Last updated on June 4th, 2021
Yes, riding a scooter can contribute to your daily exercise regardless if you’re doing some low-intensity riding or more high-intensity scooting. Scooting engages most of the lower half of your body and spending long periods traveling around on a scooter can be an efficient but low-impact workout.
Riding a scooter for exercise may make use of some muscles that you don’t normally use in your regular workouts. If you struggle with joint pain or you’re just not ready to delve into running or cycling, then scooting can be a good low-impact form of exercise that’ll still provide you with a good workout without putting pressure on your joints.
In comparison to cycling, scooting engages the whole body even when it only feels like you’re using your lower body. Cycling only engages the lower part of your body, your upper body, and your bum may come stiff and sore from long periods of sitting in the same position which causes some back issues and puts you off from going on another cycle any time soon.
You use your legs to mostly power your scooter, but your chest, back, and stomach are also being engaged which can help build and strengthen the muscles in these areas.
When scooting around for long periods, you’ll want to ensure you alternate what legs you’re stepping on to push the scooter otherwise you’ll overwork one side of the body and you may start to see a difference between the leg you always use to push and the one that remains on the scooter.
Can you lose weight by riding a scooter?
Yes, you can lose weight by riding a scooter as long as you’re eating a balanced and healthy diet alongside it. You won’t be able to use an electric scooter if you aim to lose weight, so you’ll need a classic model that requires your body to power it.
Riding a scooter around at a good pace can burn around 200 calories within half an hour. If you want to burn more calories then you’ll have to increase the speed that you are scooting to burn more calories per minute in a quicker amount of time, or on the other hand, you could spend longer scooting around and burn calories at a more leisurely pace.
For consistent weight loss, you should aim to ride your scooter for around 30 minutes to 1 hour a day or every other day. Riding the scooter every day will allow you to lose weight quickly but you should try to give yourself at least two rest days a week to let the muscles in your legs recover.
If you’re going to use a scooter as an alternative way to travel around then it’s not only time efficient but it’ll help you burn more calories throughout the day without even trying. If you’re going to use riding your scooter as your main form of exercise then you might find it a bit tiresome and less effective at burning the calories you need to begin losing weight.
Riding a scooter will also help you build muscles in your legs and your bum and will help strengthen your joints and your core which will benefit you in other forms of exercise like running, HIIT, or even just walking around day to day.
You’ll need to remember that eating a healthy diet or being in a calorie deficit will impact how much weight you’ll use whilst riding a scooter every day. If you’re eating too many calories throughout the day, then riding your scooter will only help you maintain the weight you are or prevent you from putting on more weight.
You’ll have to eat maintenance calories (how many calories you need every day to survive) or decrease your calories by 100 or 200 calories per day to begin to see effective weight loss.
Is riding a scooter cardio?
Yes, riding a scooter is a good form of cardio especially for those who don’t like high impact cardio like running or feel like they’re not getting the results they want from low impact cardio like walking.
You don’t have to be going 100mph on a scooter to get a good cardio workout in. Going at your own pace and just breaking a sweat will get your blood pumping around your body and improve your cardiovascular health.
If you can’t maintain high speeds for a long period, then try scooting at a high speed for 1 minute and then dropping back down to a slower pace for the next minute and repeating this process for 30 minutes, doing 5 pushes on each leg before you alternate with the other. This will allow you to get your heart rate nice and high without tiring yourself out from constantly scooting at a high speed.
You can even try scooting uphill and downhill to make yourself work harder and in turn improve your cardio health. You may find you get tired more easily but you’ll reach your maximum heart rate more quickly. The more you incline training like this, the easier you’ll find it and the more you’ll want to test yourself.
You can try altering the footplate height on your scooter by picking larger tires to use, making it harder for you to push the ground to power the scooter.
Scooting can also help build muscles in your legs that may not be able to do by walking or running, giving you an all round effective workout.
Does riding a scooter burn more calories than walking?
Yes, riding a scooter burns more calories than walking does. 45 minutes of walking will burn around 150 calories, whereas 45 minutes of consistent scooting can burn up to around 350 calories. If you get bored of the routes you take for daily walks, then a scooter will allow you to decrease the time spent on your walk whilst burning more calories as you do so.
If you’re looking to burn extra calories throughout the day, then riding your scooter can help you do that. Instead of walking to work, or walking to a bus station or train station to commute to work, try riding your scooter, you’ll get there quicker and you’ll also have burnt over double the number of calories that you would have whilst walking.
What muscles does riding a scooter work?
Riding a scooter works muscles in the lower body like the calves, hamstrings, quadriceps, and glutes. Your standing leg bends whilst you go to push on the ground with the other leg and the range of motion is comparable to the one that you create whilst cycling. Riding a scooter also works your hip flexors as they are fully open when using the full movement of your legs to power the scooter.
Even though you may not feel like you are, you are also using your chest, core, and back whilst riding a scooter. As you’re pulling yourself up straight towards the handlebars, you’ll be using your chest muscles to keep you upright and by kicking your legs backward to push the scooter, your lower back muscles will be worked.
Keeping yourself stable on the scooter whilst your legs are going through a range of movements will engage your core and strengthen it.
