A renowned biochemist has identified what she calls the “gold standard” exercise routine that could turn back the clock on your heart by up to two decades, taking less than an hour to complete and needing to be performed just once or twice weekly.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick, a prominent researcher with a Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from the University of Tennessee, recently appeared on The Diary of a CEO, the popular business podcast hosted by British entrepreneur Steven Bartlett. During the interview, Patrick championed what’s known as the “Norwegian 4×4 protocol” as the most effective exercise method for reversing age-related damage to the cardiovascular system.
The science behind Dr. Patrick’s claims
Patrick, who completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute and currently serves as founder of FoundMyFitness, has built her reputation on translating complex scientific research into actionable health insights. Her academic credentials include published research in journals such as Nature Cell Biology and FASEB Journal, with extensive work on aging, nutrition, and disease prevention.
The Norwegian 4×4 protocol, developed by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), involves four rounds of four-minute high-intensity intervals followed by three-minute recovery periods. Patrick described the routine as sustainable intensity exercise where “you’re not really having a conversation while you’re doing it,” but it’s “far from all-out” effort.
The exercise can be performed on various equipment including stationary bikes, rowing machines, or assault bikes, with participants maintaining approximately 75-80% of their maximum heart rate during the active intervals. The total workout, including warm-up and cool-down, takes roughly 30-40 minutes and needs to be performed only once or twice per week.
The protocol’s effectiveness stems from landmark research published in Circulation, one of the world’s leading cardiovascular journals. The study, led by Dr. Benjamin Levine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, followed 61 healthy but sedentary middle-aged adults (average age 53) for two years.
Participants who followed a structured exercise program that included the Norwegian 4×4 protocol once weekly showed remarkable improvements: an 18% increase in maximum oxygen uptake (VO2 max) and a more than 25% improvement in left ventricular compliance, effectively reversing structural heart changes by approximately 20 years.
“As we age, our hearts get smaller and stiffer,” Patrick said during her Diary of a CEO interview. “After those two years of 5 to 6 hours of physical exercise every single week, their hearts looked 20 years younger in terms of structure.”
Central to the protocol’s anti-aging effects is its impact on VO2 max, the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilize during exercise. Research consistently shows VO2 max as one of the strongest predictors of longevity and cardiovascular health.
A major study published in JAMA involving over 122,000 participants found individuals with the lowest VO2 max values had a fourfold increased risk of mortality compared to those with the highest values. Simply moving from the bottom 25th percentile to the 25th-50th percentile was associated with a 50% reduction in all-cause mortality.
Performing the exercise safely
Patrick emphasized the Norweigan 4×4 protocol requires progressive implementation. “It’s not easy, you can’t just start doing it right out the gate,” she said. “You want to kind of work your way up to that… work your way up as you do it one week, two weeks, you know, a month later, two months later.”
For business professionals seeking efficient health optimization, the Norwegian 4×4 protocol offers significant advantages. Its time-efficient nature, requiring less than an hour total including warm-up and cool-down, makes it practical for busy schedules while delivering outsized returns on investment in terms of cardiovascular health and longevity. And the research suggests this minimal time commitment could provide protection against heart failure, particularly the type known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, which becomes increasingly common with age and sedentary lifestyle.
You can watch Dr. Patrick’s full interview below.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.