Effect of self-guided training for the HandbikeBattle on body composition in people with spinal cord injury

This study investigated the effects of training for the HandbikeBattle, a handcycling race, on the body composition and fitness of people with spinal cord injury (SCI). The researchers wanted to see if the training led to changes in body fat and muscle mass, and whether these changes were related to improvements in fitness. Eighteen people with SCI were evaluated before and after four months of self-guided training. The researchers measured their fitness (peak power output) and body composition (body mass, BMI, waist circumference, %fat, and fat and fat-free mass). The study found that training for the HandbikeBattle led to improvements in fitness and small changes in body composition, such as a decrease in fat mass. However, these changes in body composition were not strongly related to the improvements in fitness.

• 1
  Training for the HandbikeBattle led to significant improvements in peak power output (POpeak).
• 2
  Significant decreases were observed in fat mass measured by BIA (19.6 ± 9.6 kg to 18.5 ± 8.3 kg, p = 0.02) and %fat measured by skinfolds (28.4 ± 7.8% to 27.2 ± 7.2%, p = 0.02).
• 3
  Changes in body composition were only weakly to moderately correlated with changes in POpeak, suggesting that the effect of training on fitness was different from its effect on body composition.