OnPoint Fitness requires a minimum of five (5) participants and a space in which to conduct the workshop. Contact Us for more details.

Watch a very young child walk. They have perfect walking form. However, as we age, we lose the relaxed movement of early childhood. We begin to emulate adult movement which changes with fashions and fads. Slouching becomes a fashion statement and everyone begins to slouch (think of the look of the Roaring 20’s).

We also get stiff. We drive our cars and don’t move enough. We slouch at our desk. We let our posture go. All of these changes affects our walking, and our walking affects our body movement.

The aches, pains and problems of aging are very much related to how we move and how much we move. Learning good walking form with ChiWalking® can prevent a myriad of problems later: back pain, knee pain, hip pain to name a few. Walking can help prevent arthritis. ChiWalking® uses elements of T’ai Chi which has been shown to improve balance, strength and improve cognition.

For those who walk for fitness or like to walk in distance events, good walking form is the key to a truly successful day. By learning good form you can walk more efficiently and with less wear and tear on the body.

Most people walk using the muscles in their legs primarily. And today, most people lead with their legs and pull themselves forward. ChiWalking teaches you to use your core muscles in the trunk of your body while tilting your posture slightly forward and leading with our upper body. This forward movement engages the pull the gravity, which then becomes your ally. In ChiWalking the arms are engaged and our posture and body alignment are used to become a more efficient, balanced walker.

ChiWalking® has similarities to power walking. There are a variety of ways to power walk. Most have you using a great deal of leg strength and pushing off with your feet. In ChiWalking® you relax your lower legs and let your forward tilt and the rotation of your spine move you forward, not the push off of your toes and feet. When you push with your feet you’re more apt to get shin splints and other lower leg injuries and problems.

Race walking is a very specific way to walk that is different from ChiWalking®. To learn to race walk correctly and to compete it is important that you know the rules, as you are required to use the race walking form in many events. You can read more about the differences in the ChiWalking® book.

In ChiWalking® one of our key concepts is Body Sensing. You should of course always check with your health practitioner before engaging in any fitness program, especially if you are injured, in pain, or recovering from illness. We also recommend really listening to your own body. Learn the lessons in the book and DVD really well, then practice very carefully and slowly. If it is causing more pain…stop. Body Sense and pay attention to what your body is telling you.

For some types of injury and pain, the ChiWalking® may be just what you need. For others, it may not be appropriate until you are more fully recovered.

ChiRunning® can work well with Galloway’s walk/run philosophy, however, we don’t believe people need the walk/run method once they can run a certain distance…3-5 miles, comfortably with the ChiRunning® method. Galloway’s program has you walking to prevent injury, but in ChiRunning® you are learning to run bio-mechanically correct and you do not need to walk to prevent injury.

However, beginner runners are working towards building stamina, conditioning and distance, and we do recommend taking a walking break when you feel you need one, but not as a regular practice, again, when you can run 3-5 miles comfortably.

We also highly recommend using the ChiWalking® method when you do walk.

If you can walk comfortably for a few blocks, you are ready for the ChiWalking® workshop and if you can run the same distance you are ready for ChiRunning®. ChiRunning® and ChiWalking® help to eliminate knee problems by eliminating the reason for why they come up in the first place. By teaching you how to prevent over-striding, and heel-strike, ChiRunning® and ChiWalking® puts the issue to rest permanently. It can also rid you of shin splints forever by keeping you off your toes. The foundation of ChiRunning®

We cannot make any guarantees that pain will be gone, however, we have numerous stories from people who are no longer in pain due to using proper body movement as described in ChiWalking®. When you move using correct biomechanics, your incidence of pain and discomfort will most likely be reduced.

Most definitely, you can learn the ChiWalking® method from the book. We’ve had people have breakthroughs with just a brief article. However the DVD can really help you see exactly what needs to happen. We’ve done our best with photos in the book, but there is nothing like a moving picture to explain movement. It also depends on you. Go through each lesson in the book slowly and carefully and you can learn a lot from the book alone.