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Longevity Clinic - Revolutionising Health & Fitness with a Longevity Focused Approach (Case Study)
The health and fitness industry has historically tailored its offerings to 18–35-year-olds, often overlooking older members, despite the clear benefits cardiovascular and strength training offer as we age. Longevity Network is firmly at the forefront of changing this.
Do you want to integrate Wattbike into your facility? Contact us here.
Neil King founded the Milton Keynes facility in 2023 to provide a studio space tailored specifically to older adults.
“I have been working in H&F for 30 years and I was getting frustrated at the industry's lack of focus on active ageing and health optimisation. I wanted to create a proposition that was tailored to the over 40s market,” explains King.
“We felt strength training and building muscle mass, along with improving VO₂ max, were the most important metrics to work with and look at within our business.”
This approach is well founded in science. VO₂ max decreases by around 10% each decade from age 25-30, while muscle mass degrades at 3-8% each decade from 30 onwards.¹ ² Both biomarkers strongly predict how long and healthy your life will be. If you increase your VO₂ max and muscle mass, you are almost certain to live a healthier, longer life.
For a business built on improving specific health metrics, tracking member improvement is crucial. Neil and his team need to prove to their members that their protocols work and specific biomarkers are improving. “With Longevity, if you can't measure something, we don't do it,” states King.
When it comes to accessible cardiovascular benchmarking with industry-renowned accuracy, there is only one option - Wattbike.
Neil and his team use the Wattbike Healthspan Check to benchmark members' cardiovascular health, before prescribing a six-week programme to improve it. Submaximal testing on Wattbikes is already widely used in the private healthcare industry by companies such as Nuffield Health and Bupa. The Healthspan check provides the user with a VO2 max estimate and a "Healthspan Score" which quantifies their VO₂ max value in the context of their age and gender.
Alex Reeve, Exercise Physiologist who created & oversaw the programme at Longevity says, “The Healthspan assessment integrates perfectly into our member assessments. It allows us to sub-maximally benchmark a member and then put them on the correct programme going forward.”
The results speak for themselves. Across a six-week Wattbike trial, members with an average age of 61 saw their VO₂ max increase by 10.7% on average. Find out more about why this matters here.
The greatest improvement came from a 72-year-old female member, who increased her VO₂ max by 19.6% (+3.8 ml/kg/min). This is proof that age is not a barrier to meaningful cardiovascular improvement.
Low-impact and requiring no prior fitness experience, the test is accessible to every member - regardless of age or starting ability. For a business built on measurable outcomes, that combination of accessibility and data is invaluable.
The work at the Longevity Network is a perfect example of how Wattbike can show members how their training is benefiting them. By providing accurate benchmarks, a facility can clearly demonstrate value to a member, aiding in retention and increasing member motivation. A member who can see they are improving, is a member who is going to keep on returning week after week.
Test. Train. Repeat.
Contact Wattbike to boost your benchmarking here.
Interested in the Longevity Network’s work? Take a look at their website here - Longevity
References-
1. Akazawa, N., Kiryu, E., & Sonobe, M. (2016). The Effect of Aging on Relationships between Lean Body Mass and VO2max in Rowers. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 15(3), 444–450.
2. Volpi, E., Nazemi, R., & Fujita, S. (2004). Muscle tissue changes with aging. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 7(4), 405–410.
