Your heart is the centre of your body in more than one way. It keeps blood flowing to your limbs and other organs, but it also dictates the health of your entire cardiovascular system. As your heart ages, it thickens and becomes stiffer (as do your arteries), making it less efficient at its job. If your heart is ageing poorly, you will see very negative outcomes for your health.
The “age” of your heart is dependent upon what you eat and how active you are. It needn’t grow old in line with your actual, chronological age. Heart ageing happens through a process called glycation: sugars bind to the proteins and lipids in your body, forming molecules which are damaging to heart health. Smoking, a diet heavy in carbohydrates and a sedentary lifestyle are all factors that cause glycation. In people with diabetes, glycation happens at an accelerated speed.
One regimen has been proved to be especially good for keeping your heart young and fit. The good news is that it takes just half an hour, and you need to do it only twice a week. The bad news is that it is tough. The Norwegian protocol, or the 4x4x4 method, is an ingenious programme that has recently been popularised by Dr Vonda Wright, an American longevity doctor. It has been proved to improve your VO2 max – the best measure of your cardiovascular health – by 10-15 per cent when carried out consistently for 12 weeks. In simple terms it’s a measure of how efficiently your heart and lungs can transport oxygen around your body.
How it’s done
It’s simple: four minutes of intense exercise, followed by four minutes of rest, carried out four times in a session. You need to do it only twice a week to see results. The catch is that the four minutes of exercise really must be intense – as in, by the end of the last minute, you really have nothing left to give (or if you’re wearing a fitness tracker, it’s screaming at you that you’re in zone five, or 90-100 per cent of your maximum heart rate).
The beauty of the protocol is that intensity is an entirely subjective thing. It’s about striving to work at your hardest regardless of your starting point, and increasing your work each session little by little. This kind of intensity demands the most of your body and is why intense exercise improves your fitness so much more quickly than moderate exercise. However, less intense exercise is also crucial to your overall health. You should still be active outside of the gym while you’re embarking on this programme.
You can carry out the Norwegian protocol by running, if you’re a confident runner, or on a rowing machine or a stationary bike. The key is to pick a method where you can give your all without other parts of your body giving out (your legs before your lungs if you aren’t already a keen runner, for example).
I usually recommend an exercise bike, because you’re sitting down, which makes it easier to push yourself to your limits. Unless you are only just beginning the process of trying to get fitter, a walk probably won’t cut it, but there is no harm in beginning with a very brisk walk if it works for you and switching to a different form of exercise when you are fitter.
To keep your VO2 max gains once you’ve got them after 12 weeks of hard work, you must either keep the protocol up, or find another form of regular exercise that stretches you enough to stay fit. As with all things in fitness, the benefits of the protocol are easy come, easy go.
Is it safe over 60?
The protocol has been proved to be effective in all people and safe too, even in those over 60 and those who have had cardiac events, though I would encourage you to speak to your doctor first before starting any new kind of exercise if you’re in this camp. There is no need to get an electrocardiogram (ECG) first unless a medical expert advises you to directly.
Should I do strength training too?
Strength training is also crucial to your heart health and doing so a few times a week will boost the results of the Norwegian protocol further, on top of keeping you functional, maintaining your independence and protecting you from frailty as you get older.
For heart health, I recommend that you focus on your legs. Most of the muscle on your body is in your legs, and people with strong legs have strong hearts and live for longer. The below exercises make a great complement to the Norwegian protocol, which I recommend you carry out after your weight session if you want to combine the two. Strength training three to four times a week is optimal for your overall health if you can fit it all in (along with some daily stretching).
Barbell deadlifts
How to do it
Split squat
How to do it
Banded glute bridge
How to do it
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By elocal magazine