Rollerblading for Weight Loss

Regular exercise provides a multitude of benefits. Choosing an activity you enjoy can help take your mind off the effort you expend during exercise, while helping you shed excess pounds. Rollerblading, also called inline skating, is one activity that burns plenty of calories and can provide hours of enjoyment.

Weight Loss

While quick diet schemes and weight-loss programs abound, losing weight comes down to balancing the calories you consume against those you burn. Each 1 lb. of body fat equals about 3,500 calories. To lose 1 lb. a week, you must either decrease the number of calories you consume, increase the number of calories you burn, or do a combination of both. Cutting back by about 500 calories a day, while burning an additional 500 calories daily through exercise, can help you lose about 2 lbs. each week, which is a safe rate of weight loss.

Exercise

Not all activities burn equal numbers of calories. Your body uses calories for energy. Strenuous workouts, like fast rollerblading, require more energy that easier activities, such as walking. Aerobic exercises are ones that require oxygen to produce energy and use your large muscles to perform sustained and continuous movements. Combining aerobic exercise with muscle strengthening activities can help your body burn calories while exercising and while resting.

Rollerblading

Rollerblading is a type of aerobic workout that can help improve your cardiovascular endurance, as well as help you burn fat. The center alignment of the wheels on rollerblades require a balancing technique similar to that of ice skates. Like walking and jogging, rollerblading uses your own body weight as resistance, a necessary element of building strong bones. The speed and intensity of your rollerblading workout will help determine the number of calories you burn.

Considerations

A person who weighs 160 lbs. can burn about 913 calories during an hour of rollerblading. The difficulty of the terrain, as well as how much you weigh, will help determine how much fat you burn while rollerblading. Adding wrist weights and arm movements can increase your calorie expenditure. Rollerblading up inclines and over jumps may also help you burn more calories than rollerblading on flat, even surfaces. Protect yourself from injuries by wearing the appropriate gear, such as a helmet, gloves, knee pads and elbow pads.