The role of the e-bike in promoting health and fitness is comparable to that of a conventional bicycle. This was reported by researchers of the University of Basel in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. In particular, overweight and untrained individuals can benefit from riding an e-bike.
The role of the e-bike in promoting health and fitness is comparable to that of a conventional bicycle. This was reported by researchers of the University of Basel in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. In particular, overweight and untrained individuals can benefit from riding an e-bike.
The starting point for the pilot study was the Bike to Work campaign, which has been running in Switzerland for ten years now and invites commuters to switch to their bicycles or e-bikes every year for a month. Almost 65,000 cyclists took part this year.
A research group at the Department of Sport, Exercise and Health at the University of Basel examined how the exercise intensity on e-bikes compares to conventional bicycles. They conclude that training with an e-bike is by no means less effective, but has comparable health benefits as regular bicycling. Furthermore, the researchers found that even after a relatively short training period of four weeks improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness were achieved.
Oxygen uptake as indicator for cardiorespiratory fitness
To conduct the study, the researchers recruited about 30 volunteers who were considered untrained overweight individuals (body mass index of 28-29). In preparation of the intervention, the participants were thoroughly examined. The oxygen uptake capacity (VO2) was used as decisive criterion for the evaluation of cardiorespiratory fitness. VO2 measures the body's ability to uptake and utilize oxygen.
Read more at University of Basel
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