Apotheken Umschau Walking Test

Support in getting back into sport - with a scientific method

Getting back into movement after the long home office break:

To support you, the editors of the Apotheken Umschau, together with sports scientist Professor Dr. Klaus Bös from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) developed the “Apotheken Umschau Walking Test” app.

With this scientifically proven procedure, you will receive an assessment of your own fitness, information on suitable training programs (only from version 1.1.) And other useful tips.

Walking is ideal for everyone who wants to move more after a long break:

- strengthens the heart and circulation

- strengthens muscles and joints

The training can easily be adapted to your own endurance: To do this, you do the two-kilometer walking test.

You walk as level a distance of two kilometers as possible. The app measures the time and the distance via GPS. After completing the test, you can still enter your pulse. The result: a personal walking index, a measure of endurance.

In order for the results to be meaningful, you have to be able to compare them. "We obtained the necessary data from studies with numerous people from different age groups," says Bös, who as the founder and chairman of the German Walking Institute has been dealing with the sport for decades.

Training programs are suggested based on your endurance performance. You will receive recommendations on how often a week you should train for how many minutes with which pulse. The app also offers useful information for beginners: from ideal nutrition to preventing sore muscles.

Personal data such as height, weight, age and pulse at the end of the test walk are required for the evaluation. If this data is available via Apple Health and access is permitted by the user, the app fetches the data from there.