Roller Skating Exercises – Introduction
What are the best roller skating exercises for beginners to get stronger on skates?
Cardio is good for everybody’s body.
Short for cardiovascular, cardio activities include cycling, swimming, running, rowing, and some group exercise activities such as Zumba and step aerobics.
Regular cardio workouts can help strengthen your heart, lungs, and circulatory system, and there is an undeniable link between cardiovascular fitness and cardiovascular health.
So, whether you want to get fit, lose weight, or improve your health, regular cardio is a must.
Most fitness authorities agree that adults should accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio per week.
Despite their obvious value, doing the same cardio activities over and over again can become boring.
Sure, some people enjoy their daily runs, but others find repetitive workouts tiresome.
The good news is that it doesn’t matter all that much how you elevate your heart and breathing rate.
All types of cardio are equally beneficial.
As such, you might enjoy lacing up your skates and gliding your way to better fitness and health.
While it’s beyond the scope of this article to teach you how to roller skate (hire a coach!), this article, reveals the best exercises to strengthen your body for roller skating.
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Roller Skating for Fitness
Not sure if roller skating is the best workout for your cardiovascular fitness and health?
Consider these benefits and then decide!
Low-impact
When you run, both feet leave the floor and land with a force equal to three times your body weight.
This force is the cause of many running-related injuries.
Roller skating is a low-impact activity, making it much easier on your joints.
Improved balance
Balance is your ability to keep your center of mass over your base of support.
Most people initially find balancing on roller skates pretty tricky.
But, after a while, balancing becomes easier.
Eventually, it will no longer present a challenge.
Improving your balance can have a significant impact on many aspects of your life, from better athletic performance to a reduced risk of falling as you get older.
Good balance is important for longevity.
Stronger bones
Despite being low-impact, roller skating is a weight-bearing activity.
Loading your bones with your body weight will make them stronger.
Weight-bearing activities cause an increase in osteoblast activity, which are the cells responsible for bone growth.
Stronger, denser bones are less prone to fracture and less likely to experience osteopenia or age-related bone loss.
Increased leg strength and endurance
While roller skating is a full-body workout, it’s your legs that work the hardest.
As such, regular skating workouts will improve lower body strength and endurance.
Strength is your ability to generate maximum force, while endurance is the ability to continue working for a prolonged duration.
Improved joint stability
Whether you use inline skates or quads, instability is part and parcel of roller skating.
Your ankles, knees, and hips are exposed to lots of multidirectional forces as you work to maintain your balance.
All this wobbling targets and strengthens small and often underused stabilizer muscles.
Stronger stabilizer muscles will help prevent unwanted joint movements, reducing wear and tear and your risk of injury.
Socialization and fun
While there is nothing wrong with skating by yourself, many people enjoy gliding along with family and friends.
Skating is the ideal group fitness activity.
Roller skating is also a lot of fun and the sort of workout you’ll probably look forward to.
The more enjoyable your workout is, the more likely you are to make it part of your active, healthy lifestyle.
Drawbacks
While skating is a fun and effective workout, there are a couple of disadvantages to consider, too.
Firstly, learning to skate takes time.
You’ll need to master the basics before you start to experience many benefits from skating.
After all, if you can’t skate far or fast, or spend more time stopped than moving, you can’t expect much from your new workout.
However, with practice and perseverance, you’ll soon be gliding along like a boss.
The next drawback to consider is safety.
Even the most proficient skaters fall over from time to time, and accidents are relatively common.
You can minimize your risk by wearing a helmet, knee and elbow pads, and wrist guards.
But, even then, injuries can still occur.
Finally, you’ll need a suitable place to skate.
Depending on where you live, this may entail traveling to a good skate spot like a park, walkway, or boardwalk.
This may mean you can’t skate as often as you want or need to for fitness and health.
Roller Skating Exercises List
- Banded lateral steps
- Banded air squats
- Side-laying leg lifts
- Lunges
- Lateral lunges
- Glute bridge march
- Mountain climbers
- Dead bugs
- Push-ups
- Inverted rows
How to Strengthen Your Body for Roller Skating
The best way to get better at roller skating is to put on your skates and go!
That said, there are several strengthening exercises you can do to get your body ready for skating.
Roller Skating Exercises Descriptions
These include:
#1. Banded lateral steps
Muscles worked: Gluteus maximus, hip abductors.
This exercise hits the muscles on the outside of your hips and thighs.
These muscles are critical for hip stability and preventing your knees from caving in while you skate.
It’ll also help you build a strong and powerful butt.
How to do it:
- Place a hip circle band (aka booty band) around your legs, just above or below your knees.
- Bend your legs slightly and adopt an athletic stance.
- Pushing your knees out against the band, take a step to the left and then to the right.
- Maintain the pressure against the band throughout.
- Continue for the desired number of reps.
- You can also do this exercise for distance, e.g., 10 steps in one direction and then back again.
#2. Banded air squats
Muscles worked: Gluteus maximus, hip abductors, hamstrings.
This simple yet effective exercise targets virtually every leg muscle you use during roller skating.
As such, it should be a cornerstone of your skating strength training program.
Air squats involve no weights, making them ideal for home workouts.
How to do it:
- Place a booty band around your legs, just above or below your knees.
- Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly outward.
- Bend your knees and squat down until your thighs are roughly parallel to the ground.
- Try not to round your lower back.
- Drive your feet into the floor and stand back up.
- Remember to keep pushing your knees out against the resistance offered by the band.
#3. Side-lying leg lifts
Target muscles: Gluteus maximus, abductors.
No booty band?
No problem!
You can develop your glutes and hip abductors without one.
This simple exercise hits the outside of your hips and thighs using only your body weight for resistance.
Do this exercise to improve hip joint stability.
How to do it:
- Lie on your side with your hips and shoulders square.
- Rest your head on your outstretched arm to take pressure off your neck.
- Bend your bottom leg for balance if required.
- Keeping your top leg straight, raise your foot to about shoulder height.
- Do not let your hips roll backward.
- Lower your leg and repeat.
- Roll over and do the same number of reps on the other side.
#4. Lunges
Muscles worked: Gluteus maximus, hip abductors, hip adductors, quadriceps, hamstrings.
Roller skating is a unilateral activity, meaning it emphasizes one leg at a time.
Because of this, strength training for skating should also include unilateral exercises.
Lunges are an excellent choice because they’re practical, accessible, and ideal for beginners.
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet together and your arms by your sides.
- Take a large step forward, bend your legs, and lower your rearmost knee down to within an inch of the floor.
- Push off your front leg, switch sides, and repeat.
#5. Lateral lunges
Muscles worked: Gluteus maximus, hip abductors, hip adductors, quadriceps, hamstrings.
While regular lunges are undeniably beneficial for roller skating, lateral lunges might be even better.
This exercise targets the outside of your hips and thighs, which are the muscles you use during skating to accelerate and push yourself up hills.
How to do it:
- Stand with your feet together and your arms by your sides.
- Take a large step out to your left, bend your left knee, and descend until your left thigh is roughly parallel to the floor.
- Push off your left leg and bring your feet back together.
- Repeat on your right side and then alternate legs for the remainder of your set.
#6. Glute bridge march
Target muscles: Gluteus maximus, hamstrings.
Your glutes are the engine that drives you forward when you’re skating.
Building stronger glutes will help you skate further and faster.
Glute bridge marches work each leg independently and alternately, making them a very skating-specific exercise.
How to do it:
- Lie on your back with your legs bent and feet flat.
- Drive your feet into the floor and lift your hips so they form a straight line with your knees and shoulders.
- Keeping your hips hip, raise one knee up to the ceiling and then the other.
- Continue this marching action for the prescribed number of reps.
#7. Hill climbers
Target muscles: Rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis, hip flexors.
Your core plays a critical role during roller skating.
It ensures your midsection remains strong and stable, protecting your lumbar spine from injury.
A strong core also ensures that power generated by your upper body is transferred efficiently into your legs.
Hill climbers are a very skating-specific core exercise.
How to do it:
- Adopt the push-up position with your arms and legs straight.
- Brace your core.
- Bend one leg and pull your knee up into your chest.
- Hold for 1-2 seconds without letting your foot touch the floor.
- Extend your legs, swap sides, and repeat.
#8. Dead bugs
Target muscles: Rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis, hip flexors.
Dead bugs are so-called because, when you do them, you look a little like a dying fly.
Slightly macabre names aside, this is an excellent low-tech but highly effective exercise for building core stability for roller skating.
How to do it:
- Lie on your back with your legs raised and bent to 90 degrees.
- Extend your arms up to the ceiling and brace your core.
- Press your lower back into the floor.
- Extend your left arm and right leg to a few inches above the floor.
- Return to the starting position and repeat with the opposite arm and leg.
- Continue for the prescribed number of reps.
#9. Push-ups
Target muscles: Pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps, core.
While roller skating is undeniably a lower-body activity, your upper body is involved, too.
You need to use your arms to counterbalance your legs, and you’ll also use them to generate force and momentum when you want to speed up or power up a hill.
Push-ups are arguably the most convenient upper body exercise around.
How to do it:
- Squat down and place your hands flat on the floor, roughly shoulder-width apart.
- Walk your feet out and back so your body is straight.
- Brace your core.
- Bend your arms and lower your chest to within an inch of the floor.
- Extend your arms and repeat.
- Bend your legs and rest on your knees if full push-ups are too challenging.
#10. Inverted rows
Target muscles: Latissimus dorsi, biceps, trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids.
Where push-ups work the muscles on the front of your upper body, inverted rows do the same for the muscles on the back.
Balancing the development between these two groups of muscles will improve your posture and help prevent injuries.
Steps:
- Sit on the floor below a waist-high bar or handles, e.g., a barbell in a squat rack, a Smith machine, or a suspension trainer.
- Hold the bar/handles and lean back so your arms are straight.
- Extend your legs and lift your hips so your body is straight.
- Bend your arms and pull your chest up to the bar.
- Extend your arms and repeat.
- Bend your legs to make this exercise easier, or raise your feet to make it more challenging.
Strength Training Workout for Roller Skating
Perform the following workout 2-3 times per week on non-consecutive days.
Do it after roller skating and not before, as tired muscles could impede your performance.
Finally, make sure you spend a few minutes warming up with some light cardio and dynamic mobility and flexibility exercises for the muscles and joints you’re about to use.
Roller Skating Exercises Workout – © HashiMashi.com
| # | Exercise | Sets | Reps | Recovery |
| 1 | Banded air squats | 2-4 | 12-20 | 60-90 seconds |
| 2 | Lunges | 2-4 | 12-20 | 60-90 seconds |
| 3 | Glute bridge march | 2-4 | 12-20 | 60-90 seconds |
| 4 | Lateral lunges | 2-4 | 12-20 | 60-90 seconds |
| 5 | Push-ups | 2-4 | 12-20 | 60-90 seconds |
| 6 | Inverted rows | 2-4 | 12-20 | 60-90 seconds |
| 7 | Dead bugs | 2-4 | 12-20 | 60-90 seconds |
Exercises for Roller Skating – Wrapping Up
Roller skating is an excellent way to boost your fitness and health.
It’s low-impact, so it’s kinder to your joints than running and can help improve your balance and stability.
Plus, it’s a weight-bearing activity, so your bones get stronger, too.
Skating engages those critical stabilizer muscles, keeping your joints safe and reducing the risk of injuries.
You can do it with your buddies, making it a fun group activity that will keep you coming back for more.
Learning to skate might take some time, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be gliding like a pro!
Just remember to gear up with protective equipment for safety; even the best skaters take a tumble now and then.
Want to supercharge your skating skills?
Try some targeted exercises like banded lateral steps, lunges, and glute bridge marches.
Add them to your routine a couple of times a week after skating sessions, and you’ll be skating circles around the competition!
