The 90-Day Metabolic Programme
Three visits over ninety days with the Calibre analyser. We measure how your body actually burns fuel, set your training zones from your own numbers rather than a formula, and measure again twice so you can see whether anything moved.
About the journey
Most people train in a grey zone: too hard to be burning much fat, too easy to be building much fitness, and the heart rate zones on their watch come from a formula based on their age rather than from anything measured about them. This programme replaces the formula with your own numbers. We measure your resting metabolic rate and find the intensity at which you are oxidising the most fat, programme that figure into a Polar H10 chest strap, and then re-measure at thirty days and at ninety so you can see what changed. What you get is data about yourself and a plan built on it. It is training guidance, not a medical assessment, and it does not diagnose or treat anything.
What the price covers
- Three visits over ninety days, we come to you
- Resting metabolic rate and fat-oxidation testing with the Calibre analyser
- Your training zones set from your own measurements, not from your age
- A Polar H10 chest strap programmed to those zones, yours to keep
- A written report after each visit in plain English
- A re-test at thirty days and again at ninety, so the numbers are comparable
- A readiness screen first: a maximal effort test is not right for everybody
- No blood tests and no clinician. This is measurement and training guidance, not medical care
Why a formula is not good enough
The heart rate zones on almost every watch come from subtracting your age from 220. That was never meant to be applied to an individual, and for a lot of people it is out by a wide margin, which is how you end up training in the gap: working hard enough to be uncomfortable, not hard enough to be building much, and above the intensity where you were oxidising the most fat. Measuring the number instead of estimating it is the whole of the idea here.
- RMRResting metabolic rateWhat you burn doing nothing
- FatMaxFat oxidation peakThe intensity where fat use is highest
- VO2 maxAerobic ceilingThe top end, measured not guessed
- HR zonesYour own numbersProgrammed into the strap you keep
What we measure with
Two pieces of kit and nothing else. Both come to you.
Calibre
Metabolic analyser
Measures the air you breathe out to work out which fuel you are burning and how much. This is what produces the RMR, the fat-oxidation curve and the VO2 max, rather than an estimate from a wrist device.
Polar H10
Chest strap, yours to keep
Programmed with the zones we measured. A chest strap reads the heartbeat electrically rather than optically through the wrist, which is why it is the one used for this.
A written report
After every visit
Your numbers, what they mean in plain English, and what to do differently before the next visit.
The ninety days
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Days 1 to 30 · visit one
The baseline
- Readiness first: A health and readiness screen before anything. A test taken to your genuine maximum is not right for everybody, and if it is not right for you we will say so.
- Resting metabolic rate: Measured lying still, before anything else. This is the number every other number is read against.
- The fat-oxidation test: A staged effort on a treadmill or bike while the analyser reads your breath, to find where fat use peaks and where it falls away.
- Your strap, programmed: The Polar H10 set to your zones, and a written plan for the first month.
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Days 31 to 60 · visit two
The adjustment
- Resting rate re-measured: The same test as visit one, so the two are comparable.
- Your month of data, reviewed: What you actually did against what the zones said, and where the two disagreed.
- Zones adjusted: Fitness moves the numbers. The strap is reprogrammed rather than left on month-one settings.
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Days 61 to 90 · visit three
The re-test
- The full test again: Resting rate and the fat-oxidation curve, measured the same way as day one.
- The comparison: Day one against day ninety, side by side. Sometimes the numbers move a lot, sometimes a little, and occasionally not at all. You get the real result either way.
- What to do next: A maintenance plan you can run without us, and an honest view on whether another block would be worth it.
What this is, and what it is not
It is measurement
Real numbers about your own physiology, taken three times the same way, and a training plan built on them.
It is not medical care
There is no clinician, no diagnosis and no treatment. If something in your numbers looks worth a doctor seeing, we will tell you to take it to your GP.
There are no blood tests
The full version of this programme pairs the metabolic work with a 120-biomarker blood panel, the part that needs a phlebotomist and an accredited lab. This one is breath and heart rate only: every number here comes from the air you breathe out and the beat we record, so nothing in your blood chemistry is looked at at all. We have no UK lab partner yet and we are not going to pretend otherwise. If you want bloods alongside it, arrange them through your GP or a private lab and bring the results to your first visit.
A treadmill, or a gym
The resting measurements and a walking-protocol test are done at home and need no machine. Only the full sporting effort test needs a treadmill or a bike, so if you have one at home we use that, and if you do not we meet you at your gym and you will need their permission for a guest to be tested.
About XLR8 Wellness: Sekhem & Hekau
The XLR8 Wellness team, delivering our own sessions across Tyne and Wear rather than passing them to somebody else. Sekhem and Infinity D sound work, Hekau days and retreats, and measured metabolic and VO2 max testing. What each session involves is set out in full on its own page. Sessions are for adults. The therapy work is complementary therapy and the testing work is training guidance: neither is medical care, and neither is a substitute for treatment from your GP. Operated by XLR8 Wellness.
FHT / IPHM / other therapy body