What is the Wattbike Health Assessment?

The Wattbike Health Assessment was launched in 2017 via the Wattbike Hub app. The Health Assessment is a submaximal ramp test that quantifies each individual’s CRF and provides them with personalised data and training zones to enable them to improve their score; so anyone can improve their health and extend their active life. 

The accuracy and dependability of our Health Assessment was picked up by health giant Bupa, and in late 2019, our official partnership was announced. Today, anyone can sign up to undertake the Health Assessment at numerous Bupa clinics around the UK to examine and analyse every part of their health, or you could undertake the Health Assessment at home to gain insight into your cardiorespiratory fitness.

What is CRF?

In simple terms, CRF tells you how effective your body is at transporting oxygen to the places where it’s needed the most. CRF quantifies the functional capacity of an individual and is dependent on the current state of a linked chain of processes in your body; your respiratory, cardiovascular and skeletal muscle systems. Research shows that by improving your CRF score by 8 points, you will improve your active life expectancy by 1 year. 

Wattbike is a pioneer of indoor cycling technology, so we created an easy-to-do, accessible, and accurate test that gives each individual their CRF score and predicted VO2max to show them their current health and fitness benchmarks. This is the Wattbike Health Assessment.

How to do it

To test your CRF, download the Wattbike Hub app, create/update your profile, and navigate to the Health Assessment via Tests > Health Assessment Submax Test. More detailed instructions can be found here.

Once completed, you will be provided with:

1. CRF Score by gender, age, and body mass – CRF from normative data chart for comparison
2. Estimate of maximum heart rate/functional threshold heart rate, maximum minute power (MMP)/functional threshold power (FTP)
   
3. Exercise and Training zones (heart rate and power)
   
4. Benchmark 10’ Health Assessment at 65% of MMP/91% of FTP and 82% of MHR/99% FTHR following a period of training (12 weeks)
5. A recommended training plan for your fitness level

What do I do next?

The training zones that you receive from the test are saved to your Wattbike Hub profile - so every workout and training plan you decide to undertake on your smart bike will be individually tailored to you and your different training zones.

Once you have completed the test, you can proceed with your recommended 12-week training plan, which can be found in Plans > Health Plans. At the end of the 12 weeks, it is recommended to undertake the 10 Minute Health Assessment test to find out how much you have improved your CRF.