THE PROS: After you crawl, you take your first steps, then you’re on your own. But no one teaches you how to walk properly. There is a right and wrong way to do it. CoreWalking teaches you to walk efficiently to preclude a life of misalignment, compensation, and chronic pain.

Before you can efficiently run, you need to learn to walk efficiently! This seems to be obvious; but many people just don’t understand the basic principles of efficient walking!

By this I mean that the majority of persons don’t really know how to walk while observing the laws of physics. Many of the precepts of efficient walking will transfer to running economy and running injury free. It is therefore of critical importance to walk correctly from the outset.

Core Walking is a program developed by Jonathan Fitzgordon in response to stubbornly suffering through 3 knee surgeries and repeatedly injuring himself even then. Subsequently, he stepped back and took a good look at how  the body really works. Jonathan, who practices yoga since 1995, was also the owner and operator of the yoga center of Brooklyn from 2001-2009.

In my own rehabilitation Journey of 1975 (pre 82nd airborne jump school), I used many of the tenets that Jonathan discovered in developing  his injury-free methods that came to be known as CoreWalking.

The most crucial of these concepts, upon which the rest of body alignment follows, is that of parallel feet. As I discovered in my rehabilitation efforts, so did Jonathan in his practice. Just as proper foot alignment allowed me to jump out of airplanes and save my knees on landing, so did that principle allow Jonathan to overcome 3 knee surgeries and successfully parlay that in his life’s pursuit.

As soon as I realized that Jonathan understood this cornerstone of proper body mechanics, I knew I had found someone who intimately understood the functional anatomy of the human body! And indeed, whether walking or running, the orientation of the body relies on the first point of contact: the feet! 

While the orientation of my feet was the singular focal point of my rehabilitation, Jonathan offers a wealth of information of how the rest of the body needs to align to be free of pain and injury. CoreWalking is 100% aligned with my idea of proper body mechanics for optimal mobility now and in your future!

I therefore feel totally confident in recommending CoreWalking to anyone who has pain as I did. Whether you run, want to, or not, proper walking is the place to start for a pain-free body that will propel you through  life’s Journey.

THE CONS: TIME! It will take time. If you don’t have parallel feet by nature, it will take time to adopt this way of moving instinctively. It took me 8-9 months of constant practice and awareness to walk, then run, with parallel feet as opposed to landing duck-toed. If you want it yesterday, and don’t put in the practice, there are plenty of other sites that offer a quick fix!