Everybody has a better and a weaker side - left or right - when it comes to exercise. This becomes very apparent when performing Nordic Walking. While there's nothgin wrong with that, the aim is to improve the weaker side and bring it up to level with your "chocolate" side.
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07/01/11: Side Dominance
This is one of my favourite topics. Eliminating side dominance is the key to progressive Nordic Walking. The instructor needs to make a thorough assessment of his/her students to define the degree of each individual’s side dominance.
Side dominance is manifested by the weaker side having a lesser degree of arm raising on the forward movement (often with a bent elbow) - this can best be seen by having the student walk towards you. Also side dominance results in a smaller stride on the weaker side compared to the stronger side – this can be assessed by the instructor standing square to the student as they Nordic Walk past them – chalk marks on the ground are useful to get a measure of the stride difference.
Side dominance is prevalent with people who have played a sport where only one arm is used e.g. squash , badminton. This results in a pronounced difference in muscle development in the arm/shoulder of the playing arm.
Side dominance can be addressed by a combination of single poling on the weaker side and/or getting the student to make a conscious effort to “throw” the hand forward on the weaker side when Nordic Walking. Personally , I prefer to concentrate on single poling as this causes the body to move in an asynchronous way – something the human body does not like to do. This in turn makes it harder for the core to work to keep the torso straight thus strengthening the weaker side of the body. Elimination of side dominance will then allow the student to really use progression to get the most out of their Nordic Walking session.
For those who really want to work the core muscles of the torso , then alternate side single poling is an excellent activity.
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