Winter should not be all dull and gloomy, as you can ice skate all season. You can choose to have some fun while still managing to stay healthy and fit through ice-skating.
In general, ice-skating is very liberating and can enhance your healthy life, both physically and mentally. Besides, nowadays you do not have to wait for winter or live in cold places to enjoy this sport, as technology has allowed for indoor ice-skating in any location, all year round.
Here are five ways in which ice-skating can help you stay strong and healthy.
1. Ice Skating Improves Your Body Posture
Strengthening your body muscles and joints can help improve your body balance, and there is no better way to achieve this other than standing for a while on the ice.
Skates designed for use during ice-skating, usually have thin metal razor wedges, which you use to balance on, as you skate on ice. This balancing requires some effort on your part so that you can move smoothly through the ice. It will require the use of your stabilizing muscles, legs, back, and the core of your abs.
This means that your body will have to generate some energy, in order to move forward and glide on ice. Therefore, you will need to contract all the muscles on your legs and abdomen, resulting in stronger core muscles essential for a proper body posture.
2. Ice Skating Improves Your BMR, Basal Metabolic Rate
Basal metabolic rate, BMR is calories your body burns as you rest. Therefore, regular ice skating can help you burn more of these calories while resting.
Research has found out that people who enjoy ice skating have a higher BMR when compared to those who do not partake in any sporting activity. This is because this sport can help you build muscles and burn fat.
Muscles, in turn, burn more calories than fat. As a result, if your body is developing stronger muscles through ice-skating, it will end up burning more calories even when inactive.
3. Ice Skating Improves Your Flexibility
Being flexible is important, as it minimizes different kinds of bodily injuries. This is because your body has become highly resilient due to the constant contraction of motions and stretching caused by ice-skating.
Ice-skating as a sport requires you to, continuously stretch your body as you slide through the ice, in order to achieve motion as well as maintain balance.
Therefore, the more you ice skate the more your body gradually becomes accustomed to extending beyond its regular level of comfort. As a result, you end up boosting the overall flexibility of your body.
4. Ice Skating Relieves Your Body from Stress
A healthy body both physically and mentally can keep you fit and healthy for a long time. Just an hour of ice skating can help you rejuvenate and relax your body, both physically and mentally, after a busy week of work or school.
This sport is fun, and the best part is that you can enjoy it any time of the year, through indoor ice-skating. It can uplift your overall body spirit, as it keeps every part of your body engaged and in a position to build better endurance.
5. Ice Skating Improves Your Cardiovascular Health
When you ice skate, every part of your body is in action. It is like running and swimming at the same time, due to the same level of movement associated with these two sports. Your back is always bent as if you are running, while your legs are in a continuous state of motion.
Besides, your balancing muscles, arms, and core, mimic the movements associated with swimming. Thus, ice-skating is a better aerobic exercise, for anyone regardless of age. It has more impact than any other sport combined, giving you an overall body workout that can strengthen your cardiovascular system. Visit here to find more info on one of the best ice skates ever.
Conclusion
Conclusively, as much as you ice-skate for fun, it is important you know some of the health benefits of ice-skating, to your overall body. Anyone can incorporate it into his or her fitness routine, and if you are a busy person once, a week is enough to help you maintain a healthy body.
Moreover, the fact that it keeps the whole body engaged and active, you can substitute it for other sports that only improve certain parts of your body muscles.