Skateboarding is a great exercise because it allows you to move your lower body muscles and practices your balance. It helps develop key muscles like the hamstring, glutes, quads, and lower back. Skateboarding is also considered a great cardio workout.
However, there is another exercise that can also strengthen the muscles skateboarding can strengthen and it requires only your two legs. It is called running. Running is also a good cardio workout and for obese people that want to cut down weight. However, skateboarding can do that too. So, who is better?
Is skateboarding better than running? Skateboarding is a good exercise. However, running is better. Running is also cheaper than skateboarding since you only need a pair of shoes to run. Also, you can run wherever you want, even in looser particles from sand to gravel, while skateboarding requires smooth ground.
Both skateboarding and running are fun. However, it may have some diverged results when it comes to losing weight. They also have some different advantages and disadvantages, and they can both cause injuries to you.
In this article, we are going to compare running and skateboarding. Yes, I already gave you the answer above, but there is a long version of that. There are many reasons listed above why running is a great exercise than skateboarding. Let us check it out!
Who Burns More Calories, Skateboarding, Or Running?
First, let us take a look at which of the two burns more calories. So, is it skateboarding or running?
Running is the winner here. According to healthline.com, a 120-pound person burns about 11.4 calories per minute while running. If a person runs for an hour, they will lose 684 calories! But, how about skateboarding? How many calories can skateboarders burn?
According to Harvard Medical school, people who weigh 120-185 pounds will burn 300-400 calories if they skateboard for an hour. That is just a half of running, which is why running can burn more calories than skateboarding.
Is Skateboarding A Good Cardio Than Running?
Both skateboarding and running is a good cardio workout. However, among the two, which is better?
Of course, running is a good cardio exercise since it burns more calories than skateboarding when executed for an hour.
However, believe it or not, skateboarding is also a rigorous cardio workout. It can make you exhausted when you do it for an hour or two constantly with no rest. Skateboarding also helps develop your key muscles like hamstrings, glutes, quads, and lower back.
Doing something that requires effort is good cardio. You have to choose what makes you happy while doing it so that cardio exercise will not become boring for you.
Is Skateboarding Better For Commuting Than Running?
For me, skateboarding is better transportation. I have lots of friends who are skateboarders, and they tell me how chill it is to ride on a skateboard when they go to school or their workplace. They said they don’t sweat and their legs do not hurt, unlike walking or running.
However, skateboarding is great for commuting, only if you can ride a skateboard properly. Because if not, then probably you will have a hard time reaching your destination. Also, you might get into trouble when cars on the road bumped you because you don’t know how to control your skateboard.
So, the answer to this question is both. Both skateboarding and running are good for commuting, especially if you support the climate change movement and don’t want to use vehicles that release gas.
However, what you are going to use still depends on your personal preference and skill. If you don’t know how to ride a skateboard, don’t use it for transportation even if I or your friends told you it is good for transportation because you might get in an accident. So instead of using a skateboard, you can use run as your transportation tool.
Is Skateboarding Better For Kids Than Running?
In my personal experience, I would say running is better to exercise for kids if parents want their child to get fit and healthy.
When I was a child, I started to have trauma on a skateboard because I fell constantly and gained some wounds. Because of this, I decided to ask my dad to buy me a pair of running shoes so that I can run instead of skateboarding. When I got bored of running, I asked my dad again to buy me a bicycle.
Related Article: Can I learn to ride a bike in one day?
When teaching your children to skate, you should be with them always. You need to support them and make sure that they will not fall. If they fell, you need to be there to pick them up immediately and check their wounds.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children ages five years old should not ride skateboards, while children ages six to ten need supervision from an adult. Skateboarding is a special risk for your children because they have poor balance and slower reaction times. Your child is more prone to injuries than you are!
If you want your children to get fit and healthy, running or jogging should be the first activity you must ought them to do. When they grow a little longer, you can introduce them to skateboards if they want to skate. When teaching them, never leave them unattended.
Which Is Hard To Learn, Skateboarding, Or Running?
I think the answer here is pretty obvious, and that is skateboarding. Running is already inside all of the peoples’ instincts. Even animals can run, so why not people since we are far brighter than any animals. Right?
In skateboarding, there are lots of things you need to learn. You need to know how to balance yourself on the board, how to turn right or left, and how to stop or slow down the board. Without mastering these basic skills, you can’t use skateboarding as your transportation or do skateboard tricks.
Running is a skill that even a three years old kid can learn. We all run. We run when we are late to school or work, we run because there are stray dogs that try to catch us, and we run because we need to get something. In fact, running is always involved in all sports.
Running is not learned. It is instinctual. It is a basic skill every human being has, and we use it in our everyday lives. On the other hand, skateboarding is learned because not all people have that skill. If skateboarding is like running, then the skateboard community will be enormous.
Which Is Cheaper, Skateboarding, Or Running?
Running is cheaper than skateboarding because all you need is a pair of shoes, a shirt, and shorts, while in skateboarding, you need a complete skateboard, a pair of shoes, a helmet, and a nice outfit.
You can run everywhere you want, and your chances of getting an accident when you run on the road are low. But in skateboarding, you cannot run on rough surfaces unless you use big soft wheels.
You also need to consider the maintenance of your skateboard. If you are skateboarding every day, expect that some of the parts of your skateboard will get ruined soon, and you need to buy the certain part that is ruined if you want to continue to skate.
In running, all you need to replace is your running shoes and shoes can last longer than skateboard’s parts. You can wear whatever shirt and shorts you want as long as you have a pair of shoes and socks. There is no maintenance needed. Only a couple of days to rest when your legs get tired or muscle pains when you push yourself to run so far.
Who Will Win The Race, A Skateboarder Or A Runner?
If it is a 100-meter sprint, the runner will win. However, if it is a marathon, skateboarders will win. In a 100 meter sprint, the skateboarder needs some time to ride on his/her skateboard and maintain balance, while the runner can speed up suddenly.
But in a marathon, a skateboarder will win because the runner will get tired and need to slow down to get some air. Skateboarders will get less tired since he/she is riding on a board and not using his/her whole effort. The only thing skateboarders need to do is to turn their skateboard right or left.
Benefits Of Running And Skateboarding
Even though running is easier and better than skateboarding in many aspects, skateboarding still has some benefits. Both skateboarding and running have health benefits for people.
These two will help you to attain the healthy and fit body you want. Aside from helping you to become fit and healthy, there are other benefits running and skateboarding can give you.
Below are the different benefits of running and skateboarding. Let us first take a look at the benefits of running.
Running
The benefits of running or jogging are:
- Help your bones to grow strong
- Strengthen your muscles
- Improve cardiovascular fitness
- Burn your calories
- Help you to maintain a healthy weight
- Prevent diseases
- Boosts your confidence
- Can Eliminate Depression
Skateboarding
Skateboarding may be dangerous, especially for beginners. That is why it is essential to have a coach or friend adept at skateboarding to help you out and guide you.
However, even though skateboarding can be dangerous, it still has some health benefits for skateboarders. The benefits of skateboarding are:
- Help you gain friends
- Help you to lose weight
- Can burn calories
- Good for transportation
- Build your muscles
- Relieves stress and depression
- Teach you to become brave
- Increases your pain tolerance
- Increases your patience
Dangers Of Skateboarding And Running
If skateboarding and running have positives, then it also has some negatives. You will not know what is positive if negatives never existed.
Below are the dangers of skateboarding and running. First, let us check the dangers running can give you.
Running
The common injuries you can get from running or jogging are:
- Blisters
- Shin pain
- Soft tissue injuries
- Skin injuries
- Bone fractures caused by overrunning
- Cardiac arrest for middle-aged people
Skateboarding
The common injuries you can get when skateboarding are:
- You can get comatose
- Facial injuries
- Concussion
- Bruises
- Muscle injuries
Final Verdict
Both running and skateboarding are fun. However, running can give you more help if you want to lose weight and become sexy compared to skateboarding. But if you want a thrill and fun activity that can somehow help you become healthy and fit, skateboarding is the best.
When choosing between skateboarding or running, there are many aspects you need to take into account, including your age, lifestyle, experience, and purpose. Like I have said, both of them are fun to do. However, skateboarding requires commitment if you want to learn to ride it and replace running with it as your daily exercise.
