It has been over a year since we introduced our Fitness Forecaster testing product, and throughout this time we have witnessed remarkable progress in our clients’ physical capacity. Today, we are excited to present to you our Fitness Forecaster ‘Shift The Curve’ Project, designed to help you and our community achieve optimal fitness and well-being for future years. The further we can shift the curve of physical capacity decline to the right, the greater the number of years of quality health span we have, with the strength and fitness we need to do the things we desire! We invite you to partner with us in increasing your healthspan by adding fitness and strength for your future years.

Maximizing Results Through Data-Driven Training

At the core of our Fitness Forecaster is a short testing session that measures your aerobic fitness and strength. The results of which can both benchmark you against your peers; but most importantly, help predict your physical capacity into the future.

Why do we choose to measure and improve your aerobic fitness and strength?

We know that your fitness and strength are two key determinants of not only your current well being, but also two of the best predictors of your future health and longevity.

Both the World Health Organisation and the Australian Department of Health provide clear guidelines for the amount of Physical Activity and Strength training that we should be doing per week. While the ‘amount’ of activity (number of sessions and time spent in activity) is a very important baseline behaviour to achieve, the evidence is very clear that of much greater importance is what we achieve from that behaviour!

Let me explain:

The graph below shows us two critical things when we compare the benefits of physical activity versus achieved aerobic fitness.

Firstly, supporting the guidelines, the graph shows the protective effect of being physically active. We can see that the most physically active people in the population (top 25% vs bottom 25%) have a 20% protection against, in this case, cardiovascular disease.

Secondly, and very significantly, these data show that those that are the fittest (rather than just most ‘active’) have three times (3X) the protective effect against disease compared to the most active! 

While your low level general incidental activity is important, having a focused and safe approach to improving your fitness will reap huge returns on your investment.

As per aerobic fitness, strength is also one of the most powerful predictors of healthy ageing. While there is a natural decline as we get older, if we maintain our strength we’re better able to more easily perform everyday activities. 

Things like easily getting up out of chairs, carrying the groceries and being able to lift the grandkids all require strength. Therefore maintaining as much strength as possible as we get older helps us live the latter years to its fullest.

Why the Shift The Curve Project?

Over the past year we have seen impressive improvements in those clients that have used the Fitness Forecaster, and implemented the changes suggested. Many have achieved an additional decade of enhanced physical capacity in just six months of focused training!

To illustrate these changes, below is a chart of one of our clients, who has gained an impressive 13 years of predicted physical capacity, after only 6 months of fine tuning her exercise routine.

To explain what we are looking at: A Fitness Forecaster graph shows a combined score for your aerobic fitness and your strength, ranked ‘for your age’. The four lines across the graph depict (from bottom to top) the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles respectively. As you would expect across population groups we see both strength and fitness decline as we age. The red zone at the bottom of the graph indicates levels of fitness and strength that are associated with increased risk of premature mortality, and poor levels of physical capacity that would affect your quality of life. For example, imagine levels of fitness that restrict your capacity to climb a flight of stairs without stopping for a breath, being able to carry your shopping, or getting up from the ground….

As you can imagine, the goal is to be as fit and strong as possible so that you enter that red-zone as late as possible. Its not about seeing how old we can get, but rather, how young we can remain!

The client in question is a 63 year old female who started to see us primarily for rehab, with a history of low back and hip pain, osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia. Her regular ‘amount’ of physical activity included a weekly 1-1 session, walking her dog daily, and she devoted 2 sessions at home for her prescribed home exercise program.

In the graph below you can see that at her Test 1 she was below the 50th percentile (thick black line) for her age. This means she would have entered the ‘red zone’ at approximately 72 years of age.

Not being happy with this picture, this client started to adjust the work she was doing. Her weekly 1-1 sessions started to become more strength focused once the rehab goals were managed, and her home sessions were committed to improving fitness. It is important to note that in this case, she did not increase her levels (or time spent in) physical activity, but rather just fine tuned what she was doing.

As you can see, this client managed to shift up to the 75% percentile in just 6 months! This resulted in delaying meeting the red zone until her mid 80s, buying her a massive 13 years of quality, healthy, life! … after just 6 months… that is a HUGE return on investment! Of course this means that she needs to continue to do her improved program, but we are excited to see what else she can achieve in the next 6-12 months!!

Join the ‘Shift The Curve’ Project

As you can imagine, results like this are incredibly motivating for us and our clients. We are consistently seeing that small, progressive, evidence-based changes to our clients’ physical activity programs are resulting in impressive returns on investment on their future health! So much so, that we are excited to see what we can all achieve for the health of our community if we all partner together in the Fitness Forecaster Shift The Curve Project!

All it takes is for you, and your loved ones to see where you sit on the Fitness Forecaster graph, and for us to work with you to implement changes that will translate into years of improved health span. Years of having the right fitness and strength to do the things you want!

So, let us invite you to join the ‘Shift The Curve’ Project. By participating in this exciting initiative, you will gain access to additional resources and support to further enhance your fitness journey. To learn more about this project and its potential benefits, click here and take the next step towards optimising your potential.