Skateboarding is an adventure sport invented in California by surfers to help pass the time when the sea waves were not surfable. Since then, skateboarding’s popularity has grown significantly, especially among youngsters. 

Although many people view it as a careless and dangerous sport; in reality, it’s quite the opposite. Skateboarding is safe, but just like any other sport, it involves a few risks. However, it also has plenty of benefits. 

It not only gets you outside or provides an easy way to move from one point to another but also has surprising health benefits for your body. Read on to learn more about the health benefits of skateboarding.

Improves Coordination

One of the benefits of skateboarding is that it enhances your coordination. Coordination is the act of using two or more body parts simultaneously to complete a certain task. Learning through skateboarding lessons can greatly improve your coordination, as you’ll be guided in using your entire body, including arms, legs, eyes, and feet. This coordination prevents you from falling or getting injured while skating.

Skateboarding involves coordinating your entire body, including arms, legs, eyes, and feet. This coordination prevents you from falling or getting injured while skating. The coordination achieved when skateboarding can improve your driving, climbing, and multi-tasking skills. However, even with good coordination capabilities, you should always skateboard with proper protective gear, such as an electric skateboard helmet, knee pads, gloves, and a mouth guard.

Helps Burn Calories And Lose Weight

Like many other sporting activities, skateboarding can help you achieve your fitness goals. Ideally, skateboarding is a simple and fun way to burn calories as it works out your legs, arms, and core muscles. 

However, the number of calories you burn will depend on your weight, how often you skate, and the intensity and length of your skating sessions. Therefore, skateboarding is great for burning calories and losing weight if you put more effort into skating and do it regularly. 

However, there are things you can do to help you lose weight faster. For instance, skating for at least 30 minutes gives your body enough time to start burning calories. You can also skate uphill or perform difficult tricks, which will help you burn even more calories. 

That said, just like with any other sport, you must eat healthily. This means eating fewer calories than you’re burning. If you’re in a calorie deficit, you’ll lose weight; otherwise, you’ll not lose weight no matter the effort you put into skating. 

For instance, suppose you lose about 100 calories per mile of skateboarding. In such a case, you lose about 1,500 calories if you skate for 15 miles. But this varies depending on your weight and metabolism. In such a scenario, you should reduce the amount of calorie intake to create a calorie deficit and lose weight faster. It’s also essential to start slow so you can have a plan that will stick long-term.

Improves Mental Health 

Every adult should perform at least 30 minutes of exercise each day to reduce stress, irrespective of the type of exercise. When you’re stressed, your muscles become tense, resulting in back and neck pains. You can also experience issues such as heartburn, digestive upsets, and insomnia. 

Skateboarding as a form of exercise helps improve your mental health by helping you break the cycle of negative thoughts and stressful moments. When you’re skateboarding and navigating the streets, you’re not thinking of anything else apart from skateboarding. This is a form of moving meditation, which can help improve your work-life balance. Additionally, when skateboarding, your body releases endorphins in the brain, which help reduce stress, relax your muscles, and relieve tension in the body. 

What’s more, skateboarding helps you manage anxiety as it constantly puts you in an anxiety-inducing situation, where you have to overcome your fear to progress. In other words, it forces you to control your thoughts, which is effective for people who contemplate and overthink a lot. For instance, if you’re skateboarding down the stairs, you know you can get hurt, but you choose to believe in your ability and not be overwhelmed by your fear. 

Finally, connecting with other skateboarders and creating friendships based on shared interests are another way skateboarding improves mental health.

Workout For The Body

Skateboarding is a form of heart-pumping aerobic exercise that can make your body more active. It works out almost all muscles of your body, including your legs, feet, and arms. Moving these muscles regularly is a full-body workout and benefits the muscles more than doing the individual muscle groups in the gym once a week. 

A full-body workout helps burn calories and reduce weight. It also helps you become stronger as you work out every muscle in your body. For instance, maintaining balance on rough terrain will strengthen your core muscles. When you crouch down to find stability, you work out your hamstring, and you build your glutes when standing up. 

As you skateboard regularly, it won’t be long before you start getting into shape. However, if you’re skateboarding regularly, incorporate enough proteins in your diet to avoid burning muscles.

Improves Flexibility 

In skateboarding, you have to stretch before engaging in any physical activity. This, together with the different legs and footing movements, can help loosen and relax tense muscles. 

Tense and tight muscles contribute to poor postures and joint and muscle pain. However, regular movements involved in skateboarding help bring blood flow to your muscles and joints, making you more flexible and helping you avoid injuries.

Good For Your Heart

Skateboarding is a form of physical exercise that’s good for your heart, muscles, and veins. Exercises like skateboarding are effective tools for strengthening your heart. Skateboarding can benefit your heart in many ways.

Firstly, skateboarding helps slow your heart rate and lower blood pressure. This reduces the risk of heart disease, as high blood pressure is a major risk factor. Secondly, skateboarding helps you burn calories and lose weight, which helps optimize heart health. Being overweight strains your heart, which can lead to heart disease and stroke. Finally, skateboarding helps ward off stress, which is beneficial to the heart, as stress hormones put stress on the heart, causing heart issues.

Conclusion

As you can see, skateboarding is a cool hobby with many benefits. It’s also a simple and enjoyable way to work out. If you haven’t tried it out yet, consider getting on a skateboard to experience all the health benefits listed above. 

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