Extreme Sports Can Help You Lose Weight

Extreme sports are activities that are mostly associated with high level of danger because they involve height, speed, spectacular stunts, and above average physical exertion. Because of their high physical demand, the body utilizes the stored calories you get from food and beverages then combines it with oxygen to produce the energy needed for the activity. This simply means that the more physical exertion an activity requires, the more energy you need, thus the more calories you burn. This article shares the top 5 calorie-burning extreme sports, basing on an average 70 kilograms/ 154 pound – adult male.

Speed Biking
Pleasure biking burns 294 calories per hour, but if you take it into extremes where you add speed in it, you could burn 441 calories/hr when you bump up the speed to 10 – 11.9mph, 588 calories/hr with 12 – 13.9 mph, 735 calories/hr with 14-15.9 mph, 882 calories/hr with 16-19 mph, and a whooping 1,176 calories/hr with 20 mph or more. For those who are inclined with BMX or mountain biking, they could burn as much as 595 calories/hr because of the high physical exertion when biking in elevated and steep terrains.

Scuba Diving
In General, scuba diving burns 490 calories/hr however for “Frogman” scuba diving (Navy Seals) they burn 840 calories/hr. Unlike the usual scuba diving, Frogman scuba diving requires a more in- depth training because a person is required to dive or swim in a military capacity that includes combat swimming.

Skiing
Freestyle skiing is one of the most awaited events in Winter Olympics; do you know that you get to burn 490 calories/hr through this? This type of skiing is divided into branches, the “old school” which encompasses the aerials and the moguls and the “new school” that is composed of big air, halfpipe, slopestyle, and the free-skiing. Though freestyle skiing burns a great amount of calories, speed skiing can burn more calories. Cross country skiing with 4.0 – 4.9 mph burns 560 calories/hr and an increased speed of 5.0 – 5.9 mph can burn as much as 630 calories/hr.

Ski Jumping
Ski jumping is predominantly a winter sport that is part of the Winter Olympics Games; this sport is played by taking off a ramp, jump and attempt to land the farthest down on the hill with style. This winter sport burns 490 calories/hr and an extreme version of this which is ski flying with a K-spot of at least185 meters (607 ft) burns as much as 580 calories/hr.

Snowboarding
Snowboarding is another Winter Olympic Sport that involves going down a snow covered slope while equipped with a snowboard and snowboard specific boots. This sport is physically demanding as it requires proper stance and good balance; good upper body control for pivot and steering, hip, knees, and ankle control to keep the body balanced on the edge of the board, flexing and extending body to control speed, and good body timing and coordination to perform any kinds of turns. Because of the amount of physical exertion this sport requires, a snowboarder burns 367 calories/hr for light snowboarding, 441 calories/hr for moderate snowboarding, and 588 calories/hr for vigorous snowboarding.

You may notice that the extreme sports which burn high number of calories are those that involves resistance. This is because, the more resistance there is, the more your body will need to exert physically, thus the more calories are burned to produce energy. Extreme air sports like hang gliding and sky diving burn 245 calories/hr, which are obviously way less than the land and water sports. Extreme sports performed in air burn less calories because it is the gravity that does much of the work. Also, activities that are performed in a cold temperature burn more calories because your body needs to work harder to keep its warmth.

Author BIO: Chris writes about sports and fitness subjects. He believes that engaging in extreme sports along with a balanced diet is a great way to lose weight by burning calories while having fun at the same time.