The power of walking posture

It's a beautiful Sunday summer morning. The trail of runners and walkers of varying ages and sizes is impressive. There are more people on foot than in cars. This is a good thing.

Still, the critic, or should I say the coach, in me looks at many of the runners and thinks: "You should be power walking!"

As much as I like the sight of people outdoors, and especially people outdoors getting a workout, I look at many of these runners and I see poor form. Poor form during exercise always translates into poor form (read poor posture) in real life. These people are running with their shoulders stooped, their heads protruding as if they are hunkered over a computer screen or their heads completely dropped looking at their feet, and even though many never get both feet off the ground they are still landing heavily on bent knees in an effort to be "running". I know that they would do their bodies a huge favour if they were to take on a tall posture and a good walking stride. The workout would be the same, the muscles of the rear would get more toned, and their "take-home" posture would improve tenfold.

We just need a way to get the message out…it’s sort of like the walking with weights issue. Do we make suggestions as we encounter the slouchy runner? Something like “You should try power walking. It really opens up the rib cage!” Do we surreptitiously slide a WoW Power Walking business card in their water bottle holder?

As usual, suggestions are welcome.