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A new partnership between Bupa Health Clinics and Wattbike will give customers access to the “world’s most advanced indoor training bike” at more than 30 Bupa sites across the UK.
The bikes will be used as part of Bupa’s Peak Health Assessment, which is designed to both identify current health concerns and potential future risks, with tailored lifestyle coaching to help customers improve their health. It also includes male or female health checks for the early detection of gender-specific cancers, with a doctor consultation of up to 60 minutes.
Richard Baker, Wattbike CEO, said: “Testing to benchmark health and fitness is vital. It’s how we establish a starting point on which to improve. We are extremely proud to have partnered with Bupa on this. We’re providing them with an advanced, non-invasive fitness test to measure physiological responses to exercise which offers practical guidance towards improved levels of health, fitness and performance.
“By providing this style of personalised lifestyle coaching, the support tools help people set a benchmark that can be reviewed and improved upon, encouraging them to make necessary lifestyle changes to lead healthier lives.”
The Wattbikes are set up based on recommendations by British Cycling, meaning they can be adapted to specific body shapes in order to help maximise performance and prevent injury.
Their introduction means customers will now benefit from a fitness assessment without the need for an uncomfortable mask or mouthpiece. The Wattbike test will predict a V02 max score, maximum heart rate, Cardiorespiratory Fitness (CRF) score, maximum minute power, functional threshold heart rate and functional threshold power.
These results provide patients with a measure of aerobic fitness and state of their respiratory, cardiovascular and skeletal muscle system which can be used to identify heart rate and power training zones.
Wattbike can also provide a structured 12-week training plan from beginner to advanced level, which complements the lifestyle coaching offered by Bupa’s team of qualified health and lifestyle advisors.
Sarah Melia, director at Bupa Health Clinics added: “Health assessments are a fantastic way of getting a snapshot of your health and we are always looking for new ways to take them to the next level. Our partnership with Wattbike is really exciting as it gives our customers the chance to trial cutting edge technology which was previously the reserve of elite sportspeople. It’s an exciting addition to our offering and will help people take control of their health and lifestyle.”
More information can be found here.
