Kym Klass| Montgomery
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Watch, and you’ll see abs work in any skateboarder.
It is seen in the balance through the jumping, moving, sliding and twisting. It all starts in the core. That’s where the strength sits, and where the health benefits stream from. It is what 40-year-old Randy Silva feels when he skates for hours at the Montgomery Skate Park, and from where he admits that “just” skating, “just” the constant movement, has helped his endurance throughout the day.
“I work outside, and it’s hard, but since I’ve come here, it has become easier to handle,” the electrician said. “It helps with the core and the breathing.”
Just getting out and skating engages several large muscles — the calves, hamstrings and quads — and even the arches in the feet, said Michele Olson, an exercise science professor at Auburn University Montgomery.
“It may look dangerous to us, but it’s just a motor learning skill that has a sequence to it. I mean, how is it more dangerous than ... tackle football? It’s good, and fitness-promoting. It’s competitive. You’re moving. It’s not weight-supported, and you’re obviously using your large muscle groups. You’re getting all of those aerobic muscle groups and fibers. You do burn calories with basic skateboarding.
“The skating part — you have two feet on the board, and it definitely helps develop your balance and we know balance hinges on using your core right.”
Silva has noticed.
“I focus on skating for long periods of time,” he said. “The younger kids will come out for 15 minutes, then go back in, then back out, and in. And I’m out here the whole time. I feel it in my legs and stomach. And the sides. When trying to stay balanced on the board, you have to use all of your muscles, and all of your core muscles.
“I will skate for as long as he can. I don’t try to do any big tricks; I just want to ride.”
So does the younger generation, who will spend hours at the city’s skate park in downtown Montgomery. They are absorbed in it, without realizing the physical developments taking shape. So are millions of others.
In 2012, there were about 6.63 million participants in skateboarding in the U.S., according to The Statistics Portal. That number was a slight increase over the 5.83 million the previous year. In the six years between 2006 and 2012, the number of skateboarding participants between ages 6 and 17 decreased from 8.75 million to less than 4 million. However, the number of participants between the ages of 18 and 24 years old increased slightly, according to The Statistics Portal.
Overall, though, Olson said “we just want more people doing more physically beneficial things. We just need more of that. Skateboarding is definitely good, and it can attract different age groups.”
Including Silva’s 5-year-old son, who often accompanies him to the skate park.
“He usually comes out here with me,” he said. “I learned to skate when I was little, and then, it was more for fun. When I got older, I just messed with it a little bit and got a little bit better. I didn’t see it as exercise when I was younger; now, I notice what it works on my body.”
As people become older, Olson said, core work becomes more important, and not just in skateboarding.
“People with a strong core tend not to fall,” she said. “That’s why we want old people to develop their core and their hip strength so they don’t fall.”
The health of skating
Skateboarding is vigorous exercise and can be an important tool in the fight against obesity. In order to navigate the skateboard safely, a skater must use their entire body just to balance, push and propel themselves forward. The physical act of skateboarding works to build cardio and core strength, improve flexibility and fully develop balance and coordination skills. Once fundamentals are learned safely, skateboarding can become lifelong sport that is as challenging or relaxing as the individual chooses to make it.
Source: dropintoskateboarding.com
