Chi Walking: Fitness Walking for Lifelong Health and Energy (Paperback)

by Danny Dreyer (Author), Katherine Dreyer (Author)
Key Phrases: level your pelvis, strides per minute, aerobic walk, T'ai Chi, Chi Walking, Body Sensing (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This program will totally revolutionize the way you run."

-- Baron Baptiste, author of Journey into Power

"ChiRunning gave me a precious gift. After being unable to run for ten years because of injury, at age 52 I'm again enjoying pleasurable, injury-free trail runs in the Shawangunk Mountains.I can now move on land with the same economy, flow, and mindfulness that make swimming such bliss for me. I tell people that ChiRunning is an owner's manual for anyone who has legs and the desire to use them for health and happiness."

-- Terry Laughlin, author of Total Immersion

"The most exciting and revolutionary book to hit the running community this decade."

-- Toby Tanser, author of Train Hard, Win Easy

Product Description
A revolutionary program that blends the health benefits of walking with the core principles of T'ai Chi to deliver maximum physical, mental, and spiritual fitness

The low-impact health benefits of walking have made it one of the most popular forms of daily exercise. Yet few people experience all the benefits that walking can offer.

In ChiWalking, Danny and Katherine Dreyer, well-known walking and running coaches, teach the walking technique they created that transforms walking from a mundane means of locomotion into an intensely rewarding practice that enhances mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Similar to Pilates, yoga, and T'ai Chi, ChiWalking emphasizes body alignment and mindfulness while strengthening the core muscles of the body.

The five mindful steps of the ChiWalking program will get anyone, regardless of age or athletic ability, into great shape from head to toe, inside and out.

1. Get aligned. Develop great posture and better balance.

2. Engage your core. Make back and knee pain disappear.

3. Create balance. Walk faster, farther, and with less effort.

4. Make a choice. Choose from a menu of twelve great walks such as the Cardio Walk, the Energizing Walk, or the Walking Meditation, to keep your exercise program fresh.

5. Move forward. Make walking any distance a mindful, enjoyable experience, whether you're a beginner or a seasoned walker.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Fireside (March 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743267206
• ISBN-13: 978-0743267205
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,437 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Books > Sports > Individual Sports > Martial Arts > Taichi
  #6 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Exercise & Fitness > Walking
  #6 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Exercise & Fitness > Tai Chi & Qi Gong

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much better than expected, April 26, 2006

By	L. A. Kane (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When my grandfather had open heart surgery at age 85 some 20 years ago, he was one of the oldest people in the United States ever to have done so. The reason the doctors were willing to perform the risky surgery at all was because he was in otherwise outstanding health, primarily due to his daily two mile walks. He not only had a full recovery, but continued his routine until shortly before his death at age 98. That says a lot about the power of walking for fitness, especially for those who are unwilling or unable to run. Having said that, however, I couldn't imagine that you'd need to know much more about walking than whatever is required to motivate you do to it in the first place. Apparently I was wrong...

In this surprisingly engaging tome you will learn about intelligent walking, ways to move more efficiently and healthfully as you walk for pleasure or exercise. The authors describe a five step process: getting aligned, engaging your core, creating balance, making a choice (e.g., cardio walking, energy walking, and meditation walking), and moving forward. Contents include body alignment, balance, focus, body sensing, flexibility, breathing, and other important aspects of a healthy exercise routine. There is also some good information that compares and contrasts on- vs. off-road walking (or hiking) as well as treadmill routines. There are also short sections on nutrition, choosing proper footwear, and other peripherals too. It feels like the authors were stretching to find new things to say that were not repeats of their previous book Chi Running in many places, yet it was surprisingly good nevertheless.

Chi Running was a great book, one I've found personally quite useful, but I had very low expectations for this one. I was pleasantly surprised. It really is a pretty darn good tome, particularly if you have not read the first one.

Lawrence Kane
Author of Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you love to walk, don't pass this book by!, August 10, 2006

By	O. Brown "Ms. O. Khannah-Brown" (Twopeas, WA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

****
"ChiWalking: The Five Mindful Steps for Lifelong Health and Energy" is a life-changing book for a walker. ChiWalking is essentially a way of using the body's energy system to maximize your walking experience. This encompasses a variety of things, from the form or posture you use when walking, to how you move, to what you think of or meditate on or focus on, and much more.

Before I started ChiWalking, I had a lot of pain in my left hip. Since learning the ChiWalking technique, I have no more hip pain.

However, I availed myself of much more than just the ChiWalking book. I started with the book, and thus understood what I needed to do and why. I am not very good at translating something from a book to action, so I wasn't able to duplicate the movements on my own from just the book alone. I would not blame this on the book, however, because the book is very clear, and would be really beneficial for those readers who can pick up mechanical movements from illustrations and exposition. I then purchased the ChiWalking DVD, which helped a lot. I saw people practicing what I had read about in the book. Still, I could not translate that into action, mainly because of my learning limitations. However, it excited me and motivated me to take a ChiWalking seminar in a nearby large city. In the seminar I received feedback as to what I was doing wrong. This was what was most helpful to me. Without the book, however, I would not have had the background to fully implement the instruction I received or to really incorporate it into my walking practice.

The ChiWalking book thoroughly explains theory and practice behind ChiWalking. It is where you should start to find out if ChiWalking can help you to be a better walker. It explains all steps, skills, technique, how to design a personal program, variations such as hiking, off-road walking, and treadmill walking, plus various specially designed walks to develop your "chi" or overall energy.

If you love to walk, you should own this book. If you want to walk, but have had problems doing so, you should own this book. Even if you just implement the proper form in your walking, you will benefit from reading "ChiWalking". If you are intrigued at all by the idea of your personal energy system and walking, I would highly recommend this book.
****

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Danger of knee injury, August 19, 2008

By	John Van Horne - See all my reviews

Chi Running is one of my favorite running books because it taught me to run in a way that is effortless and natural. In Chi Walking, running coach Danny Dreyer applies the same principles to walking, but in my experience this does not work. The basic method in both books is to let the body tilt forward slightly so gravity pulls you along. In running this works fine because your feet land more on the toes thus absorbing the weight of the body with no shock. In walking however you land more on the heels or midfoot, so if you are tilted forward falling towards gravity, the full weight of the body slams the knees with each step.

After trying this method of walking for half an hour I was feeling this slamming and tension in my knees, and figured I might be doing it wrong. I carefully reread the instructions and made the forward tilt very slight, tried to land on the midfoot rather than heel, etc., yet still the knees were slammed with each step, and all my back muscles became tense from holding the slight tilt position. After three miles, I stopped because it was quite clear I was forcing my body into an unnatural motion and damaging it.

I looked on Mr. Dreyers blog where he notes that "umpteen" reader have complained that their feet were "slapping the pavement much harder" with this approach. He acknowledges that landing on the heels in this way is indeed "unhealthy for your knees, the slapping can bruise the metatarsal heads." He suggests that a change of technique--landing on the midfoot directly under the body, and twisting the pelvis--will completely eliminate this hazard. In my experience this is simply not true. These corrections slightly soften the bow, but there is still a noticeable shock to the knees on each step (the full weight of the body hits the knees at once instead of rocking onto them).

Mr. Dreyer as pictured in the book is a very light, small-framed person, so he can probably get way with walking like this. A heavier person using this approach regularly will in my opinion almost certainly damage their knees over the long term (or more likely they will stop using it because it feels so jarring and unnatural). The corrections Mr. Dreyer suggests are complex, subtle and insufficient to fully eliminate the increased shock of this method.

In my opinion this is a very risky technique, virtually impossible to use without shocking the legs and knees, hence the one star.

Addendum: The day after my three-mile trial of Chi Walking my knees are aching like I jumped off a ledge. Looking through my racewalking books, all advise upright posture, warning that a forward tilt puts strain on the neck muscles and knees. Ron Laird, who won more national championships than any other racewalker, writes in Fast Walking, "Keep an upright posture with your hips directly underneath you... leaning too far forward from your ankles or waist puts extra pressure on the knee joint."

I think Mr. Dreyer is unwise to assume the many readers who complained are all doing it wrong. They are alerting him that his emphasis on forward leaning is imbalanced and potentially injurious.