Expert's report

The Exycle is a very original technical realisation of the idea of making cycling into a way of exercising the whole body. The prototype which we tested was safe, technically sound and fun to ride. We consider the Exycle (with its various modes of employment) to be very suitable for health and fitness programmes. It could even be meaningfully adopted in serious sports training programmes, e.g. in preparatory or transitional phases of training programmes for sports involving strength.

Can the maximum weight load for the whole body be attained?

The Exycle as a training concept is similar to the use of a cross-trainer and also the practice of Nordic Walking. With all these new forms of sport a "whole body exercise" has been developed out of an already known form of exercise (such as walking or cycling). This has been achieved in an original way with the Exycle.

The definite advantage of the Exycle is the strengthening of additional muscle groups by the use of the arms whereby training becomes more effective through the expenditure of additional energy. A further advantage is the attraction of doing it in the open countryside.

The only condition of course, is that you know how to ride a bike.

University Karlsruhe (TH)
Institute for Sport und Sport Science (IfSS)
© Marcel Hardung, Lars Schlenker, Sascha Härtel & Klaus Bös

Testresults

We recommend a new kind of training load for those who do fitness sport. High intensity interval training can be carried out beneficially. This is only possible on a short-term basis for those who do not train for a specific sport but when training for strength it certainly brings good results and through the additional speed a greater degree of fun is experienced during training.

Our test persons who tried out this mode of cycling were 10-20% faster than during under- maximum effort training. In short periods an extremely high speed can be attained with the use of the exycle. The exycle offers serious sportspeople (who use cycling as an additional means of training or to develop stamina) the chance of training the whole body and thus, in certain circumstances, they can carry out more effectiveor balanced training than with the use of a conventional bicycle.

Summing up, the exycle opens exciting prospects for various target groups. If the instructions are carefully followed, desired training goals can be attained, over-loading can be prevented and possible risks can be minimised.

University Karlsruhe (TH)
Institute for Sport und Sport Science (IfSS)
© Marcel Hardung, Lars Schlenker, Sascha Härtel & Klaus Bös