Active modes of transport (walking and cycling)

Abstract

Discussing the position and the nature of contemporary sport means to say: Sport is the same as the society. Physical activity in terms of motives, forms of intensity changes considerably, in particular in the context of the phenomenon of post-modern sedentary society. From the perspective of leisure sport activities public health recommendations for physical activity tend to emphasize particularly walking and bicycle riding. Active transport is considered an important source of natural physical activity in all stages of life. The paper illustrates walking and biking as an agent for aquiring invigorating affects of regular, high-quality and life-long physical activities on health, fitness and morals: for wellness. Presented data ilustrate the results of larger survey of participation of adult Czech population in physical activities, including walking and cycling. Survey confirmed general decline in proportion of sport and excercise in leisure time, decreasing importance of walking and cycling as means of transport, higher participation in sport in men, increasing relative proportion of walking in age. On the whole it is confirmed that overal climate of sedentary society in which sport is more of a passively consumed as a form of mass entertainment rather than an actual acvtivity practised as an integral part of people´s life style on permanent lifelong basis.