This is an issue, which baffles most beginners.

As I have mentioned in earlier articles:"let me emphasize that gripping the pole should be compared to holding a little, live bird in your hand. In other words: don't let it escape, but do not squeeze the life out of it!"

Nordic walking poles' grips (and cross-country skiing ones as well) should be held very lightly - I believe that a better term would be "caressed" - since practically all of the force is channeled to the pole tips by properly adjusted straps and not the grips.

This creates a more fluid, flexible type of stride and motion, without the unnecessary rigidity, seen in the Nordic walking technique of some.

This hand contact with the grip varies, according to the pole position. Depending on one's stride, the base of the thumb and the base of the index finger touch the grip most of the time. The remaining fingers LIGHTLY touch, or caresses the grip several times, during each stride and pole movement.

Fingers "play" over the surface of the grip lightly. This could be compared to touching the frets of a guitar, rather than gripping the handle of a hammer.

A testimonial to this could be offered by the example of my own, personal pair of Swix CT2 poles, with the composite cork grips. Even after over 1,000 miles of Nordic walking, the grips still show the stencilled Swix logo, something that would have been rubbed off a long time ago, if I gripped the poles as hard as some people tend to do.

Don't get me wrong. The hand action in Nordic walking can be pretty forceful. The point is that practically all of that force is transmitted to the business end of the pole (the tip) through the straps and not through the grips.

Another common beginner's mistake is not planting the pole on every step. Swinging the poles back and forth with every second, or third step might give your arms a deceptively good workout, but you will not begetting much real benefit. You should plant your pole and leverage off of it with each and every step you take.

But, this is another topic. More on that soon in another post.