Wondering about walking

Feeling much better after a good night's sleep - the full moon is past and I am convinced that it affects my sleep pattern - I always lie awake on the night of the full moon. My dog also gets a little strange at that time and sits in the garden making funny howling noises - he seems disturbed by something and then it just goes away. Perhaps it is all to do with the magnetic energy in our bodies!

Looking like a good morning for a quick walk along the boardwalk with my Bunjypump sticks. I must say I still feel a bit stupid walking with them and put that down to the fact that we don't ski in South Africa and are therefore not used to this action with arms and sticks when we walk. But when I think of the style of the old 'walkers' who we used to see walking along the road in the 60s and 70s before running became the thing, I remember how they walked with their wrists level with their elbows and had a distinct swinging action together with an odd hip movement. If you have ever tried walking like that, as I have, you will find that it is an extremely comfortable and effective motion, and I would be really interested to know how it originated and why nobody seems to do it any more. If anyone who reads this knows what I am talking about (!) and can enlighten me, I would love to hear.

So I think that it is the action of having the wrists and elbows level when you hold the sticks that enables you to walk more easily than having your arms by your side. This brings to mind another thing I discovered the other day regarding comfort when walking. If you are carrying shopping bags it is difficult to move yourself forward as you can't swing your arms and your legs have to work harder. By raising your wrists to elbow level, it suddenly alters the weight distribution and you can walk with greater ease and less effort. I am sure this is a special design of the body and is another thing I would like to hear more about from perhaps a kineticist?

Anyway, enough musings for the morning. I'm off with the Bungypump. See you on the boardwalk!