Is rollerblading building my lower body up?

You can do aerobic exercise of that sort every single day with nothing but positive effects. It’s heavy lifting or machine workouts designed to build maximum muscle mass that require a day of rest between workouts. Its very possible to build leg muscles through rollerblading, particularly of its up and down hills. You don’t need to do a 90 minute workout for good cardiovascular fitness. 30 minutes at least every other day is generally sufficient for that But I’d recommend you worry more about staying fit and let the way tight jeans fit take it’s course. Great muscular legs and buttocks are always a desirable asset (pun intended).

From what I remember roller blading works out, (in no particular order) Quads, calfs, shins, ball point on foot, hamstring, knee ligaments.

Anyways your legs share a compound of the largest muscles in your body and therefore use up a lot of energy. You’re burning a lot of calories by roller blading! But if you’re looking to gain muscle mass, you have to go with weight lifting.

Of course. Although an hour of skating four times a week is not a tremendous amount of skating.

Muscle tone is not the same as swelling.

If your legs are actually very lean, very little fat, then I would say the skating is building the muscle a lot. But, if your legs are bigger because you have been gaining fat weight, then the way to lose some size in your leg is to change to a better diet, which I realize you mentioned. Also, both can be going on at once. If you don’t like the look of your body from the skating then absolutely alternate with other exercises. Try swimming maybe? Don’t do any addition squat exercises. Skating you are basically doing that squat position all the time.

@_whitetigress Why do you have to go with weight lifting? Have you ever seen a gymnasts lower body? Or, professional ice skaters?

To gain 10lbs you have to eat to gain 10lbs, whether it’s muscle or fat. Gaining 10lbs of muscle in a few months is not extremely likely, especially if you are a woman. Most likely you are gaining a combination of muscle and fat.

It’s entirely possible that the increase in your activity levels have spiked your appetite and you are eating more calories without realizing it. If you don’t want to gain weight (fat or muscle) watch your calorie intake.

@JLeslie gymnasts and ice skaters don’t have a lot of mass. They are fit, of course, and have good muscle definition – but they also have very low body fat percentages. You can’t accidentally build a ton of muscle, in order to put on significant muscle gain you have to lift or do some type of bodyweight exercise combined with diet designed to build muscle. Coincidentally, gymnasts do a lot of bodyweight exercise (that’s basically what gymnastics is.) Not that you can’t build muscle doing those things, of course, but there are limits to how much muscle a person can build without actually focusing on muscle and strength growth, period. If it were that easy bodybuilders wouldn’t spend so much time at the gym or take hormonal supplements.
Weightlifting legs
vs gymnast legs

@JLeslie There is absolutely no fat on my legs. They are hard as a rock. But I don’t like their look. The quads, calves and shins are being worked out, except I’m happy to say the calves aren’t as bad as they were when I was jogging. The upper thighs (don’t know what muscle that is) got bigger and fuller, and so did the entire structure around the glutes. For me as a 5’2 girl, I look more stocky than I used to.

@sparrowfeed: 5’ 2” is a crucial detail to your post, since the proportions make a big difference.

If you look at ice skaters – especially speed skaters – their legs and glutes are large. The push-off of skating works the hamstrings and glutes similar to doing squats and lunges. For a long, lean tone, exercises that incorporate flexibility are better – such as Pilates, yoga, ballet. Swimming is a cardio exercise that doesn’t build muscle and works the upper and lower body.

@DigitalBlue

‘Weightlifting legs
vs gymnast legs.’

The differences between those two types of legs must be very subtle, because I’m not seeing any at all. ;-)

@hearkat Thanks.. exactly. That’s what I mean. Skaters’ legs and glutes are huge, and mine have started to be that way (the glutes flatten out a bit over a few days but the legs remain big for at least a week). I’m just recuperating right now, Honestly, I’m not going to rollerblade for a solid week and see how my body turns out. I feel sore and inflamed, too.

Ya, those are good. For now I think I’m going to just try walking 45 min to an hr a day and watch my calories. But somehow I really do feel that much of the weight I’ve put on is muscle. My legs are incredibly heavy and most of the muscle went into them. It just can’t be fat.. so I have to work on letting that flatten itself.

Anyone know how long it takes for muscle to go away?

@Brian1946 ohhh, hah! I didn’t realize that I messed up the links. :)

Either way, my point remains, that to build fat or muscle you have to eat enough calories to do that. So, the solution is to figure out how many calories she needs to maintain rather than gain weight. And that even if it is predominantly muscle that OP has built, there is a limit to how much muscle you can gain this way. Her legs aren’t just going to keep growing forever.

@DigitalBlue Who is that gymnast? Just because someone lifts weights to increase muscle mass, doesn’t mean skating and gymnastics doesn’t bulk up muscle also.

@sparrowfeed Yeah, if you are on the short side stocky happens pretty quickly. The American female Olympic gymnasts team looked like that to the extreme. I remember my aunt commented on how odd their bodies looked. But, they of course are so extreme, I doubt you are looking like them. They have muscles everywhere.

@JLeslie I mis-posted the links, I don’t know who it was that I’d meant to link to, just a photo of a gymnast with a clear leg shot.

I’m not disputing that OP has probably gained some muscle or that skating will build muscle. She asked if it was possible to build that much muscle doing what she is doing in the period of time that I assume to be a couple of months at most, and my opinion is that it is not. I’m saying that gaining 7–10lbs of pure muscle in a month or two (or three?) is unlikely, your average woman can build about ½lb of muscle a month, but even if that is the case and she has put on pure muscle the solution is still in diet. We’re comparing Olympic athletes who have conditioned and trained very hard for probably years to someone who has been skating a lot for a relatively short period of time.

OP’s legs won’t keep growing forever if she keeps it up, and ultimately if she were to lose body fat instead of muscle, she would have leaner legs overall while reaping the health benefits of her hard work and muscle earned while also securing her aesthetic goal of having smaller thighs. I have never seen her legs, I am simply assuming that because she is gauging them as being firm and solid rather than cut and defined that she (like most women) carries body fat in her lower body and whether she loses fat or muscle – her legs will get smaller, which is what she suggested was her goal. What female weightlifters, gymnasts and skaters all have in common is that they have well developed muscles and low body fat. How well you can see their muscles isn’t determined by how much muscle is there, it’s determined by how much body fat is covering those muscles. That’s why they don’t have big thighs, but varying degrees of definition in their legs.You gain weight from muscle or fat by eating enough calories for your body to do that. Unless you have an underlying medical condition, in which case OP should consult with a physician. Assuming she is healthy, whether she wants to lose fat or muscle, she should check out her calorie intake.

I feel like I may have been misunderstood or unclear in my earlier answers, hopefully this summed up everything that I was trying to say.

@JLeslie I kind of look like the second picture minus that definition—just the size of her legs.

I’m going to take it easy for a while and see where that gets me.. walk or maybe try something a little less taxing on the leg muscles. I need a break from my workouts anyway as I find I’m swollen all the time when I do it everyday.

@DigitalBlue Calorie intake is exactly what I’m working on right now—lowering it and changing my times of eating.

@sparrowfeed just be sure you’re still eating enough to support your active lifestyle. :) I hope what I said wasn’t discouraging, I just wanted to explain that you’ve most likely gained muscle, fat and fluid from your activity and most likely your level of activity has spiked your appetite. Not that any of it is bad, but that you don’t have to stop doing something that you enjoy to fit into your favorite jeans.

@DigitalBlue That makes a lot of sense.

I’m trying to walk fast (speed walk) everyday for an hr to an hr and 20 min to see what will happen; I want to vary things up rather than just sticking with one work-out routine because I want to see what will be good for my body. I’ve already seen what rollerblading can do. Last year when I was 150 it caused me to lose 10 lbs. Now that I’m not longer at the weight I was last year and much of my body is muscle, I want to get smaller.

Well, I’m going back to rollerblading

1] because I’ve developed sores on the back of my foot from walking and
2] I am absolutely miserable without the regular cardio

There are other forms of cardio you can try. Although, for myself I just really enjoy zumba for instance, and I would assume that is the biggest thing about skating for you, you simply enjoy it.

@JLeslie I love it. I actually skate in the winter, too.. I ‘figure’ skate (lol, meaning I TRY to figure skate).

I really enjoy jogging too, which is another thing I do in the summer. I was going to cut down because I thought it was making my legs bigger but I found that I didn’t lose any weight cutting down, either. Meh.. I might as well run with it and see what happens by the end of the summer.

Runners usually don’t have very large thighs. Skating you are in more of a squat position.

@DigitalBlue Your above longish post helped to clarify things. Thanks. I think that’s absolutely correct. Ya JlEsie, you’re right, but runners also build calf and upper thigh.

Anyway going on @DigitalBlue I think they are correct; there is more here going on than just ‘building’ 10 lbs of muscle, which to me sounds ludicrous. I know it’s a combination of muscle, fat and water weight, too. I think I’ll take that advice and keep doing what I’m doing.

Hi everyone,

I want to give an update. I think my problem is that I was eating too much. It may have been muscle (OR fat) brought on by eating too much. I cut down on my calorie intake but maintained a steady cardio routine and I see myself very gradually losing some of my mass. The scale is still unfortunately the same, but I see the body being leaner.

BOTTOM LINE: I AM SEXY. ;)