How Many Calories Does Roller Skating Burn?

How many calories does roller skating burn? Roller skating is a fun hobby with tons of health and social benefits. It’s an excellent way to lose weight and keep fit while having fun.

According to the American Heart Association, roller skating is an aerobic fitness sport recommended to people looking to burn extra calories. But getting started can be a hassle when you don’t know how many calories you’ll burn.

From experience and extensive research, a 180-pound person burns approximately 497 calories per hour of roller skating. This can be broken down to 124 calories after 15 minutes, 249 calories after 30 minutes, and 373 after 45 minutes of active roller skating.

This is only the scratch on the surface. What if you weigh 100 lbs. or 140 lbs.? How many calories will you burn roller skating? I cover more details in the rest of this guide. So, I urge you to keep reading to the end. Let’s get to it!

Calories Burned Roller Skating

Does roller skating burn calories? You ask! Calories burned roller skating vary from one person to another. While some people burn many calories within one hour of roller skating, some only burn so much.

Bodyweight is the primary influencer of how many calories you can burn roller skating. A person weighing 180 lbs., for example, burns approximately 497 calories per hour roller skating.

The person will burn 124 calories within the first 15 minutes and 249 calories in 30 minutes. After 45 minutes, the person will burn approximately 373 calories.

No doubt, the more time you spend roller skating, the more calories you burn. Try to spend at least one-hour roller skating to burn more calories as a rule of thumb.

Not everyone weighs 180 pounds! So, what if you have different weight? Probably you weigh 100 lbs., 140 lbs., or even less or more.

While a person weighing 100 lbs. can burn approximately 276 calories per hour, another person weighing 140 lbs. will burn about 387 calories per hour.

How Roller Skating Burns Calories

Now that you know how many calories roller skating burns per hour, it’s time to see how this happens. Below is a detailed explanation of the processes involved in burning calories in roller skating.

Aerobic Respiration

Aerobic respiration takes place in the cells in the presence of oxygen. This process involves converting glucose molecules to produce energy, carbon dioxide, and water.

Approximately 2900 kJ of energy is produced in the process. The body uses this energy to produce Adenosine Triphosphate molecules (ATP). The system then uses this for various activities like skating.

Anaerobic Respiration

Anaerobic respiration takes place in the muscles in the absence of oxygen. The process involves converting glucose molecules to produce energy during highly intensive activities like running and speed skating.

This process produces energy to support body activities like skating when there’s an insufficient supply of energy. Plus, it’s faster than aerobic respiration.

The best part is that it burns more glucose in the muscles to produce energy for the body’s processes. This is why skating and other highly intensive workouts can tone muscles.

What Determines How Many Calories Your Burn Roller Skating

It’s a fact that roller skating burns calories. But how many calories you burn depends on many things. Below we look at what determines how many calories you burn when roller skating.

1. Body Weight/Mass

People weighing more burn more calories roller skating than those weighing less. For example, a 180 pounds guy burns approximately 497 calories.

On the other hand, persons weighing 140 pounds and 100 pounds will burn 387 calories and 276 calories respectively.

The simple explanation for this is that persons weighing more have so many fat deposits in the body. The system uses this to supplement energy demands in aerobic and anaerobic respiration.

Also, they tend to consume more when eating. The body quickly converts the glucose in the cells to produce more energy for body processes. This explains why they burn more calories.

2. Terrain

Steep slopes require more effort to skate in, especially when going uphill. The body will need more energy to sustain the push and glide movement to keep you in motion.

So, the steeper the terrain is, the more your body burns calories to produce energy. On the flip side, flat terrains don’t require much work. So, the body only burns a few calories to produce energy.

3. Duration

Your body burns more calories depending on how long you skate. The more you push yourself while skating indoors or outdoors, the more your body produces more energy.

Therefore, you’ll burn more calories if you skate for an hour than if you skate for only 30 minutes. The rule of thumb is to skate longer if you want to burn calories fast and tone your muscles.

4. Speed

Roller skating fast is intensive and increases your body’s demand for energy. The body responds by converting so much glucose to energy in aerobic respiration.

The muscles are also involved in anaerobic respiration to produce more energy to supplement the energy supply gap. This way, you burn more calories than you can imagine.

Learn to skate fast, especially if you want to lose weight and tone your muscles. But, you also want to do it moderately to prevent some skating-related accidents.

Other Physical and Health Benefits of Roller Skating

Besides burning calories in the body to produce energy for body processes, roller skating has other physical and health benefits. Let’s get to it!

Full Body Workout—Roller skating is a full-body workout as it involves all muscles in the body, such as the core, glutes, hamstrings, and adductors.

Stable Mental Health—roller skating triggers dopamine production in the body, making you feel good. It also triggers the production of stress management hormones to help you manage stress. You need roller skating to relieve yourself of stress and maintain stable mental health.
Improved Body Balance and Coordination—roller skating also helps improve body balance and coordination since it involves all body muscles. Also, learning to balance on wheeled shoes isn’t easy and comes after practicing for a while. This gives your body unmatched balance and coordination of legs, hands, and mind.
Strong and Healthy Muscles—roller skating works all body muscles and strengthens them. You should consider roller skating if you’re looking to tone and strengthen your muscles.