Roller skating and biking are two typically recreational activities that -- if you increase the intensity -- have the capacity to burn a lot of calories. Because there are so many variations of biking -- for leisure, for sport, indoors or out -- there's a wide variation in the number of calories burned doing this activity. In some cases, biking burns more calories than roller skating, while in other cases it does not.
Roller Skating
Roller skating is a movement that focuses on the lower body. The motion begins in the leg muscles -- specifically the gluts, quads and hamstrings -- to push the body forward, using the wheels on the skates to glide. A 130-lb. person who roller skates for 60 minutes burns approximately 413 calories during that period. However, that is at a casual, recreational pace. Increase your intensity -- or try roller skating up a hill instead of on a flat surface -- and your calorie burn increases as well.
Recreational Biking
Biking can be for sport -- such as working out on a stationary bike at the gym -- or it can be for fun. Examples of recreational biking include a leisurely paced ride in your neighborhood or unicycling in your driveway. Of these, the casual ride in your neighborhood burns the fewest calories per hour -- approximately 236 for a 130-lb. individual. Unicycling burns slightly more calories at approximately 295 hour for that 130-lb. person. Neither of these comes close to the 413 calories burned by a 130-lb. person during an hour of roller skating.
Cycling for Sport
Whether you're training for a competitive bike race or riding a stationary bike at the gym, biking for sport burns more calories than a recreational ride. During a moderately paced ride of 12 to 14 mph, a 130-lb. person burns approximately 413 calories on a stationary bike -- an amount equivalent to the calories burned during an hour of roller skating. If that same individual rode at the same pace on a road or trail, he would burn approximately 472 calories in an hour -- 14 percent more than he'd burn roller skating. Increase the intensity of your ride to a vigorous pace -- 14 to 16 mph -- to burn even more calories: between 590 and 620 calories for a 130-lb. person, depending on whether or not you're using a stationary bike.
Impact of Weight
As with every activity you do, the number of calories you burn is tied to your weight. If a 130-lb. person, a 155-lb. person and a 180-lb. person are doing the same workout, the 130-lb. person will burn the fewest number of calories while the 180-lb. person will burn the most, because it takes that individual's body the most energy to complete the task. Additionally, slight differences in the number of calories burned may exist between individuals of the same weight due to factors such as genetics and fitness level.
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