Walking is the New Workout: Nordic Walking Training for HKUST Staff and Bringing It into the Community with the Elderly

To combat common desk-bound strains like neck stiffness and back tension while fostering community care, we teamed up with HOPE worldwide to bring Nordic Walking to campus.

The initiative blended employee wellness with social impact: staff completed lunchtime training sessions before volunteering with local seniors at the HOPE centre in Shek Kip Mei.

What is Nordic Walking?

Originating in Finland as summer training for cross-country skiers, Nordic walking turns standard walking into a total-body workout. Using specially designed poles, walkers push off the ground with each stride, significantly increasing upper-body involvement and energy burn compared to regular walking.

Why Nordic Walking?

  • Engages 90% of Body Muscles: Activates the core, arms, shoulders, and back alongside the lower body.

  • Boosts Calorie Burn: Burns up to 20% more calories than walking at the same pace.

  • Relieves Joint & Neck Tension: Distributes weight across four contact points, cutting impact on knees and hips while easing shoulder tightness.

  • Improves Posture & Heart Health: Enhances spinal alignment, cardiovascular endurance, and dynamic stability.

Over three lunchtime sessions, 50 colleagues from 30 departments joined the training session. Feedback was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, with staff reporting feeling relaxed, energised, and mentally recharged. Several participants even proposed forming an official HKUST Nordic Walking Group to continue walking together regularly. A HKUST staff participant said, "Nordic walking uses a lot more muscles than purely walking, and it helps with my posture. I highly recommend it to everyone!"

Walking Alongside Seniors

Wellness at HKUST goes beyond campus borders. Following their training, our Impact Makers staff volunteers visited the HOPE centre in Shek Kip Mei to walk alongside local elderly residents.

Nordic walking poses great benefits for seniors: the poles provide lateral stability, enhance balance, build walking confidence, and reduce fall risks. The session allowed staff to reinforce their skills while sharing cross-generational connection with the community.

Trainer’s Perspective

Reflecting on the collaboration, Jonathan, a certified trainer from HOPE worldwide shared:

"We are absolutely thrilled to collaborate with HKUST to introduce Nordic Walking—a highly innovative health and wellness activity—to the campus community. Far more than just walking, it offers a comprehensive solution for both physical and mental well-being. For faculty and staff members who spend long hours on academic and administrative work, Nordic walking effectively relieves neck and shoulder tension caused by prolonged sitting, corrects posture, and engages over 90% of the body's muscles. Our ultimate hope is that this initiative will not only rejuvenate individual vitality but also closely unite the HKUST community, fostering a supportive, joyful, and dynamic culture of health and active living."

Looking forward, we hope to see Nordic walking becoming more popular on campus through regular practices, while continuing to bring staff and communities outside of campus together through Impact Makers programme. 

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