Vascular Adaptation to Indoor Cycling Exercise in Premenopausal Women

The early vascular adaptation to indoor cycling, a popular activity at many fitness centres, is incompletely evaluated. Forty two healthy women (21-45 years) underwent measurements of arterial wall properties and geometry as well as a maximal bicycle exercise test before and after a 3 months period during which 21 of the women joined indoor cycling classes at a gym 2-3 times per week, while 21 women served as time controls. Peak work load increased by in average 16% (pamp;lt;0.001) and ascending aortic diameter by 4% (pamp;lt;0.01) in the exercise group, while unchanged in control group. The exercise intervention had no significant influence on the local intima-media thickness, blood pressure or the pulse pressure wave configuration while the carotid artery distensibility (pamp;lt;0.05) was higher after the intervention. There was a positive correlation between change in () peak work load and -diameter of tubular ascending aorta (r=0.42, pamp;lt;0.01) in the exercise group. In conclusion, after only 3 months of bicycle exercise training, signs of central arterial remodelling were seen in premenopausal women, which was associated to improvement in exercise capacity.Funding Agencies|Futurum-academy for Health and Care Region Jonkoping County, Sweden; FORSS-the Research Council of South-East Sweden; Linkoping University Hospital; Swedish Research Council [12161]; Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation