Skateboarding offers an excellent workout, enhancing both your balance and coordination, while also serving as an effective way to burn calories. It's a fantastic cardiovascular exercise that stimulates your heart and circulation much like high-intensity workouts do. Even just cruising on a skateboard provides a boost to your cardiovascular system.
Skateboarding engages numerous muscles, with the most utilized ones being the core, quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, calves, and the tibialis anterior.
Core Muscle
Your core muscles are crucial for maintaining balance on unstable surfaces, a key element in skateboarding. Whether you're street skating or at the park, your core is involved in every move, making balance a significant aspect of skating. For those aspiring for defined abs, skateboarding is unbeatable!
Quadriceps Muscles
The quadriceps consist of four distinct muscles, forming the main mass of the thigh and ranking among the body's most powerful muscles. They assist in extending the knee and contracting the hip joint, essential actions whenever you jump, such as performing an ollie in skateboarding.
Hamstring Muscles
The hamstring muscles are responsible for flexing the knee joint and extending the hip, allowing you to draw your calves toward the back of your thigh. Flexing your knee is vital for crouching to maintain a lower center of gravity while skating.
Gluteus Maximus Muscle
The primary roles of the gluteus maximus muscle include the extension and external rotation of the thigh at the hip joint. This muscle helps you maintain balance when transitioning from a squatting position to standing on the skateboard.
Lower Leg Muscles
Your lower leg muscles comprise your calves and the tibialis anterior around your shins. Skateboarders depend on the calf muscle for plantar flexion of the ankle, which points the toes downward. Plantar flexion shifts your weight forward, aiding in steering the skateboard in that direction. The tibialis anterior, located along your shins, controls dorsal flexion. Dorsal flexion lets you tilt your heels downward while skateboarding, providing control in the opposite direction of plantar flexion.
Skateboarding not only provides excellent exercise but also enhances precision and coordination. Although the learning curve can be challenging, over time, improved coordination benefits multitasking, driving, other sports, and everyday activities.
Strength Training in Skateboarding
While not essential for advancing in skateboarding, strength training can enhance your skills and endurance beyond what skateboarding alone offers. Executing tricks requires considerable strength and energy to lift the board off the ground, so increased strength can help you jump higher. Additionally, strength training boosts endurance, enabling longer skating sessions and reducing the risk of injury from muscle fatigue. Exercises to enhance strength include Lateral Leg Raises, Box Jumps, Single Leg Squats, and Side Planks.
So there you have it! Skateboarding is fantastic for both your physical and mental health. All the more reason to grab that board and hit the streets. Stay safe and enjoy the ride!
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