If joining the legions of runners isn't for you, the alternative to running on an adult scooter could be the answer you're looking for to improve your fitness and cardio outside.
We commonly get asked 'Is riding a scooter good exercise?'. We’ve always championed kick scooters as a brilliant alternative to running to help get people outside and active, and as many found as a result of lockdowns, the benefits are clearer than ever.
In order to improve our fitness levels and our heart health, we need to maintain a raised heart rate. As a sport, scooting falls somewhere between cycling and running. A great alternative to running, it's low impact (easy on the joints), so it is easier to go for a longer distance or time than a typical run. As a full-body workout, it's more effective than cycling for building all-round fitness on your scooter, and you won’t need to travel for miles to feel the effects!
READ MORE: SCOOTER FITNESS - AN OVERVIEW OF YOUR KICK-SCOOTER WORKOUT
‘Can you get fit without running?’ - Scooting for a Low Impact, Running Alternative
Not a runner? While there are many benefits to running, the impact it can take on your joints and the potential aggravation to old injuries may mean that running is simply not an option. If this is the case for you, fear not, as scooting, the running alternative, is the low impact on joints, high-intensity cardiovascular workout you’re looking for!
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It also works the other way, if walking is not doing it for you either, switching to a scooter opens up a much wider range of fitness benefits. Scooting will help you get that increased heart rate that walking doesn’t quite achieve, and will help much more with your overall strength, balance, and endurance.
Taking up scooting for fitness brings the same benefits as any other cardio without the heightened pressure on your joints. This opens up fitness opportunities to people who might otherwise be wary, scooting is accessible to all abilities.
The journeys don’t have to be vigorous, you can go at your own pace. By simply getting out on your scooter as an alternative to running for a short period, you’re making positive progress towards your fitness, strengthening your muscular endurance, and improving your cardiovascular health. No need to worry about the stresses that come with a run anymore!
A Kick Scooter Will Mix Up Your Exercise Routine
We want to keep our exercise as interesting and fun as possible, otherwise it's easy to lose motivation.
Perhaps your running route is getting a little monotonous? Particularly if you work from home, the occasional bout of 'cabin fever' is inevitable. Your daily exercise is an opportunity to fight the mundane while adding something new to your daily routine and finding an alternative to running.
In fact, not varying your exercise is a sure-fire way to lose motivation, and results in many people giving up altogether. A study by the University of Florida found ‘individuals who modified their workouts every two weeks over an eight-week period appeared to enjoy their workouts more, and were more inclined to stick with their exercise programs when compared to individuals who followed the same workout regimes week after week.’ Scooting allows you this possibility much more than the alternative of running or jogging.
Scooting is a brilliant alternative exercise as well as a way to embrace a workout with multi-planar benefits. Multi-planar exercise works the body as a whole rather than focusing exercises on select groups of muscles. Typical exercises you’ll be doing in the gym will be single-plane, and as such, it’s easy to give yourself a muscular imbalance.
Learn more about the multi-planar exercise benefits of using a kick scooter.
Scooting is a balanced and even workout for the entire body. If there’s an area you’re less comfortable with, you can easily focus your scooting technique to improve it. For example, switching feet more often, after say, only two pushes will get you working your Sagittal plane (forwards and backwards) and frontal plane (side to side). The movements are natural, and as a result, you’ll really feel the benefits in daily life.
Is a Scooter Faster Than Walking?
The average walking speed is around 3mph, while jogging comes in around 5mph. Scooting trumps both at roughly 7mph! While these vary based on the person and the route you’re taking, they’re safe estimates.
As you can see from the chart below, a 30 min scoot takes you twice as far as a walk would. Make the most of a full-body workout for 5km, and you'll arrive at your destination at least 10 mins sooner than if you run!
With full control of your ride on a scooter, you're free to make the most of variable fitness. For example, going out for a shorter period but at high intensity will give you all the benefits of HIIT training, making it the ideal alternative exercise.
Even if you’re going for your first scoot, it’s much easier to go a good distance without tiring yourself out completely compared to your first run! Swifty’s large 16-inch wheels make it easier to get up to a decent speed and mean you’re able to maintain it with fewer pushes when compared to a small wheel scooter. A low impact, running alternative that’s fun, what have you got to lose?
We’ve loved seeing our community get out on their Swiftys for their daily alternative exercise. One of our Instagram followers @Scotty_Clements clocked up 14.9km in just under an hour of scooting. All our models are suited for riding on the pavements, tracks and roads so we all have an opportunity to get out and get some exercise and much needed fresh air.
Allowing yourself this time to scoot around and discover your local area is a great thing to do, I’m sure you’ll discover something you didn’t know was there before!
How Does Kick-Scooting Compare to Cycling?
Compared to cycling, kick-scooting is an easy exercise alternative. The minimalist nature of a kick-scooter invites people of more varied abilities to try it. The step-on-and-go accessibility provides immediate freedom, with a comparable wind-in-the-hair free-wheel feeling to cycling!
READ MORE: BIKES VS SCOOTERS: WHO COMES OUT ON TOP!
When it comes to comparing the fitness benefits between cycling and scooting, find out in our interview with Personal Trainer Alex Lawson, why he switched from cycling to scooting, and what fitness benefits he gained: >
READ MORE: SWIFTY SCOOTER FITNESS - INTERVIEW WITH ALEX LAWSON PT
Take the kids with you!
It’s just as important for your children to get out, get some fresh air and explore alternative exercise as it is for you. If you don’t have any outdoor space at home, it can be easy for them to start going a little stir-crazy! Scooting makes for some quality family time!
The health benefits can be felt by children and adults alike, it’s a fun, low impact and alternative exercise for everyone. By taking your children out, you can be sure they’re getting the exercise they need while making sure that they’re travelling safely too, maintaining a good distance from everyone around them and keeping their contact points to a minimum.
Not only can you use this time to get out and be active as a running alternative, but it’s a really good bonding time for the whole family – something we know from experience!
No one is going to benefit from the fun of scooting more than children. They relish the freedom a scooter brings, and will probably be as good at encouraging you to get out as you will for them. It’s easy to make fitness fun using this alternative exercise with your little ones. You can look on a map and plan where you want to go on a trip, and plan an adventure packed with the local sights together. Or even better, get into nature, learn about trees, birds and bugs!
When you scoot you’re in control of your own speed, so you can fit to their ability. If they don’t want to scoot, you can easily keep up with them as a running alternative while they cycle, which can be especially useful if they're learning to ride a bike! It’s easy to stop and start on your kick scooter, so you can easily tend to them. Once they’ve got the hang of it, you can be by your child’s side to make sure there are no accidents!
Get out, get active, and enjoy some priceless bonding time with the whole family!
If your children are old enough then they can enjoy a scoot on a kids scooter - but for those children that are pre-school (age 3-5) and not quite ready for their own scooter, they don’t need to miss out! You can take them along on the journey with our Booster for Kids found in our accessories.
Scoot for Mental Health as well as Physical Health
Physical health is inextricably linked to mental health, and in these times our mental health can be really tested. The Mental Health Foundation has discussed this on its website, citing that it’s now more important than ever to ‘Create a new daily routine that prioritises looking after yourself. You could try … having an exercise routine’.
There are clear and direct links between getting out into nature and improved mental health. ‘Spending time in nature has been found to help with mental health problems including anxiety and depression’. In this particularly taxing period, we need to do our best to help ourselves and one another tackle these issues, and getting out on your scooter is a simple and effective running alternative to help out.
Scooting allows you to easily get out and get active, and you’ll be feeling the benefits from even a short trip. Not to mention that scooting is one of the most fun ways to exercise at any time! A much more exciting alternative to running for the whole family. You don’t need to be pushing yourself and going for records, by just going out for a lap of the block you’ll be feeling the benefits!
Mental Wellbeing is one of our Top 5 Health Benefits for Scooter Mums - Learn the rest HERE
How your Adult Scooter can help shopping
Getting outside and active is about more than exercise. A scoot is a really convenient way to nip about town to run errands. You'll find it's more convenient than a bike because it's easier to hop on and off, and stop and start. You may find yourself discovering independent local shops on your way to the supermarket! By embracing the kick scooter for these trips, we can seamlessly build fitness into our typical day-to-day routines, whilst exploring alternatives to running. Stressing about space in the car park or traffic jams will be a thing of the past!
Carry more with a Kick Scooter
Those without a car are pretty limited to the amount they can carry on any given journey, and how far they can travel to get to a supermarket that stocks everything they need.
This is where your scooter can come in! We’ve already discussed how easy it is to go longer distances with your scooter, and Swifty even has a range of bags and baskets between 18-24L in capacity, perfect for loading up with shopping to carry much more on your journey.
Carrying heavy bags is one of the main culprits in causing shoulder and back injuries. Letting your scooter do the heavy lifting for you means you won’t risk doing yourself any damage and can still stock up for the week easily!
Shifting the weight of shopping onto your scooter means you won’t get as tired from your standard shop run. If you're one of the thousands of people volunteering to deliver shopping to friends and family, or those unable to go to the shop themselves, we highly recommend utilising your scooter to help with these trips. Take care of your back as you take care of your neighbour on your Swifty, and you'll be feeling all the benefits of a typical fitness scoot.
Getting fit with a running alternative while helping the community around you? That's a win-win!
Get to know all about Swifty’s range of accessories
Adopting positive habits
It is possible to make a full 3 day family shop just on a scooter. A study discovered that ‘67% of Britain’s could walk to the supermarket, but instead 86% choose to drive’. We’ve all been guilty of substituting a walkable journey for a drive from time to time, in England in 2018 68% of car journeys were under 5 miles! Turning to our scooters as a driving and running alternative in this difficult time, we can clearly see what an asset they can be.
By adopting these ‘green’ habits now, we can help lead positive changes. Imagine the difference it would make if we all continue to minimise our impacts on the environment.
It’s more important than ever to make sure we get outside and feel the benefits of fitness and fresh air. A great alternative to running, scootering opens up more doors to access low impact exercise that makes a difference. Your scooter also gives you the opportunity to do it easily, safely and while having fun!
Hi Richard, we have used real customer feedback to inform our claims, as well as our own personal experience. You may want to watch this video? One customer who is a Personal Trainer talks us through the physiology – find it here: https://youtu.be/3h3970xgF80 enjoy!
Swifty HQ on
Have you not done any real tests or comparisons inside of fysiology with results that show differences between use of scooters contra bikes?
Your writings seem more sales talk without any proof.
Richard In Spain on
Hi,
I’ve had my Swifty Air 2 scooter for over a month, I’ve just turned 70 years and always kept myself fit through exercise, running, walking and cycling. Unfortunately arthritis is taking a toll on my knees so I’ve have had to stop running. Cycling too is proving painful on long rides. Since having my Swifty I’ve been able to get back to my usual levels of effort and thoroughly enjoying it with no knee pain. It’s the best investment in healthy and fit living I’ve made in a long, long time. A big thank you to you all at Swifty Scooters.
Best wishes,
Mike Crocker
Michael Crocker on