Practicing What?

Today, while jogging, I saw the strangest sort of exercise.

This woman was jog/walking, but in both of her hands she held ski poles. Yes, ski poles and she was wearing what appeared to be a winter cap, only it didn't have the fuzz ball thing dangling from it. But she was in shorts and a t-shirt. At first I thought that maybe she used the poles to guide her, that she needed them for sight. But as she got closer, I noticed that she moved them the way a skier would move them to help guide themselves down a mountainside. And then I knew that she wasn't blind because as I started to approach her she smiled and mouthed the words "good morning".

Was she building up stamina for something? Is this the way some skiers exercise? Maybe I'm a little ignorant in the new fads of exercise, but I've never seen anything like it.

I've seen people power walk, which looks kinda funny--at least to me it looks funny. I've seen bicycles built for two, and people actually using them. I've seen people do their whole treadmill routine, backwards (they actually walk backwards on the treadmill for an hour duration). I've even seen these work-out buddies punch each other in the stomach while they are doing sit-ups. I've even seen people ski on flat land. But I've never seen someone use the ski poles as part of their exercise routine. Makes me wonder what people will do to get in shape.