I went roller blading yesterday with my fitness buddy Sasha. We decided to sub our 6km run for a roller blade session and shake up our cardio routine. It was amazing. SO MUCH FUN.
I decided to write a short post about the benefits of rollerblading, since I feel like people don’t really give it enough credit. It is an amazing cardio workout, perfect to break your routine, and mix things up. Like I mentioned in a previous post about jumping rope- boredom is one of the main causes of people not following through with their exercise routines. You need to shake things up every once in a while, to keep them interesting. But changing things up isn’t only good to fight boredom. Its also key to continious progress. If you keep doing the same thing, your body will get used to it. Your muscles will get used to it, and you will reach a plateau. This doesn’t mean that the exercise you are doing isn’t doing your body good. Any type of activty that raises your heart rate is good for your heart and lungs. But once you get in shape, you need to challenge your muscles, you need to make them work harder, faster, stronger if you want to see continuous progress in your strength, speed, endurance.
Ok, so what to do? This goes for all workouts- weight training, flexibility training or cardio. You need to keep yourself on your toes, you need to keep things interesting and challenging.
This week, we decided to mix things up with one of our cardio sessions- by rollerblading. Fun, fun, fun :D And also very, very, very good for you.
Here are some reasons why you should try to include it in your excercise routine:
1. Muscular endurance - Sources report that rollerblading is one is the most advantageous workouts for muscle development, even more so than running or bicycling. It builds up the upper leg muscles, hips and lower back muscles. You also engage all of the muscles needed to stabilaze the upper body, which include your back and abdominal muscles.
2. Maintain weight - rollerblading is an excellent cardio workout. It burns more calories than running
3. Low impact cardio - If you are looking for a low-impact cardio workout, rollerblading is generally one of the best alternatives. The foot-to-ground impact is kept to a minimum, which means there is less stress placed on your joints and muscles. Exchanging a couple of aerobic workouts every week with rollerblading could improve your knee health and prevent injuries
