Do those nordic poles really help in burning more calories?

The amount of calories burned may be higher, but hiking burns a huge number of calories, so more is not necessarily better. With hiking typically burning so many calories and being an activity that you do for over an hour, nutritional needs change and your body needs you to take in MORE calories while hiking. Simply burning more and more calories is not better. I feel that hiking poles are a great tool though for stability and preventing injury.

Yes, they are very popular. I found out that speciifically you can burn up to 40% more calories than you would without them. That was more than I would have guessed! At www.discoverwalking.com they say, " Burn up to 40% more calories and help prevent knee and hip injuries at the same time by using Nordic walking poles. Walking with rubber tipped walking poles can help provide you with a whole body workout without making you feel like you are working any harder. Europeans have used walking poles for years as a way to burn calories, increase heart rate and tone muscles. The concept is simple - the more muscles you use, the more calories you burn. The motion of the poles causes you to work your chest, back, abdominal, arm, butt and hip muscles harder than with walking alone." It makes sense to me!

I don't work out at a gym, but I make sure to exercise regularly. I do it for health reasons, and because it makes me feel great. But also to look good, strong and healthy. My favorite workout is going for a hike through the forest, and especially if the trail has a lot hills and climbing to do. But since I live in the city, I don't get to go hiking very often! So I go for long power-walks. I try to do an hour first thing in the morning, and my route is 4km long.