you can attend that specific class but also any other class we offer – at any time, day or location. For example, you may want to attend Tuesday evening WYBO HP2 downtown Toronto with Coach Krista because it is convenient after work. If you live in Burlington, you could attend the WYBO HP 3 at 7am in Oakville with Lee. When you sign up for a specific class it gives us an idea of attendance at that class. If you have another class you know you want to attend, please let us know. It makes for some fun walking because you can enjoy the different classes offered by different coaches. Each coach has a new way of looking at walking drills. These differences mean that your body will be surprised by the workout. And one of the fundamental principles of exercise physiology is that your body needs to be shocked into change and improvement! Membership sells for $180 +GST* and it lasts until the last class in August. No matter how you look at it, you can not lose.

Another new offering from last fall that we have continued this spring is the Walk Your Butt Off Fitness program. We know that it is just plain tough to stay committed to an active life when you have pretty much spent your entire life avoiding it – or even just the last year! This program is designed to help you make a difference. We meet three times a week and we make sure that you walk fast those three times. We conduct a benchmark walk during the first week and everyone improves by the 6th week. It’s an ideal combination of good workouts with coaching support and learning. To provide continuing support to our “fitness” stream participants, we are pleased to announce that we will begin a Fitness 2 course on May 18 at 9:30am in Oakville. It will meet for 60 minutes for 6 weeks (anyone with a membership may attend this class as well).

Spring/summer session began May 1! Sign up now. For spring, all WYBO High Performance classes will feature some work on strength and balance in addition to our always fun and challenging walking speed intervals.

* We are experiencing a transitional challenge with the HST. If you register online after April 30 for a membership, we will have to track you down for HST for the July-August portion of that membership. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience. After June 30, HST will be applied to all classes.

Nutrition Tip :: My first encounter with GU was at the Toronto Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon in 2001 where, in flagrant defiance of my own coaching advice, I accepted one of the slurpy snacks from an earnest volunteer. EEEEUUU, not GU, would be a better name. Instant cramps ensued. Of course, I had not taken enough water for that whack of carbohydrates to hit my gut. Another marathon lesson learned. While I now know that hydration is the key to ingesting these high glycemic carb snacks, I have made a personal decision to suck viscous food from vacuum-pack container only if I am lucky enough to be chosen for a mission to the International Space Station. I’m sure gels work for people – and any refuelling is better than being hauled off the course in a delirious state of carb depletion – but I’m sticking to stuff I can pull out of a package with two fingers.

WoW Power Walking® coaches are
proud to wear New Balance shoes.

When walking becomes running :: We are so fortunate in southern Ontario to have many races that now feature walking divisions: before the end of the summer we have the Mississauga Half Marathon, the Moon in June, the Alfie Shrubb 8k, the OTMH Classic 5k, a Midsummer Night’s 15k Walk, the Chocolate Race (half marathon and 10k), and more. As walking divisions become more popular, race organizers and participants alike will be asking for clearer direction on how to identify a runner/jogger from a walker. While we at WoW Power Walking have never believed that this direction should become so cumbersome that people are discouraged from entering walking divisions, we know how frustrating it is to train for months to walk a race only to have someone gamely pass you by with a serious knee bend advantage. It is early knee bend and the resulting bobbing up and down that is indicative of a running gait. Excessive knee bend will give a walker a mechanical advantage over a straight-leg walker. At the same time there are many reasons why people can not maintain a straight leg after the front heel strike and it would be a shame to make walking divisions so complicated that no one wants to bother with them. I am encouraging race organizers to cope with the challenges they face with their walking divisions on two fronts: send out clear walking directions early and frequently to walkers and runners who have registered for their event; and have a system for protest at the end of the race whereby a participant can “protest” another racer for not walking. While these accommodations may seem unwieldy to race organizers, I believe the effort will prove to be fruitful in the long term as the percentage of walkers in races increases each year. Such a system will also encourage excellence in walking – a goal of WoW Power Walking since our inception.

Strength tip :: The evidence continues to mount that traditional crunches are simply too risky for our spines. While it may be tough for us to imagine any other way to exercise away that mid-life paunch, we need to take the studies seriously and get creative. First, it helps to understand that the abdominal muscles that do the hard work to truly support our back are wrapped around our middle (internal and external obliques), they do not run up and down the front (rectus abdominus). Second, the load on the lower lumbar spine when doing traditional crunches is enough to fracture the vertebrae of osteoporotic individuals. We should work on obliques by exercises like side planks or traditional planks with twist and balance challenges. Still, it’s not as if a weak rectus abdominus is a good idea. Every morning we have to pull ourselves from horizontal to vertical. The rectus abdominus certainly plays a role in that movement. Here is an idea that incorporates back extension (which is often recommended as a rehab movement for people suffering low back pain) with a challenge to the rectus abdominus. Stand with your back to a waist-height counter. Take a breath in. As you exhale slowly extend back over the counter, as far as possible. You may end up staring at the ceiling. Hold that position for one breath. Take another breath in. As you exhale, pull yourself to vertical. Take it slowly and feel that rectus abdominus contract to pull you forward. Repeat 8-12 times.

Races :: Last newsletter we mentioned the following races as our favourites because they offer walking divisions. Here are a few more. Moon in June on June 5 (Burlington) and Midsummer Night’s Run in August (Toronto). Finally, if you want a coveted place at the après-race luncheon of the Run for the Toad, it’s time to sign up. Walking spots sell out fast!

Words to walk and live by . . .
He who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him.

~Dutch Proverb