Health benefits of ice skating

Whether you are a professional ice skater, young child, withdrawn, student, or homemaker, you can gain health benefits from ice skating.

Being in itself an aerobic exercise like walking, running and swimming, it offers positive effects on cardiovascular health. An advantage over running is that it is not as hard on the joints, as it is a low impact exercise, unless you do jumps while ice skating. Maintains healthy heart muscles, providing significant protection against coronary artery disease and subsequent heart attacks. It also helps with weight loss, as 250 to 810 calories per hour can be burned with recreational ice skating, according to the US Figure Skating Association website. Meanwhile, competitive skating consumes more calories, 450 to 1080 per hour of skating. Just to illustrate, a 68 kg man who skates continuously for an hour burns as many calories as when he runs five miles in an hour.

As with other sports activities, ice skating also improves endurance. Stamina increases when one maintains a steady, steady pace for a longer period of time. However, it is important that it is okay to settle for short distances at first, but over time these should be gradually increased so that the resistance also increases.

Ice skating also improves muscle tone. When ice skating, the quads and hamstrings are the leg muscles that do the most work, but many other muscles in the body work in conjunction with these leg muscles. The abdominal and back muscles also need to contract and relax to maintain an upright posture and balance.

Mental fitness is also improved with ice skating, as you exercise mind control during the act. You need to be very alert and aware while skating. It is a de-stressor and a form of relaxation for many people who use it as a means of breaking free from the stresses of life and work. The fresh air and sunshine in outdoor ice skating, as well as the company of family and friends, greatly help to unwind from a long week of work and trouble. Self confidence definitely improves as well. The challenge of establishing control and balance of the whole body generates pride when one is able to overcome them.

It is very nice to see that adults are becoming more and more health conscious and that many have turned to ice skating to get in shape. Gone are the days when only children were interested in moving and sliding on ice.