You have your survivalist bicycle and are already working out and cycling regularly. Now, you want to take the next step in significantly improving your endurance and VO₂ Max.
VO₂ Max, sometimes referred to as maximum oxygen uptake, is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilize during exercise. As you breathe in oxygen, your lungs convert this to ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which your cells use for energy.
The more oxygen you can convert into ATP, the more energy you have available to expend.
VO₂ Max declines as you age and it becomes more and more difficult to improve it with standard exercise routines and even HIIT.
But there is a way.
A study by cardiologists at UT Southwestern took 50 participants between 45 and 64 years old and put them into two groups. The first group was put on a physically intensive training regimen for two years. The second group, the control, was put on a yoga and balance training program. After the study, they looked at the hearts from both groups and found that the participants in the first group had an 18 percent improvement in their maximum oxygen intake during exercise and a more than 25 percent improvement in elasticity of the left ventricular muscle of the heart. Those hearts appeared to have reversed aging and looked like much younger hearts.
The first group exercised four to five times a week, and did the Norwegian 4×4 on one of those days.
The Norwegian 4×4 consists of 4 sets of:
• Exercising at maximum effort (95% max HR) for 4 minutes
• Followed by a cool down, say walking, for 3 minutes
For 28 minutes total.
The four other workouts during the week of moderate intensity cardio and weight training.
If you have an Apple watch, you can track the changes in your VO₂ Max. I work out and do HIIT, but my VO₂ Max is below average for my age. So my goal is to work in a Norwegian 4×4 once a week into my routine which can only help my cardio and biking. My particular 4 minutes of pain will consist of running up a hill followed by 3 minutes of walking down, repeated 4 times.