Whether you are a professional ice skater, a young child, a retiree, a student, or a homemaker, you can reap health benefits from ice skating.
Being itself an aerobic exercise just like walking, running, and swimming, it offers positive effects on cardiovascular health. One advantage over running is that it’s not as hard on the joints as it’s a low-impact exercise, unless you’re doing jumping jacks while ice skating. It makes the heart muscles healthy, providing significant protection against coronary artery disease and subsequent heart attacks. It also helps with weight loss, as one burns anywhere from 250 to 810 calories per hour with recreational ice skating, according to the US Figure Skating Association website. Meanwhile, competitive skating consumes more calories. , from 450 to 1080 per hour of skating. Just to illustrate, a 150-pound man who skates continuously for one hour burns as many calories as running five miles in one hour.
As with other sports activities, ice skating also improves endurance. Endurance develops when one maintains a steady and steady pace for a longer period of time. However, it is important that in the beginning, it is okay to settle for short distances, but over time, these should be gradually increased so that the resistance increases as well.
Ice skating also improves muscle tone. When ice skating, the quadriceps and hamstrings are the leg muscles that work the most, 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 enhanced by ice skating as it exercises mind control during the act. One needs to be very alert and aware while skating. It is a stress reliever and a form of relaxation for many people who use it as a means to get rid of the stress of life and work. The fresh air and the sun in the ice skating area in the open air, as well as the company of family and friends, help a lot to disconnect from a long week of work and problems. Self confidence definitely improves too. The challenge of establishing full body control and balance engenders 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 stay in good physical shape. Gone are the days when only children were interested in moving and sliding on the ice.
