When somebody tells you to go take a hike, it doesn’t sound like a very nice suggestion.
When somebody tells the members of the St. Albert Trekkers Volkssport Club to go take a hike, they take that advice literally and gratefully. They say that there’s nothing better than the healthful benefits of going for a good sound walk in the park.
Walking, after all, is humankind’s best medicine. Hippocrates said that, although he probably said it in Greek. He wasn’t a world-famous walker but he did make his name as a famous physician and an otherwise important figure in history and quotable quotes though. So maybe he wasn’t the first person to recognize how wonderful it is to stretch one’s legs and saunter around the Acropolis. As an activity, walking literally goes back many centuries. If you’ve got legs, well, then you should use them.
There’s really nothing like it. In fact, there’s a group of people who make a regular point of going out together to pound the pavement, catch some fresh air, and walk wherever their feet can take them. They’re called the St. Albert Trekkers – but please don’t make any Captain Kirk jokes. These Trekkers are marching together in the name of Volkssport, although it seems farther away from being a true sport in that there are no referees officiating.
“It’s not competitive,” David Hall averred, offering a catchy slogan. “It’s meant for fun, fitness and friendship. That’s our motto.”
The movement originated in Germany – “hence the ‘Volks’ meaning ‘the people’ in ‘Volkssport’ like ‘Volkswagen’,” he clarified – with American army troops based there after the end of the Second World War. Once they learned about volksmarching, the German word for non-competitive fitness walking, they took to the trails and never looked back.
“They thought, ‘Oh, this is great!’ so they all came back and started clubs in each of the 50 states and the 10 provinces,” Hall, the national vice-president of Volkssport Canada, continued.
Indeed, it was great and it still is today. It’s the trend that has taken 70 years to really gain a foothold. “I’ve been doing it about 10 years,” Hall noted, probably referring to these organized walks and not walking in general.
The St. Albert group is the second oldest one in the province even though it’s only been around since 1985. They walk all year round mostly around the city but they also plan destination walks like the one set for Waterton Lakes National Park in the fall. Of course, you have to wear more of a hiking shoe in the mountains, Hall advised, and be more careful about how much water you take too. Bear spray isn’t a bad idea either.
Nothing, not even bears, will stop them. They’re that keen. They’re probably walking as you read this, or thinking about walking. If they’re asleep, then my bet is that they’re dreaming about walking.
And if they aren’t dreaming about walking, my guess is that they’re dreaming about footwear.
“That’s our biggest conversation piece: what socks do you wear? What shoes do you buy?”
But this isn’t really the place where appearance and corporate logos take precedence. Just keep walking. That’s what matters.
Hall has kept on walking and he’s put a few clicks on his old personal pedometer too. If an average kilometre equals approximately 1,300 steps, then he has personally contributed more than 26 million steps towards his current tally.
The prescribed walks are typically five to 10 km in length. You can see these groups (of between 10 and 70 people) out there a few times a week during the summer and they keep tabs on the cumulative distances that they have personally traversed under their own foot power. Hall humbly admitted that he’s already surpassed the 21,000-km mark.
Sharon Tchir, a member since 2010, has a bit of catching up to do to get where he’s at.
“I’m working on 13,000 km. I just finished 12,000 km.”
She said that she started because she always liked walking – hey, who wouldn’t? – and she simply needed another activity no matter what the time of year.
“I needed something to do. I noticed the ad in the Gazette’s What’s On section and I thought of coming out. I waited about a year. There was a walk in February. Who would’ve thought? I came out for that.”
The group that she walked with included some people from her past workplace. Fun, fitness and friendship … right?
“We chatted and you know … 10 km went by way faster than I thought it would. So then I just kept on coming,” she continued. “It’s a good social gathering. It’s a good activity that gets you going. I always find that it’s good psychologically to be walking. It’s good for the spirit. It’s good for the mind. It’s good for the body.”
Hall agreed. There are no downsides to walking.
“We had one member who was a competitive walker but he was having trouble with his joints as he was getting older so he downgraded to this. A lot of empty nesters … you know you’re busy with kids when they’re in school but all of a sudden they leave: ‘Gee, what am I going to take up?’”
Take up the most natural activity. It’s good for your mind, for your spirit, and yes indeed, for your body, too.
“That’s what the doctors say. I had back surgery last year. ‘Go out and walk.’”
Walking is man's best medicine. – Hippocrates
A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. – Paul Dudley White
Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow. – Henry David Thoreau
My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing. – Aldous Huxley
When you have worn out your shoes, the strength of the sole leather has passed into the fibre of your body. I measure your health by the number of shoes and hats and clothes you have worn out. He is the richest man who pays the largest debt to his shoemaker. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1851
Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. – SĹ™ren Kierkegaard
The best remedy for a short temper is a long walk. – Jacqueline Schiff
Walking is also an ambulation of mind. – Gretel Ehrlich
Walking is good for solving problems — it's like the feet are little psychiatrists. – Terri Guillemets
I stroll along serenely, with my eyes, my shoes, my rage, forgetting everything. – Pablo Neruda, translation
Walking, when it can be borne for an hour or two without fatigue, is, of all exercises, the best. It is that which nature intends for us. There is no other accompanied with such a uniform and regular action of the muscles and joints; and from the valvular structure of the veins of the extremities, it is better fitted than any other to promote the circulation, and consequently all the functions of the system. It is also the most agreeable mode of exercise. – A.P. Wilson Philip, M.D.
According to the Mayo Clinic, regular brisk walking can help you:
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Prevent or manage heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes;
• Strengthen your bones and muscles;
• Improve your mood; and
• Improve your balance and coordination.
