Does Snowboarding Burn Calories?

Lose weight now! Try snowboarding!

Don't see too much of that don't ya. To be fair, there are other sports that will burn more calories than snowboarding. Running, swimming, etc. How else would you be able to carve up a mountain for 8 hours straight!? But snowboarding will actually work you out more than some other sports: snowboarding can burn more calories than walking and even weightlifting. Snowboarding definitely strikes a sweet balance between calories burned and full-day enjoyment. Let's examine:

What does snowboarding work-out?

Snowboarding involves lots of action of the leg and hip muscles. Each turn into the snow involves flexing abdominal muscles and leg muscles to align the snowboard in the correct direction and keep you upright. Abdominal and leg muscles are huge muscles groups!! Large muscles have a greater caloric requirement than small muscles. (ie, finger muscles are small muscles; you can type away on a keyboard all day without getting exhausted; at least from a caloric standpoint)

So we got large muscles with lots of repetitive movements burning calories. Check, we are on our way to getting fit and losing weight. But not all snowboarding is equal...

It's a slippery slope

There is some terrain which is just more labor intensive to snowboard over than other terrains. Flying down those double black diamonds requires lots and lots of quick rapid movements. You are constantly twisting and flexing your muscles as you carve from side to side. A nice green slope, on the other hand, doesn't really require much effort. You can essentially stand up and relax your body. You will burn more calories the steeper the slope.

Snowed in

The type of snow you are snowboarding in also makes a difference. Happen to be a fan of hockey? At the start of every period in a hockey game, the ice is nice and perfectly smooth thanks to the Zamboni (fun fact, Zamboni is actually a brand name for the vehicle which resurfaces ice). Pucks will fly rapidly because there just isn't any friction on the ice. Over the course of the period, the hockey skates grind up the ice to create what is pretty much a thin layer of snow on the ice. Over the course of the period, pucks just don't travel as far with the same effort.

The same can be said for snowboarding. If you are snowboarding on ice, you will pretty much go downhill without really doing anything (whether you control your snowboard or not). Snowboarding through deep powder creates more friction. It takes more effort (and thus more calories) to control your snowboard through the powder to get downhill.

Size Matters

Not all snowboards are the same. Boards can be different sizes and lengths. Moving a larger snowboard through snow requires more effort. There is just more snow you have to push around with the board.

Same goes for the flex. To be as efficient as possible, you want to transmit 100% of your energy to the snow. A stiff board is the most responsive to transmit this energy. Flexible boards will have energy loss due to the flex of the board.

Mountain climber

You may not realize this, but when you take a chair lift up a mountain you don't really burn much calories! 😮 Yes, obvious. But let's say you ride up to the top and there is another trail you got to hike to. Hiking with your snowboard with heavy boots on in deep snow isn't the easiest. While technically not actually snowboarding, you will burn more calories whenever you take the roads less traveled.

Newton's law

Have a high body mass? (which we all know is pure muscle mass..) Newton's second law is the popular equation F=ma; Force equals mass x acceleration. Let's say we hold the acceleration constant. You are moving rightward on the mountain at 10m/s and need to decelerate to turn left. Someone who weighs less will require less force to slow down their rightward speed than someone heavier. Someone heavier has to use more force and expend more energy. See, high school physics has a purpose.

So how can we accurately determine calories burned?

One common way to determine calories burned is through monitoring the heart rate. Smartwatches such as the Apple Watch have become quite ubiquitous. They even have snowboarding activity workouts! These devices monitor your heart rate to estimate how many calories you are burning. In general, when you are working harder, your heart rate goes up.

Heart rate monitors have become the easy and relatively cheap way to determine calories burned. But heart rate monitors still have their limitations. Your heart rate can vary just day to day!

• Recovering from an extra intense snowboarding session the day before? Your heart rate won't be the same. It can actually either be higher than normal with similar effort or you may be unable to get close to your max heart rate (with a decrease in your ability to exert effort).
• Have an unusually cold or warm day? Temperature affects the heart rate sensors. Higher temperatures will cause higher heart rates.
• Too many lattes in the morning? You guessed it. Your heart rate can go up.
• Forgetting to rehydrate at the lodge? And no, adult beverages don't count. Your heart rate speeds up when you are dehydrated.

But even with these limitations, heart rate is still a good tool to evaluate your total amount of calories burned during a workout.

So let's sum things up

How many calories can you expect to burn during snowboarding? It's actually quite a large range due to all the factors above. But you can ultimately expect to burn between 400-800 calories per hour snowboarding. It's actually a great workout getting out on the mountain! Now all that's left is to figure out how to incorporate this workout into your year-round plan.