25 minutes a week.
Years on your life.
One studied cardio protocol. One weekly ride on a stationary bike. A leaderboard, a monthly cash prize, and a club of people training their hearts to go the distance.
Join the club — from £5 a weekThe most studied interval protocol for heart health
The Norwegian 4×4 — four minutes of hard riding, three minutes of recovery, four rounds — is the interval format researchers keep returning to when they study fitness, ageing and the heart. It’s not a fad. It’s two decades of published evidence.
Norway’s Generation 100 trial followed adults in their seventies doing twice-weekly 4×4 training. The high-intensity group reported better physical and mental quality of life and greater fitness after five years — and survival across the study far exceeded the national average for that age group.
In a landmark trial published in Circulation, the 4×4 protocol improved peak oxygen uptake in cardiac patients by around 46% — roughly three times the gain seen with steady moderate exercise.
Research on sedentary middle-aged adults found that a training programme built around two weekly 4×4 sessions, sustained over two years, measurably improved the heart’s elasticity — turning back structural changes linked to ageing.
Sources: Stensvold et al., Generation 100 randomised trial, BMJ 2020 · Wisløff et al., Circulation 2007 · Howden/Levine et al., UT Southwestern, Circulation 2018. Fitness (VO₂ max) is one of the strongest known predictors of long-term health. Always consult your GP before starting high-intensity exercise.
One ride a week. Every week.
On any stationary bike: 4 minutes hard, 3 minutes easy, four times through. 25 minutes, done.
Photograph your bike’s screen and upload it with your round distances. No photo, no score — proof keeps the board honest.
Your four rounds are totalled and posted to the live leaderboard. Get overtaken? You’ll know about it by email.
Most distance across the month takes the top prize — and everyone’s invited to the quarterly get-together.
Win the month, double your money
- ✓Monthly winner doubles their investment. Pay £20 for the month and finish first — £40 comes straight back to you.
- ✓A fresh race every month. The board resets, so a slow month never buries you. Anyone can take the next one.
- ✓Quarterly get-together. Every three months the club meets in person — faces to the names you’ve been chasing on the board.
Double your monthly investment for finishing first. Ride hardest, get paid.
Watch the jersey change hands
Every ride you log lands straight on the live board. The monthly prize board tracks total distance across the four weeks — whoever’s top wears the amber jersey. Get overtaken and you’ll hear about it by email, so you always know when it’s time to ride harder.
This month · prize board
This week
Simple rules, kept strictly
Complete your 4×4 every single week. Consistency is the whole point — it’s what the research says your heart responds to.
Your submission isn’t valid without a photo of your bike console showing the ride. Upload it when you log your rounds.
Miss a week and it’s gone — you can’t ride twice the next week to cover it. The window closes Sunday night, every week.
Pick your plan, start this week
Same challenge, same prize pot eligibility — just pay the way that suits you.