The most important indicator of your health

"You can reduce your biological age with exercise, and the App, Myworkout GO, tells you how,"

- Jan Helgerud, Professor of Medicine.

Indicator of your health

Your biological age says something about how much risk you have for getting lifestyle diseases like cardiovascular disease, overweight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or type II diabetes.

The easiest way to influence your biological age is through cardiovascular training that increases your maximum oxygen uptake (link to "why you should do cardio").

Oxygen uptake is directly related to our heart and blood vessels, forming a robust cardiovascular system. Increased oxygen uptake also leads to better endurance and work capacity.

Oxygen uptake and health risk

Your maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) is closely related to the heart's pumping capacity and is a measure of how much oxygen the body can absorb and utilize in one minute. Many people think that oxygen uptake is primarily crucial in sports, but it is basically about your general health.

How to lower your biological age

You get the best training of the heart when the heart fills with blood. You can achieve the effect after a few minutes of activity of relatively high intensity, and you should repeat the intervals for maximum impact. It usually takes 8 to 10 weeks with two workouts a week, to reduce the biological age with seven years.

The most effective method

Central to a training program with Myworkout is interval training of 4x4. The plan is based on research on exercise physiology and explicitly designed to have maximum effect on the heart and blood vessels.

4 × 4 summarized:

• 6 minutes warm-up at moderate intensity
• 4×4-minutes of intervals
• Minimum 5% incline on the treadmill
• During the intervals, you should reach 85 to 95% of your maximal heart frequency within two minutes.
• You have the right intensity when you are breathing heavily after two minutes but without any other discomfort. 
• You should have three minutes of active break in between the intervals. Aim for 70% of maximal heart frequency. 
• Three minutes cool-down after the last interval. 

You can exercise by running or going uphill, using a treadmill, ergometer bike, or a rowing machine.

The App Myworkout Go

As a user of Myworkout, you will find a lot of help and support in the Myworkout GO app. Based on your activity, the app calculates the biological age after the first workout, and further tracks your activity. It also gives you practical information on how to do the exercise itself - when you need high intensity and when to take breaks - and re-adjust your biological age as your maximum oxygen uptake improves.