Perform@100

Customer story

When we designed Perform@100, we based the service around a fictional character called Jerry, aged 34. As you read this, try to see if any of Jerry’s issues might apply to you.

Jerry's work keeps him busy during the week. At weekends he cycles with his local club members. He enjoys the challenge of his Strava ranking and likes to be the king of some of the hills near where he lives. While Jerry feels healthy and fit, he has never had a personal trainer who could tailor exercises to his unique body type. He also doesn’t track his fitness performance or 'body age' using any hard metrics.

Jerry’s father almost died of a heart attack in his early 60s, but cardiovascular health isn't a real concern for Jerry just yet. He thinks of heart disease and illnesses like cancer as random time bombs that might explode on him later in life. What he doesn’t realise is that, even at a young age, it is important to manage your risk factors so that you don’t get derailed by avoidable problems down the track. Just like a pension – the earlier you start, the easier it is to set your body up for a long, high-performing, uninterrupted life.

Jerry has an old-school cholesterol test every few years through work, unaware that cholesterol is no longer the best or most comprehensive test for cardiovascular health in 2024. If he wants to understand how his diet and genetics might be affecting his arteries, even in his 30s, he needs a new generation of insights into his body which Perform@100 can provide. Jerry is also a regular drinker but has no idea if he can continue with his relaxed attitude toward drinking, or if he needs to adapt to avoid serious but avoidable health problems down the line.

What Jerry also needs to know is that his cycling is often too strenuous and that he isn’t spending anywhere near enough time in zone 2. He hasn’t heard that Tour de France athletes spend most of their training time in zone 2 – breathing a little harder but pushing steadily (steadily for them, quite fast for the rest of us). Jerry has never been told how vital zone 2 exercise is for building the right type of muscle, tuning his metabolic system to perform at a higher level, and achieving long-term health benefits. He thinks that hammering up steep hills is making him as strong as he can be.

Jerry is also unaware of the full value of VO2 max testing, which could give him a trackable metric for his aerobic fitness level, body age( and is also a powerful longevity indicator).

Additionally, Jerry doesn’t understand that regulating glucose and metabolic health can affect exercise performance and recovery. No one has told him that even slim, athletic people can have issues with insulin resistance, poor glucose regulation, and metabolic dysfunction. If he understood these issues, he might be keen to get an all-clear in these areas and then focus on improving his positive body performance metrics for the long term.

Jerry eats a fairly random mix of good and bad foods. He is very busy at work and feels life is too short to do anything other than grab a sandwich for lunch, occasionally indulging his sweet tooth. He doesn’t know that understanding glucose levels, the metabolic effects of his diet, and the timing of what he eats can have a significant impact on his exercise performance and recovery. He also doesn’t get enough protein in his diet and lacks context for how to rebalance his eating habits and exercise routine for optimum metabolic health and muscle development.

While Jerry feels good, is rarely ill, and is fairly well-muscled for his age, with a good Perform@100 programme he could learn how to optimise his metabolic system, regulate his glucose, refocus on zone 2 exercise and use VO2 max testing to track and improve both short-term performance and his long-term healthspan.