EPISODE #978
How to Hack Your Cardio Workout
Ulrich Dempfle
New research finds value in even shorter sessions, uncovers benefits for women, and shows increased muscular strength.
CAROL Bike sponsored this podcast.

In this Episode of The Human Upgrade™...
… you’ll learn about new research that’s pinpointing the most effective cardio workouts. You’ll find out that you can do a cardio workout in just 15 minutes a week and still increase your cardiovascular fitness. You’ll also get an introduction to the new CAROL Bike 2.0 and its upgraded great features.
Ulrich Dempfle, MBA, Chief Product Officer, CEO and co-founder of CAROL Bike, returns to the podcast with exciting new research results. CAROL’s REHIT (Reduced Exertion HIIT) workout retained all its effectiveness yet cut its time nearly in half—from 8 minutes and 40 seconds to five minutes.
“You just have to give the body a stimulus to basically trigger that adaptation and REHIT can produce the most potent, the most powerful stimulus with just two, 20-second sprints and you’re done in five minutes,” Ulrich says. “it’s scientifically proven to be the most effective cardio workout.”
“Even if you do work out for an hour or longer, you don't get fitter, you don't get stronger while you're working out. You get fitter and stronger in the recovery periods.”
Ulrich Dempfle
CAROL Bike continues to innovate fitness and prove that more or longer sprints aren’t better. “What matters is that you sprint at your personalized maximum intensity, switching from zero to max in a fraction of a second,” Ulrich explains. An investment of only 5 minutes, 3 times a week means you can reap powerful cardiovascular benefits, even gain strength, and get on with your other biohacks.
SPECIAL OFFER FOR THE HUMAN UPGRADE LISTENERS: Go to https://www.carolbike.com. Use code HumanUpgrade to get 2 years of free membership (a total savings of $360). CAROL Bike also offers a 100-day home trial of the CAROL Bike 2.0.
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Previously on Bulletproof Radio:
- REHIT is short for reduced exertion, high intensity interval training. It was basically developed by scientists looking for the shortest, most effective and most accessible way to exercise. – 2:31
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It’s not lack endorphins, it’s lack of time. The thought process was, “Well, if that’s the key barrier, how can we overcome that?” – 7:55
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The personalization and optimization that we’ve driven so far was just minimum time for maximum benefit. – 15:23
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In six to eight weeks you can feel completely different, but if you don’t stick to it, you will lose it again as fast as you’ve gained it. – 19:09
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With our Bike 2.0, we provide a wearable heart rate monitor to measure HRV during the warmup period to further kind of micro personalize and optimize the workout to you. – 21:10
- It is obviously very high intensity, but then low impact exercise, so it’s much more gentle on joints then the vast majority of other exercises that you could do. – 27:55
- What have you figured out with all the data you have at Carol about women and doing REHIT training? – 36:01