Well, skating shouldn't make you bigger. You should have more defined muscles, thigh muscles for example, and perhaps a firmer behind, but it shouldn't be BIGGER because you should be losing fat as you gain muscle. Building muscle on top of fat is not a good thing (not saying you HAVE any fat, just that if you are only definining your muscles, unless you're trying to become a body builder, it's not going to alter your pant size *unless* you're building on top of fat). I have pretty large muscles for a girl, but I'm actually smaller than most of my non skating friends. I think that sometimes, skaters make excuses when they don't fit in their clothes by saying it's "because of skating" that their legs are bigger or something. I know I had a friend like that at one point- she said she was getting skater's thighs but she skated maybe 2 hours a week. The truth is, she was just gaining weight. Make sure you balance all that skating with cardio so that you lose fat as you build muscle, otherwise you'll just end up bulky. Skating definitely shouldn't be making you buy bigger clothing sizes.

Just my thoughts!

Ummmm but if you start out without much leg at ALL, if you're building a bunch of muscle, your legs will get bigger... because, it's adding muscle and muscle mass.... right? I mean, I've never had much fat on my legs, and I still don't, but my legs are certainly larger and more muscular (not much larger, actually... and they have less fat than before, so... I don't know!)

If you're skating fast does that end up being cardio? I've always wondered... becasue I certainly feel MY heart pumpgin!

Well, the muscles are always in your legs, even if they are not developed. And usually, a bit of a protuding muscle would not change your clothing size even if it made a small chunk of your leg larger. I'm just saying it sounds like something more than just that.

As far as cardio- yeah, skating's plentyyyy of cardio. I read somewhere that a high level freestyle skater burns about 500 calories per hour. Which means I burn 1,500 cals everyday. I don't even eat 1,500 worth of cals. This is why I'm saying you can't gain weight even if you do build some muscle. You should lose weight, so it about evens out. But this is just my take on it. Clearly, I'm no doctor. Nor did I ever do that well in science, heh.

Some people are more 'prone' to building muscle than others. I build muscle quite easily for a female. Some people could skate for 5 hours a day 7 days a week and still not get a skaters butt. It's down to the individual make up of each person.

Skating CAN make you bigger, certainly your thighs, calves and butt. Increasing muscle mass means that you are bigger. Ok, it's not 'bad' (ie fat) bigger but bigger. Look at body builders, even without using steroids they build their muscles and increase their size.

Depending on the cardio that you do you can also build muscle, I build leg and butt muscle doing aerobics, for example. Cardio helps in fighting the fat but isn't going to decrease muscle mass.

The best thing for helping to streamline your muscles and not letting them get bulky is to STRETCH correctly. I was always leaner when I was dancing, I gave up cardio stuff years ago because it was boring (for me) and I got bigger doing it (which was contrary to what I was wanting).

If you're exercising that much and not even eating 1,500 calories a day then you aren't eating enough. You have to eat the correct amounts and eat healthily or your body won't be able to cope with the workload and you'll end up sick.

Also, muscle weighs heavier than fat so in laying down more muscle you can be a smaller clothes size but weigh heavier ie you CAN gain weight when you build muscle.

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The best whisper is a click

I have skated for more years than I care to remember and didnt notice one muscle in my body, however since starting dance this year I can feel these bumpy things in my thighs I was worried and asked my coach and surprise they are muscles, fortunately you cant actualy see them with the naked eye yet, if that does happen the dance will have to go!!

Well, sure, if you skated non-stop you would get a cardiovascular workout, but that's not what figure skaters do. Not the ones I know, anyway! There is too much stopping and starting and it's not really a good cardio workout. Sure, you run your program and then maybe you do laps, but still that only takes up at most 5-10 minutes and that's not a good cardio workout.

And the same thing goes for thinking about how many calories you burn. I would be interested in seeing the article (if it's on line) where you saw that a high level freestyler is burning 500 calories an hour. I wonder if it means that if you were to skate at a high intensity continuously you would be able to burn that much, but of course, people don't do that. Even when I was playing squash, where you would run continuously for an hour, they said it only burned around 600 calories in an hour.

I also think that skaters can look small but it's the proportions that sometimes can get a little out of whack. Sure, some people may be over-eating, but you definitely can increase the discrepency between your waist and your hips.

Pat

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August 22, back on the ice!

After about a year of pairs, I started to notice that a couple of muscles in my forearms were getting bigger. All my long sleeved leotards and skating dresses got too right below my elbows. I actually split a couple of the seams open. I thought this was totally freaky, but didn't put it together with the pairs lifts until my coach said, "Oh, you're getting pair skater arm muscles." Duh! The lady who makes a lot of my practice dresses has had to change all my patterns. I feel like Popeye!!

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/ and check under "Ice skating, general". But I actually agree, it is a vast overestimate. I know when I ate without thinking I got very fat, even though I was skating regularly. Now I watch what I eat - and have added some off-ice training into the mix, although still no cardio, although I do try to do some "aerobic" ice skating each session - and have lost near on 45 lbs.....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

WOO HOO!!! 595 calories in 1 hr 30 min here!!!

No measurement for elliptical trainer but I'll bet skating is still much better!!!

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Whether you bulk up or not is going to depend on a couple things:
a) Your overall body shape and your own muscles' tendency to build bulk. If I start even a high-intensity cardio program, my legs will bulk up. It's not fat -- you can see the muscle definition on the sides of my legs; but if I wanted to lose weight (5'4'', 125) I would have to lose muscle mass and severely restrict my caloric intake.

My arms, on the other hand? I weight train; I can lift more than I used to. My arms have more definition. But they stayed relatively small.

b) Whether you're doing other cardio to burn fat. I find skating to be a somewhat low intensity workout; I realize I'm a beginner, but so are a lot of people on these boards, and I just am not good enough to go tearing around at high speed for two hours. And if all you do is add muscle but don't reduce fat, you will get a bit bulky at first.

c) Age. They used to tell the kids in high school not to seriously weight train before they were 14; not only can it be dangerous for a growing skeleton, but you just don't build muscle as easily then, I think.

Check out pictures of Michelle Kwan from when she was 13 and bopping around against Kerrigan and Harding and now, when she's 25. Her legs are strong but skinny then; now she has a lot more curvy muscle.

d) To be honest, the biggest difference I noticed in myself during skating wasn't my legs, but my arms -- I have amazing shoulder definition now. All that posture work.

I'm afraid I can't chime in about the skater's butt. I have chicken legs. However, I do have a suggestion for those who have this condition that is both a blessing and an affliction. For my chicken legs, I buy wide cut jeans. Traditional cut jeans emphasize my chicken legs and it looks like I walking on stilts underneath my jeans. Add on some modern day basketball sneakers and I look something like Frankenstein. To give the illusion of looking fuller in the leg, I buy dress pants and jeans that are wider from the mid-leg down to the cuff. To prevent the Frankenstein foot appearance, I wear shoes that are low to the ground like soccer shoes (Sambas are one of my favorites). I suspect that most of the posters on this forum are trying to fit into traditional cut jeans like Levi's 501's or something. That probably isn't going to work out. If you try a wide leg jean like Levi's Loose Leg or Boot Leg, I'm sure you'll find the waist has sufficient room. As far as the legs, you'd be hard pressed to fill out a Loose Leg jean (given the proper leg length). Also look for "low-waist" jeans. These types of jeans fit a little bit lower on your waist so you aren't trying to fit fabric around a really tiny waist and then make it abruptly stretch to fit around your "delicious" gluteus-maximii.

Well, when I skate around I'm usually going through field moves CONSTANTLY for quite a while, and my heart starts beating up a storm

And... if you're eating less than 1500 calories in a day with that exercise, all you're going to do is lose muscle, which, I assure you, will not help much (been there, done that...)

I think the amount you burn will depend on the person. I tend to, I think, burn a lot of calories; I have a relatively fast metabolism, somewhat naturally. As you get older, your metabolism slows down, even if you do exercise, and sometimes your body gets used to the exercise and doesn't really take it into account anymore, so to speak. Anyway.

I saw this article once that said that skating in CIRCLES for an hour (if you weigh aroudn 150 pounds or something) would burn 300-400 calories... and then, if you add crossovers, fancy stuff lol it was more like 600-700... it used to be on a website, but now 'tis gone. sigh.

Not if you're female, 58, and 5'3" short. In that case you can eat 1200 calories a day, skate, and still lose nothing but your patience!

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Well, I guess, but if you're young and skating 3 hours a day... like I said, some peopel burn more than others, I think age/weight are both large factors there.

You're probably eating too little - try adding another 250 calories a day, and you may find the weight starts to shift again. If you eat too little, your body hangs on to every scrap it can find.....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I hear 'ya DBNY...but unfortunately what Annabel says is true. If you consume too little food, it goes into "starvation mode." At that point, eating a bit more calories is the only way of kick starting the body's "furnace" again. Also, if you don't consume enough calories, you won't have as much energy for doing physical things (like skating!!!) that will help you burn off those calories anyway.

And you are so NOT 5' 3"!!! *I* am 5' 3"!!! (Well, more 5' 3.5!" I measured myself on the scale with the height thing...LOL!!!)

The other thing to consider is if you have other physical factors contributing to it. Some people are just naturally able to keep their weight down. Others they can workout 'til the cows come home and not lose any weight... And you know the old story about how one's metabolism slows down after 35... (Also, if you have diabetes... you'll have a harder time losing weight too...)

Other things, you may be gaining MUSCLE. Pilates will help make the legs nice and slim but still keep the legs strong (so they say anyway...I got thick thighs!)

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Well, I have varied my caloric intake enough to know that it's not starvation mode that's keeping me from getting svelte again. I also am not actually on the ice 3 hrs a day, though I wish I were.

I AM SO 5' 3" and have been all my adult life (well, it used to be 5' 3.5" like you, but I think age has taken its toll there). Judging heights against another can be deceptive, especially when wearing skates.

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Tell 'ya what... next time we meet (probably when I need to visiting the in-laws in NYC again...Gawd, I love visiting there!!!) one of us should bring a retractable tape measure (the ones you use in measuring walls in the home...) We'll both step on the tape measure and measure how talk we really are (sans skates but wearing tennis shoes...) Deal? (I'd be curious...)

As for the weight thing: It could be just about ANYTHING from thyroid to just plain genetics. It's hard to say. (But I don't think you have anything to worry about DBNY. You're slim!) And my feet can barely handle two hours... No way I'm going for 3 hours straight!!!

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

I tend to agree with this. The elite competitive skaters tend to do a lot of weight training also. That combined with skating 6+ hours per day, 5-6 times per week, give some of the skaters great musculature (sp?) in the thigh and buttock area.

For the average adult skater, a "skater's butt" is normally due to gaining weight. I mean if you skate and train hard enough to get a true skater butt then you should only see cut muscle definition in your lower body. No jiggly area or cellulite should be noticeable.

I think I'm insulted, but I'm not sure.

Not sure what your definition of "average adult skater" is, but going by my definition, I have to respectfully disagree. Gaining weight? The average adult skater doesn't gain weight; the average adult skater loses weight and builds muscle. I'm an average adult skater; I got my skater butt the old fashioned way -- I earned it.

I like what skating has done for the rear view, beleive me...combine skating 4-5 sessions per week along with 500lb 6 rep squats 3-4 days a week and one can get a pretty solid rear profile!

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Why are you skating so slowly? Get out of my way!

If you skate faster, it makes everything look better!

I guess all I meant to say is that...if you're toning and building muscle, then you will see a different in firmness and shape, but not so drastic that you'll need a bigger pant size. *Especially* for the butt. Legs are debatable, I mean if you like super tight pants I guess developing your thigh muscles might make 'em too tight, but it just seems rather extreme, especially for someone who isn't skating at a high level for 25 hours a week or anything.

The reason I mentioned it is because I know I have in the past thought I was "toning" when really, I was doing too much weightlifting, not enough cardio, and eating too many carbs which just made me bulk up, aka gain weight, and that's not what you want, so I didn't want anyone to think getting a drastically bigger butt and thighs (to the point of not fitting into your clothes) was something normal from this sport. It's easier to catch a problem if you notice it early. I debated posting it because I didn't want it to sound offensive, but I hope this opposite opinion might help. If it doesn't, feel free to disregard.

What I do disagree with is your implication that weightlifting and eating carbs making you gain weight is gaining fat! It's probably not - it's muscle (from the weightlifting). Muscle weighs more than fat, but takes up less room.

Friend of mine was given a rowing-machine for Christmas. Within 3 months she had put on 7 lbs - but her trousers were falling off! Another friend, a skater, had upped the intensity of her skating and off-ice training, and told me she had gained weight. Well, there is no fat on her at all - so I asked how her trousers were fitting? She realised that they were too loose.... she may have put on weight, but she had lost fat. A very desirable outcome!

We shouldn't just go by what the scales say, but by how our clothes are fitting and what the tape-measure says.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Some more thoughts!

1) I don't think MQSeries was being offensive; if you are getting radically bigger while skating it's probably due to either a) you're not really getting a cardio workout, but you ARE building muscle (and with luck, the fat will drop off in time as your metabolism increases) or b) having been an adult and maybe not terribly active, your muscles are growing for the first time in a long time, so any change seems huge.

I read MQ as just saying 'Hey, if you're skating two hours a week, what you've got isn't the same skater butt that a competitive child has, you're probably just gaining weight.' And that I don't think applies to anyone here, but it is a human tendency (think of all the couch potato guys claiming they just have more muscle mass, and that's why they're heavy!)

2) The adult skaters I know are on the younger end of adult, so those with skater butts are definitely not claiming that poufy butts are skater butts. I imagine this is true for most adults.

3) I would agree that at least in my limited experience, you're not going to go up a pants-size UNLESS this is really your first time building muscle ever; you can gain a lot of muscle without needing to go up a dress size -- I was ten pounds heavier when I was in college and I still wear all the same clothes now. I am somewhat slimmer but it's not noticeable even in photos. Which I think means I need a new wardrobe more than anything.

Mrs. Redboots is totally right! The scale only tells half the story.

4) Kids are different than adults. If you've been skating your whole life, any changes skating did to you also happened while you were hitting your growth spurts, etc. (You probably went up pants-sizes, but you were just getting older, ya know? Maybe you would have been a chubby eight year old otherwise and would have NOTICED a new skaterbutt.) If you start as an adult, you can tell all changes are due to skating (or whatever new activity you have.)

Yes, that's what I was trying to say. The typical adult skater doesn't have the time nor the money to train and cross-train at the intensive level of an elite skater. Their pleasing shapes come from training at a high intensity on a daily basis, several hours a day.

You might be on the ice a couple of hours a week and probably sweat like crazy after each training session but realisticly, inspite of what you sometimes like to tell yourself, it's still no where near the level on an elite skater's training. If your pants no longer fit, I just don't think you're being honest with yourself if your immediate thought is " skating gave me skating butt so that's why my pants don't fit anymore."