What Muscles Does RollerBlading Work?

Rollerblading, also known as inline skating, is a form of exercise that breaks up the monotony of a machine workout in a gym. Aside from the fact that this is low-impact, it also causes a nice caloric expenditure. A 185-lb. person burns 311 calories with 30 minutes of inline skating, according to Harvard Health Publications. Throughout a workout, you not only burn calories, but you also recruit multiple muscles. These are primarily located in the lower body.

A low angle view of a couple rollerblading in the park. (Image: George Doyle/Stockbyte/Getty Images)

Glutes

The glutes consist of the gluteus maximus, medius and minimus. During RollerBlading, you perform two motions that work these muscles - hip extension and hip abduction. Hip extension takes place when you move your thigh backward. Hip abduction takes place when you move your thigh laterally right before you push off the ground with your foot. This also causes you to work a small, roundish muscle on the outer hip called the tensor fascia latae.

Quadriceps

The quadriceps sit on the front of the thighs and they consist of the rectus femoris, vastus medialis, vastus lateralis and vastus intermedius. Every time you extend your knee and flex your hip, these muscles activate. Hip flexion takes place during RollerBlading as you move your thigh forward. Knee extension takes place when you straighten your lower leg. Hip flexion also causes you to work a small muscle group referred to as the iliopsoas or hip flexors. The iliopsoas starts at the base of the stomach and runs down into the top of the thigh area. It consists of two muscles - the iliacus and psoas major.

Hamstrings

The hamstrings sit on the back of the thighs below the glutes and consist of the biceps femoris, semimembranosus and semitendinosus. This muscle group gets worked when you extend your hips and flex your knees. You perform knee flexion when you lift your foot off the ground and move your heel toward your butt while RollerBlading.

Adductors

The inner thighs have small muscles known as the adductors. Whenever you move your thigh inward, you perform adduction and work these muscles. The adductors consist of the adductor brevis, magnus and longus, as well as the pectineus and gracilis.

Abdominals

The abs consist of two main parts - the rectus abdominis and obliques. The rectus abdominis is the large muscle that runs from the lower chest down to the pelvis. The obliques run alongside the ribs at a diagonal angle. When you RollerBlade, you work these muscles to produce force, balance your body and stabilize your spine. If you were to skate at a fast pace, the emphasis would be more intense. You also work a deep abdominal muscle called the transverse abdominis. This is mainly worked when you draw your stomach in during breathing. Once again, exercising at a high intensity will work this muscle with greater force.