Roller-skating for fitness

Since its very first debut in 1735, roller-skating has taken the world by storm. It has been widely utilised by the American diner waitresses in the 1950s, the movies, and those simply seeking a majestic glide across the rink. However, using the humble roller-skate as a tool for exercise can be beneficial to your physical and mental health, burn calories and provide some fun along the way. Plus there are more ways than one to do it.

Skating is what’s known as a cardiovascular activity. This means it will get the heart pumping and the blood moving which is ideal when wanting to burn calories or improve your fitness levels. Skating at a consistent pace for an hour has been known to burn anywhere between 300 and 600 calories a session. But, the sport doesn't just assist with weight loss, it also works on muscle definition (it involves all 640+ of the body's muscles), improves your balance and reduces your risk of heart disease including the risk of strokes and heart failure.

Research has shown, rollerskating can even help with diabetes. This may seem like a stretch at first, but roller-skating is an aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise has been proven to help your body use and control your insulin better. And there are other benefits like reducing blood glucose levels and cholesterol.

There is also evidence that roller-skating has less impact on the body in terms of long-term muscle and joint injuries compared to other forms of exercise like running. The impact has actually been reported to be 50% fewer injuries than other sports whilst still gaining similar benefits in terms of exercise. Essentially, this is due to the fact that when you’re skating, you’re using a fluid motion and, with the exception of actually falling down, there should be no hard impact to the body at all (and if you do fall, an experienced skater will be wearing protective elbow and knee pads).

When focusing on our health, we should always pay just as much attention to our mental health as we do to our physical health. Roller-skating, along with its great physical health benefits, can provide us with incredible mental health benefits. It has been proven to increase good endorphins and what is known as ‘happy hormones’. In essence it’s excellent as a stress reliever - stress being something which is highly underestimated as a detriment to your overall health and life quality.

The ‘good endorphins’ have also been known to aid concentration, meaning not only will you feel naturally better within yourself, but you will also pick up things like your technique with much more ease. This will result in a sense of accomplishment which will also boost your serotonin levels.

There is more than one way to exercise using your trusty skates. Of course you can just strap them on, pick a location/direction and off you go. However, for those wanting to add something extra to the experience, there are options out there for you.

For example, artistic roller-skating takes extreme dedication. For some it isn't just a way to stay fit but can become a way of life and is therefore taken incredibly seriously. Artistic roller skating is considered harder than figure skating due to its need for complex and technical discipline. The weight of the roller-skates and the fact that it’s much easier to spin on ice than the hard wood of a rink are also contributing factors when comparing the difficulty levels. The type of skates you choose to wear (quad-skates, inline-skates or rollerblades) will then determine which competitions you enter and you will never find two different types competing against each other. There are lots of forms of artistic roller-skating including figure, freestyle, solo dance, couples dance, free dance and team skating.

Created for the more hardcore among us, there’s also (flat track) roller derby competitions. Put simply, roller derby is a full contact sport with a fast pace to it that takes no hostages. There are a lot of rules attached to the sport, for example penalties for hitting in specific areas. Penalties are very common and are awarded without pausing the game. The player simply goes to a penalty box and returns to the game after an amount of time. The sport is not for the faint of heart but can be a lot of fun for both those participating and the spectators. So if you are a fierce, passionate competitor looking to try something new and different, roller derby would be highly recommended.

Overall, roller-skating is an incredibly underrated and excellent form of fitness that should be more highly recommended and comes with an abundance of benefits, both mental and physical. If you fancy giving it a try, book your session at Roller City and find out just how fun keeping fit can be!