Abstract
Germany experienced a 6-month second lockdown (November 2020–April 2021) during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included the closure of all physical activity (PA) facilities. The use of online exercise classes (OECs) was promoted by public health and exercise organizations. Using the present cross-sectional online survey, we assess the use of and opinion towards OECs in Germany during the second lockdown. We used contingency tables and the Chi2 test to calculate the frequency of awareness and use of OECs according to PA status, well-being and demographic data, and conducted a binary logistic regression with OEC awareness or use and dichotomized independent predictors. The associations between opinion and activity status, frequency of use, educational attainment, age and body mass index were calculated using Spearman correlations. A total of 993 datasets were analyzed in detail. Of the 785 (79.1%) participants reporting awareness of OECs, 536 tried them, and 262, 188 and 85 used them <1 per week, 1–2 per week and ≥3 per week, respectively. The users were typically active, female participants with poorer mental well-being. The opinions towards OECs varied according to participant characteristics, such as activity status, BMI and age. Overall, regular OEC use was quite limited, and, as such, cannot replace in-person exercise opportunities. Keeping physical activity facilities open and safe must be prioritized in the ongoing pandemic.
Highlights
The COVID-19 disease, which was first documented in late 2019 in China, reached pandemic dimensions and was declared as such by the World Health Organization (WHO)in mid-March 2020 [1]
We found that the respondents who had a higher educational attainment, were physically active in terms of the WHO recomhad a higher educational attainment, weresymptoms physically active terms online exercise classes (OECs)
Awareness was higher in younger responders, and the use of OECs was higher in female participants who were physically active, and showed depressive symptoms
Summary
The COVID-19 disease, which was first documented in late 2019 in China, reached pandemic dimensions and was declared as such by the World Health Organization (WHO)in mid-March 2020 [1]. The COVID-19 disease, which was first documented in late 2019 in China, reached pandemic dimensions and was declared as such by the World Health Organization (WHO). To date, the pandemic has come in distinct waves in many countries, including Germany [3]. E.g., Italy, the first wave was devastating, and the second somewhat milder [4], Germany experienced a relatively short and less severe first wave [3]. The vaccination process started in the final days of December 2020, but rates remained too low for many months to effectively curb the infection [5]. A partial national lockdown was implemented on 2 November 2020, and was strengthened as of 16 December
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