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Are sports activities apps solely about competitors and breaking private data? Analysis performed by scientists from SWPS College reveals that biking lovers in Jap Europe are more and more treating digital instruments as a path to well-being and luxury, not essentially as a digital racetrack.
Biking lovers eagerly embrace digital instruments that not solely permit them to trace their achievements, but in addition present an area for locating inspiration and neighborhood constructing.
Researchers from SWPS College determined to investigate how cyclists use sports activities apps and digital platforms, and what narratives they create round these instruments. They targeted on two apps: Zwift and Strava. The previous might be described as an interactive biking software, which permits customers to traverse digital routes of their residing rooms whereas using their bicycle on a coach. The latter is among the hottest activity-tracking functions.
Each functions permit customers to combine well being monitoring sensors and units. They will also be used to share achievements with a particular group of individuals on social media. The important thing device for working each platforms and transferring information between them is the smartphone.
The research group was chosen totally on the idea of their engagement in native biking social media linked to 2 YouTube way of life and biking channels. Eighty cyclists from Jap Europe accomplished a web based questionnaire with open and closed questions, and 10 in-depth interviews had been performed. The researchers wished to grasp how digital instruments had been being utilized by their customers for self-development, sustaining well being, and neighborhood constructing, not only for measuring athletic efficiency.
The outcomes are described within the paper “Mobile health cycling: How Eastern European amateur cycling enthusiasts frame their experiences with Zwift and Strava,” revealed within the Worldwide Evaluation for the Sociology of Sport.
Digital instruments used on a regular basis
The evaluation was performed by Mateusz Felczak, Ph.D., a cultural research skilled from the College of Humanities on the College of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, and Mirosław Filiciak, Ph.D., a media skilled, professor at SWPS College and director of the Institute of Humanities on the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. It reveals that digital platforms and social media, initially supposed to allow efficiency monitoring, are an necessary a part of the biking world—they affect cyclists’ motivations, actions, and perceptions of bodily exercise.
Researchers have noticed that digitally enhanced types of each indoor and out of doors biking are extra typically related to frequent, on a regular basis actions than with participation in races or different public occasions.
Members had been requested, amongst different issues, about their motivations to make use of an indoor coach. Essentially the most frequent motivation for selecting indoor biking was the will to achieve or preserve bodily health (85%). The second motivation was financial elements. The price of sustaining out of doors gear was a frequent matter amongst individuals: even with out critical accidents, bicycles used outside in typical Jap European climate situations require common upkeep and periodic alternative of mechanical elements, which is a big entry barrier on this sport. Practically three-quarters of respondents use indoor trainers often.
Respondents emphasised that utilizing indoor trainers is a extra handy, safer, and weather-independent type of exercise for them. Additionally they famous that it’s simpler to make time for it, and it permits for a extra exact coaching plan. The COVID-19 pandemic was a big think about many individuals’s involvement in indoor biking.
Greater than competitors
Why precisely do cyclists use apps like Zwift and Strava? For many, the principle causes are common well-being and sustaining a desired stage of bodily health, which is instantly associated to their social lives. It additionally turns that being impressed by the achievements of others is essential to customers. 67.5% of respondents indicated “being inspired by tracking the achievements and workout routines of others,” whereas solely 56.4% selected “tracking personal training data in real-time.”
Though functions like Zwift supply the opportunity of collaborating in digital races, almost half of respondents say they aren’t fascinated with watching on-line competitions. Moreover, 35.6% of respondents declared they weren’t fascinated with collaborating in on-line contests on digital biking functions and platforms, and 22.2% had by no means finished so. This aligns with observations on YouTube, the place viewers are extra fascinated with biking itself, slightly than cheering on others.
“Our results show that applications designed as advanced performance measurement tools are becoming platforms for building communities, inspiring each another, and shaping an identity associated with cycling as a lifestyle that prioritizes mental health and social aspects over pure competition,” Felczak emphasizes.
Extra info:
Mateusz Felczak et al, Cellular well being biking: How Jap European novice biking lovers body their experiences with Zwift and Strava, Worldwide Evaluation for the Sociology of Sport (2025). DOI: 10.1177/10126902251333566
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SWPS College
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World of digital biking: Research reveals biking apps develop into wellness instruments, not simply competitors trackers (2025, October 14)
retrieved 14 October 2025
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