Wellness & Fitness

Keeping fit on a scooter across Paris

paris

Lime, an American scooter sharing service is present in 50 markets across Europe and North America. PHOTOS | FILE

All you need to do is, push yourself off the ground in a forward motion using one foot, balance both on the base of the scooter and off you go, swooshing past strangers down the narrow side streets of Paris.

Lime scooters are the coolest new way to get around. Yes I hear you, aren’t scooters for children? Well, not actually.

It is a great throwback to when we were young, playing, riding, sliding, swinging away into physical activity effortlessly. Then came the Lime, that is what they call these black and lime green branded scooters dotting the Paris cityscape.

Limes are an innovative mode of transport Vasco Alexandre tries to keep running seamlessly through his operations docket. He oversees the Paris market even though Lime, an American scooter sharing service, is present in 50 markets across Europe and North America.

Lime scooters are electric meaning you can find your speed mode, or throttle on your right hand and brake on the left. All you need is to be able to balance at the least and go at your pace. It’s a fun way to get around a city such as Paris without increasing your carbon footprint, while getting more done, for as little as 2 Euro for unlocking the scooter app with an additional 0.15 per every minute of riding.

The average city ride is ten minutes long, and this includes staying off the pedestrian walk ways, with your helmet secured and following the traffic lights because like most cities, everything is within reasonable distance.

Scooter riding is faster than walking, just as riding a non-motorized scooter is better than using a motorized one, the act of standing upright on the scooter helps in burning calories. Using a scooter means putting to use your lower body muscles, mostly your hamstrings which are great for knee support and movement, calves and back muscles.

The range of work out, depends heavily on how far back you reach onto the stretch for a maximum movement before lift, how you negotiate corners and handle downward slopes. Scooting around is a nice way to work out without actually working out, and more so especially when you don’t have the time to.

Moving through Paris with this small but time effective form of transportation that’s faster than walking is also easy to combine with other forms of public transport that include, rail, road, motorbikes and cycling, to provide reliable and seamless movement for the time conscious traveler.

It beats congestion of traffic and stuffiness of trains and buses with fresh air and can easily stop when you spot a photo moment or monument.
Lovers use it too in the city of light and love, not just in the summer months but also before winter grinds everything to a freezing halt.

Data on fitness and scooter-use might not be as prominent as cycling, however, it is a means to burn fat, especially if it’s the first type of light cardio you get in, first thing in the morning and if you can stretch it to more than a quarter of an hour to an hour, even better.

Other benefits include the fact that it’s fun and easy to do, you don’t need much except for the scooter. You’ll get your blood pumping with excitement if nothing else, and that’s great for circulation.

You’ll get an instant boost in your mood and outlook for the day once you get on one of those things. Don’t believe me? Try it.

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