Abstract
Bicycle touring as a modality of physical activity that involves whole-body cardiorespiratory and metabolic functions could be a potential strategy to improve body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of 7-days bicycle touring activity on body composition and physical fitness. A total of 13 individuals (three women) participated in this quasi-experimental study. The participants were evaluated at baseline and were tracked for up to 12 days after the intervention. The intervention consisted of a 480 km bicycle touring route performed over 8 days. Body weight and body composition (i.e., fat mass and lean mass) were assessed using a bioelectrical impedance analyser. Physical fitness was measured using the International Fitness Scale questionnaire. We conducted a repeated-measures analysis of variance to determine changes in body weight and body composition and paired sample t-tests to analyse changes in physical fitness. Significant differences in fat mass were observed between the baseline and both post-intervention (p = 0.003) and re-test values (p = 0.031). Significant differences were also noted in lean mass between the baseline and post-intervention values (p = 0.003), whereas no significant changes were observed when compared the baseline and re-test values (p = 0.178). Significant differences were obtained in cardiorespiratory fitness when comparing the baseline with the post-intervention values (p = 0.016), whereas no significant differences were noted in general fitness, muscular strength, speed/agility, and flexibility (all p > 0.05). In conclusion, a 7-day bicycle touring intervention can significantly reduce fat mass and increase lean mass and cardiorespiratory fitness in healthy individuals.
Highlights
PROFITH “PROmoting FITness and Health through Physical Activity” Research Group, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, EFFECTS-262 Research Group, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain
Significant differences were obtained in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) when comparing the baseline with the post-intervention (∆ = 0.455 ± 0.522; p = 0.016; Figure 3B), whereas no significant differences were noted in general fitness (∆ = 0.182 ± 0.603; p = 0.341; Figure 3A), muscular strength (∆ = 0.273 ± 0.467; p = 0.082; Figure 3C), speed/agility (∆ = 0.091 ± 0.539; p = 0.588; Figure 3D), and flexibility (∆ = 0.273 ± 0.467; p = 0.082; Figure 3E)
The main findings of this study were that a 7-day bicycle touring intervention ina reduction of fat mass and an increase of lean mass in healthy individuals, while no duced a reduction of fatinmass and an increase in healthy individuals, while in changes were noted either body weight of or lean
Summary
Bicycle touring as a modality of physical activity that involves whole-body cardiorespiratory and metabolic functions could be a potential strategy to improve body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness. 7-days bicycle touring activity on body composition and physical fitness. We conducted a repeated-measures analysis of variance to determine changes in body weight and body composition and paired sample t-tests to analyse changes in physical fitness. Significant differences in fat mass were observed between the baseline and both post-intervention (p = 0.003) and re-test values (p = 0.031). Significant differences were noted in lean mass between the baseline and post-intervention values (p = 0.003), whereas no significant changes were observed when compared the baseline and re-test values (p = 0.178). A 7-day bicycle touring intervention can significantly reduce fat mass and increase lean mass and cardiorespiratory fitness in healthy individuals. High physical activity levels have been associated with a marked reduction of (i) cardiometabolic disease incidence and (ii) risk for premature mortality [5,6,7,8]
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