Roller skating is a very popular recreational activity in recent years but can it benefit your body? If so, in what ways? In this article i’m going to explore some answers to the question, is roller skating good exercise. I will talk about which muscles are involved and how many calories it burns. Let’s get started!
Is roller skating good exercise – which muscles are involved?
In order to answer fully the question, is roller skating good exercIse, we first need to consider which muscles are involved. Roller skating strengthens many key muscles in the body.
Roller skating primarily strengthens the lower body muscles including the hamstrings, the calves, the glutes and the quads. It also requires use of the body’s core – for the skater to maintain stability.
Quads and glutes
When your knees are bent and you maintain this posture, for balance and stabiliy, this is engaging the quads and glutes in the same way as when you squat or lunge. This is building muscles on your glutes and quads and strengthening them.
Depending on the style of skating, the skater may reach a plateau with this. The body will only provide enough muscle and strength as is required for the repetitive activities!
Core
The muscles required to engage the core for roller skating are the transversus abdominus muscles. These are the deep seated muscles which are responsible for stabilising the spine. They are not the muscles which sit on top of the abdominals which can be seen when someone gets a six pack – they are deeper and more ‘core’ than this.
Another set of core muscles are the rectus abdominis and the erector spinae (located at the lower back) and the pelvic floor which works in consistency with the transversus abdominus to provide stability.
The core muscles help prevent a collapse of correct posture.
They provide balance and stability by helping to control knee and ankle stability, needed for staying upright.
The core also helps to facilitate a change in direction by allowing rotation to take place.
Whilst all of these muscle groups are involved, it is worth nothing that it’s possibly difficult to perform progressive overload in skating like it would be with going to the gym… However, when you consider the cardio and the use of all of these muscles, the skater will probably maintain a slim, toned figure from regular skating.
So what about burning calories and cardio?
Roller skating can burn between 300 and 600 calories per hour, which makes it a very useful, high intensity workout when compared to other forms of cardio.
When you consider inline skating this is significantly more, and the range of calories burned per hour can range from 350 to 900 per hour! Skating at a reasonable pace, could burn approximately 360 calories per hour or more, and high intensity skating such as when going up hill, can burn 900 calories per hour. The amount burned will depend on the weight of the skater and body composition.
Are there any other benefits to roller skating?
Other important benefits which derive from the cardio aspect of roller skating include strengthening the heart and lungs, improving circulation, aiding with weight loss, reducing risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. It also reduces blood pressure and relieves stress and anxiety.
Conclusion – Is Roller Skating Good Exercise?
Roller skating is absolutely good exercise! It trains and tones multiple different muscle groups at once and strengthens the core and pelvic floor which is especially important for women and moms!
It also forms a great method of getting some cardio in – which is great for your heart and overall health. It burns calories at a significant rate which can be great for anyone trying to lose weight, reduces risk of certain cancers, improves anxiety and stress and reduces blood pressue.
So what are you waiting for? Grab a pair of skates and get going! 🙂
