Keeping Fit and Having Fun on Your Roller Skates

Using roller skates to have fun on the move or to get fitter is a great plan. You can burn over 400 calories an hour (even 600 calories if you’re really moving fast) with roller skating, so it’s efficient and more fun than losing weight in a gym. It’s also a participation sport, so you can go with friends or a loved one and share the enjoyment together.

Here are a few suggestions for having fun and being healthier on wheels.

Keeping Fit on Roller Skates

Anyone who doesn’t enjoy walking in the park or jogging on a treadmill in a gym because they find it too boring will have more fun with roller skates. Being able to use a quality pair of roller skates to whizz around the park or practice your moves in a roller rink provides ideal exercise to improve your fitness. Skating is easier on the joints compared to running too.

From the wide outstretched legs to putting your thighs through their paces with quick stops and directional maneuvers, let alone taking a ramp to fly into the air and land safely, you’re getting a workout on wheels when you strap on your roller skates. If you make it a full body action when increasing your speed by bending forward slightly and pumping your arms forward and back, then you’ll get the arms, shoulders and back into the groove too. The hourly calorie burn is closer to running than walking, so anyone who has some pounds to lose will surely get a noticeable benefit.

Skating Birthday Party Venue

An indoor roller park is a great place to have a kids’ party. Most organized parks have a café or restaurant that can serve tasty food for all ages. Some have birthday party packages that include skating time, a special area just for the party and catered food. It depends on the size of the venue what the maximum allowable number of guests is, including the responsible parents, so be sure to check with the chosen venue first.

Learning Tricks

Before you can try some tricks on your roller skates, you must get the basics right. Standing up straight and holding position is the first thing you must be able to do. Avoiding falling over every couple of minutes is certainly on the list too! You also want to practice skating forward comfortably, taking turns at increasing speed and not wobbling as you do so. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you’re ready for something more advanced.

The first thing to learn is how to safely skate backward. You’ll want to find a flat area without anyone who’s likely to skate into your path. You need enough flexibility to use your knees to balance properly and avoid standing completely upright when you do. You may prefer to learn to skate in a circle or a figure-8 first, rather than skating backward in a straight line. It’s completely up to you.

There are plenty of things to try on wheels once you have a good pair of skates and you’re confident rolling around on them. The more regularly you practice, the better you’ll get too. Then almost anything is possible.