Skating for Fun and Fitness for a Lifetime
Why should we all skate no matter what our age? Because you get a lot for a little: It's a bargain! One of the greatest active sports that everyone of all ages can participate is skating.
If you can walk, you have enough balance to try skating. Today people of all ages, beginning at two to three years, up to their nineties can skate for fun and fitness. The fun is clearly seen, but the benefits of skating can be somewhat obscure. Walking uses similar muscles as skating and both have their benefits. However, gliding1 across the rink on blades has unusual freedom with ever increasing rewards. Skating burns calories at an increased rate, aids vascular2 cleaning and improves balance. It is well known that walking has benefits for all ages; but there are many more benefits from skating.
Nobody wants to store extra energy as fat so we have to burn a significant portion of what we eat. Some nutrients3 go to replacing wear and tissue; some goes to fat that we must burn or it is stored. One defense4 for this accumulation is to burn the energy during exercise by increasing the work done by the arms and legs. Both the arms and legs are able to consume calories in proportion to their muscle volume. This ratio could be estimated by comparing the volume of these body parts. For example: the thigh5 muscle is roughly ten times the volume of the arm muscle. Thus skating is a much more efficient use of time burning calories.
At first, we might consider running for exercise. However, we must consider how we apply the force to our joints6 and bones. Skating applies a lower force over a longer stroke and can efficiently7 burn more fat energy calories per stroke than a larger force for a shorter stroke.
The deciding choice is always a lower force applied8 over a longer stroke because it is more effective and lower in body strain.
Most of us are short on time to spend at any sport, so we need to consider the greatest calorie energy output for the shortest time spent. The skating calorie energy applied is two to three times the rate of walking type energy consumption. You can expect the same benefit of calorie type consumption as walking in approximately one third of the time as walking.
Another benefit to skating is the air that one breathes. In the rink, the air may be thirty to forty degrees and thus more dense9 than the room type air that you breathe. Dense air can burn more calories at an ever increasing rate as the air temperature is lowered. This accounts for the euphoric feeling after a pleasant one half to three quarters of an hour of skating.
A third skating benefit is the vascular action of gentle flushing and widening of the arteries10 in the legs and the tiny vessels11 in the toes. The heartbeat energy wave moves down to your toes and a portion of the energy wave returns. What is left to come back can add to your next heartbeat. This can save your next heartbeat work in proportion to the size of the return wave energy. It is clear that the greater the energy, the less work your heart has to do in a twenty-four hour day. Believe me, it can give you back some youth that you once had!
One of the nicest advantages to skating is an improvement of balance. Your brain can process balance clues quite well, but if the output muscles are weak, the response energy is quite late.
Skating develops the calf12, thigh, ankle and foot muscles that control balance. The more you skate, the better your balance becomes because these muscles become strengthened.
But what about the fun? Increasing your stability, fitness and confidence are all good things, but the greatest thing about skating is the fun. Skating in the rink feels like floating and provides a real sense of freedom and relaxation13 that takes you away from the demands and stress of daily life. Give it a try and you'll see...c;mon out and skate!
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