Does rollerblading help skiing? Rollerblading is a summer sport that skiers can rely on to prepare for the winter skiing season. This is because rollerblading uses certain techniques like bending low, carving motions, making turns, and stopping that apply to skiing. Besides, rollerblading works all body muscles and helps with aerobic and cardiovascular benefits.
The truth is, there are so many ways you can benefit from rollerblading. If you’re a beginner or seasoned skier, you don’t want to sit during summer waiting for winter. Instead, you can practice on inline skates and get better before the skiing seasons begin.
If you’re looking for the perfect off-season cross-training for skiers, you can try several other options, such as ski lessons, but I’d bet on rollerblading as the best of them all.
So, without much ado, let’s quickly dive into how rollerblading helps skiing. Shall we?
7 Ways Rollerblading Helps Skiing
There are myriad ways rollerblading can help skiing. If you’re a skier, you want to try out rollerblading during summer as you wait for winter.
Rollerblading for skiers during summer comes with tons of benefits. However, the main one that stands out is that inline skating helps prepare you for the skiing season.
So, does inline skating help skiing? If you’ve been wondering whether it’s possible or not, below are how rollerblading can help skiers get better at their sport.
1. Rollerblading Vs. Skiing Skills and Technique
Both rollerblading and skiing require skills and techniques. While rollerblading (also inline skating) is popular in summer, skiing is more popular in winter.
Therefore, one can rely on rollerblading as a cross-training alternative for skiing since some rollerblading techniques apply to skiing.
Below are some of the main rollerblading skills and techniques that a skier can apply to get better at skiing.
Rollerblading Vs. Skiing Posture
The right rollerblading posture entails; knees bent at almost 90 degrees and above the toes and shoulders over hips. Overall, you need to stay low when rollerblading for stability and weight distribution.
The same posture is necessary when skiing. Therefore, rollerblading helps you master the right skiing position for top-notch performance.
If you want to learn how to stay low when skiing, you’d want to keep practicing on your skate-to-ski inline skates.
Stopping on Rollerblades Vs. Skiing
You need a mechanism for controlling speed when rollerblading or skiing. That being said, there are several ways to stop when rollerblading. However, the snowplow-stopping technique will work well for skiing.
So, during summer, you can practice this stopping technique on rollerblades, and when the season is back, you implement it on your skis.
Related post: How to Stop Rollerblading | 9 Effective Techniques
Turning on Rollerblades Vs. Skiing
There are several techniques you can use to turn on rollerblades. However, one technique you can apply in your skiing is turning your upper body in your preferred direction.
Then, using the outside and inside edges of your inline skates to switch direction to the new direction.
Carving Motions on Rollerblades Vs. Skiing
Carving motions are vital for skiing. The good news is, you can practice these carving motions on your rollerblades.
However, you’ll have to find enough room to practice the side-to-side carving motions. If you do this for a while, you can better make the carving motions when skiing in winter.
2. Muscle Development and Endurance
Rollerblading is vigorous, intensive and works almost all body muscles, including the core, glutes, hips, and leg muscles. Many times, the terrain isn’t flat, and so you’d have to rollerblade downhill or uphill.
Doing this repeatedly helps with muscle development and endurance that you can transfer to your skiing.
3. Body Balance and Control
The most outstanding benefit from rollerblading is muscle development. The good news is, it never stops at that. Muscles play the important role of holding your body together, including the skeletal system.
A critical element of this system is the spine which is the origin of the nervous system.
Therefore, healthy and steady muscles will help keep the spine in shape and give you the right body balance and control you need.
Besides, this isn’t just beneficial in skiing but daily activities. If you want to increase your productivity, this is the sure way to go.
While skiing, proper body balance and control are essential as you make those carving motions. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be possible if you had issues with your balance and control. So, it would be awesome if you took rollerblading seriously during summer.
4. Speed Development
Speed is essential in both inline skating and skiing, especially if one is into speed skating or skiing. If you’re participating in competitions, you’d want to build your speed so that you’re always top of everyone else.
So, it’s best to put on your rollerblades and hit the road. Alternatively, you can try other places to go rollerblading, like skate parks and recreational parks.
Related Post: Where to go Rollerblading | 9 Amazing Places for Inline Skating
5. Cardiovascular Benefits of Rollerblading
The cardiovascular system includes the heart, lungs, and blood vessels. Rollerblading is intensive and demands a lot of energy in aerobic and anaerobic respiration.
For this to happen, the heart has to pump oxygenated blood to all parts of the body.
In the process, the heart and the blood vessels are kept healthy and fit. This helps to prevent cardiovascular-related diseases like obesity and high blood pressure.
There’s no doubt you need a healthy heart and cardiovascular system for skiing. The good news is, you can get it from rollerblading.
Related Post: How to Get Better at Rollerblading | 10 Sure-fire tips
6. Aerobic Benefits of Rollerblading
Since rollerblading is an intensive sport, it comes with tons of aerobic benefits such as reducing the probability of heart diseases, reducing the quantity of cholesterol in the blood, controlling blood sugar level, and proper lung function. This is according to research by Cleveland clinic.
That being said, you need these aerobic benefits when skiing in winter, and you can only get them when you rollerblade during summer.
So, rather than doing nothing in summer, inline skating can help you keep fit as you wait for your skiing season.
7. Improves Self-Esteem and Confidence
Self-esteem and confidence are necessary for all sports, especially adrenaline sports. Skiing on ice takes courage and would be impossible to take part in when you have low self-esteem issues.
Therefore, rather than waiting to deal with the situation on the ice, you can face it head-on on dry land. Rollerblading helps to boost self-esteem and builds confidence. I mean, the sport is rigorous and takes courage, especially when rollerblading at high speed and downhill.
Moreover, rollerblading relaxes the body and helps with mental health. Thus, the more you skate, your body releases the feel-good hormone that helps you love yourself more.
So, if you’re struggling with self-esteem issues and low confidence, try rollerblading and see for yourself. Lastly, you may also want to try ice inline skating since the skating surface is the same as skiing. In my opinion, this is better than waiting for winter.
More Tips for Getting Better at Skiing
So, apart from trying out rollerblading in summer, what else can you do to improve your skiing? You no longer need to beat yourself to it because I’ve got the tips for you. All you need to do is implement them, then wait for the results. So, let’s get going!
- Buy the right skiing boots that fit you well.
- Put on the right gear that’s neither too cold nor too warm.
- Have your skis waxed regularly.
- Be patient with yourself. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
- Team up with other like-minded skiers.
Best Inline Skates for Skate-to-Ski Cross-Training
Skate-to-ski cross-training is the perfect way to prepare for the skiing season in winter. However, you’ll need inline skates that are specifically built with this plan in mind.
I’m not saying you can’t use other types of inline skates. What I mean is you’ll get better results with the ones specifically designed for this purpose.
If you’re looking for the best inline skates for skate-to-ski cross-training, you can check out the following high-quality and durable rollerblades (Rollerblade Macro blades and Maxxum). In addition, they’re available on amazon and Rollerblade Inc. store. So, you can also check out the latest price.
Does Rollerblading Help Skiing? Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can You Get Fit From Rollerblading?
It’s true rollerblading can help you get fit since it’s awesome for weight loss, it’s gentle on joints, and comes with tons of cardiovascular benefits. Rollerblading is a rigorous sport that involves all body muscles.
So, it helps to work the arm muscles, core muscles, glute muscles, hip muscles, and leg muscles, thus helping with muscle development, toning, and overall body fitness.
2. Is rollerblading harder than skiing?
Rollerblading isn’t harder than skiing. However, the two sports have various similarities as well as differences, meaning they complement each other. Since rollerblading is a summer sport, skiers can rollerblade during summer in preparation for winter season skiing competitions.
3. Is rollerblading good practice for skiing?
Rollerblading is good practice for skiing since the two have more similarities than differences. So, if you’re a skier, you can rollerblade over the summer to improve your turning and curving motion skills. You also get to benefit from muscle development and endurance while doing rollerblading during your off-season in summer.
4. How Do You Stop Skiing?
You can stop skiing uphill, downhill, or flat surface using the snowplow technique, the side steps technique, or the Herringbone technique. Try practicing all these stopping techniques then apply each as the situation demands.
Does Rollerblading Help Skiing? Wrapping up!
Whether rollerblading can help skiing or not, I believe the question is settled now. Rollerblading and skiing complement one another in a myriad of ways.
Rollerblading is a summer sport that skiers can rely on to prepare for the winter skiing season. This is because rollerblading uses certain techniques like bending low, carving motions, making turns, and stopping that apply to skiing.
Besides, rollerblading works all body muscles and helps with aerobic and cardiovascular benefits. So, rather than doing nothing over summer, you can try rollerblading as a cross-training alternative to achieve overall body fitness.
