Roller Derby

limismith
limismith Posts: 156 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have found my fitness love! For a year I have danced around joining my local roller derby team. I wasn't sure if I was fit enough, tough enough,more if the cost of gear and fees would be worth it.

Well this week I joined, and it is the best decision or my health ever! Let me just say, I have not skated in 15 years! And the girls who loaned me spare pads knew what they we talking about because I fell right out the gate. But after two practices I am catching on fast - I can stop, turn, skate without touching the wall, and of course fall like a pro.

I ordered my own gear off roller derby recyclables on Facebook to sve money, and my monthly dues are less than the cost of a gym membership. And for all that I get to work out on skates twice a week (700+ calories burned per session) and every Saturday they have an optional High Intensity Interval Training session at the local martial arts center ( another 500+ burned there!). I think the cost was a bargain. And my teammates are awesome - all shapes and sizes and in this sport a hefty girl fits right in. Seeing everyone in their rainbow tight and booty shorts and mouth guards rocking out each practice inspires me more than any Jillian Michaels video ever has.

I am excited to see where this takes me. I can't play in a real bout aka match for a few months but the training and fun is so worth it. Feel free to friend me if you want to follow along this crazy journey with me. And if you do derby I want to know! I am in love!

Replies

  • rockthehourglass
    rockthehourglass Posts: 62 Member
    Congratulations! Roller derby is a ton of fun and you get a good workout without being bored. My thighs were SO muscular and my cardio endurance improved greatly after just a few months. I participated for about a year in 2009 until I had an injury and then a series of financial issues that prevented me from going back, but I do miss it. The people are awesome and very accepting of ALL different people. Stick with it, you will be healthier and make new friends!
  • twilightlvr79
    twilightlvr79 Posts: 130 Member
    I just joined our local derby teams Freshmeat class about four weeks ago. I developed an instant love for the sport and I am so looking forward to the day I become bout eligible. Congratulations making the decision to join derby. I myself and looking forward to developing the great butt and thighs everyone has said will come along with playing this awesome sport. Feel free to add me as a friend if you like, I am always looking for friends with similar interests as myself, especially roller derby since I can't get enough of it.
  • shaydon80
    shaydon80 Posts: 138 Member
    I'm trying out for a local team tonight and I am soooo excited!!!
  • carrieous
    carrieous Posts: 1,024 Member
    Congrats! I played rollerderby for 4 years and met my husband in the rollerderby. Its a wonderful sport!
  • buudharich
    buudharich Posts: 50
    Congrats! I am a huge follower of the Minnesota Rollergirls here in Saint Paul, MN. It was enough that my flashy red light attracted the ire of the stadium mall cops and they asked me to turn it off permanently. Super pissed but humbled that I could create something that awesome. :-)

    Hope to see your nickname on a flashy board on UStream before long. ;-)
  • dkgoetz
    dkgoetz Posts: 65 Member
    That is so great! I love roller derby (only a fan, though!) and I have friends on the local team. One of my friends on the team lost a ton of weight and toned up doing it, she loves it!

    I go to every game and have considered joining but I have other fitness commitments that interfere with their practice times. Maybe someday... :]
  • jlaspiras
    jlaspiras Posts: 4 Member
    Hello -

    I'm a former Roller Derby skater and most of the reason I'm tracking diet and fitness goals again is that I've fallen out of routine healthy habits since retirement.

    One thing I'd encourage you to add to your training regimen if you don't already is YOGA and some sort of off-skates circuit training. There are many, many injuries in Roller Derby but not necessarily due to the full contact and roughness of the sport. If you are not well-rounded in your fitness you will notice negative impacts later on. I lost so much flexibility (not that I had much to start with) and my legs gained so much muscle that they overcompensated for my (lack of) foot strength, hips, etc. and this resulted in injuries during and after my tenure as a skater.

    Going from eating basically whatever I wanted (quantity wise, I have been gluten free and a healthy diet for years) to retraining my body to eat for fuel with far less calories burned has been difficult. Roller Derby was at once the most amazing and trying time of my adult life, in both emotional and physical ways. I hope you have a blast and kick *kitten*!!

    Best,
    Jessica
  • bookstitch
    bookstitch Posts: 86 Member
    Hey! I just joined Fresh Meat and I love it! I feel like it's all I want to talk about and I just want to put my skates on and try and try. It is hard work, so hard. I have zero skate experience, because what I did consider experience I have since learned is not. I have practice 3x/week for 2hrs at a time and it's amazing. but outside of practice I keep focusing on what I didn't do well rather than what I did do well. Mentally, I m having a tough time or maybe just day.

    I'd love to connect with any derby chicks to just learn more and know that I'm not alone in my feelings!

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