Learn more about the pillars

Description texThe Foundation of Metabolic Health

We focus on two powerful metrics: Skeletal Muscle Index (SMI) and Waist-to-Height Ratio (WHtR). SMI, calculated from appendicular muscle mass relative to height, reflects the amount of muscle you carry, an essential predictor of strength, independence, and healthy aging. WHtR, on the other hand, shows how much abdominal fat you carry relative to your height, which is strongly linked to risks like diabetes, heart disease, and chronic inflammation.

By combining SMI and WHtR, we get a complete picture: how much protective muscle you have, and how much harmful visceral fat you need to manage. This dual approach ensures we target both strength preservation and metabolic health, the foundation of living longer and moving better.

References:

Cheng et al. (2025). Low appendicular skeletal muscle mass is associated with the risk of mortality among adults in the United States. Scientific Reports, 15, Article 9908.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-94357-8

Ashwell, M., & Gibson, S. (2014). A proposal for a primary screening tool: “Keep your waist circumference to less than half your height.” BMC Medicine, 12, 207.

https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-014-0207-1t goes here

Description text goes hereThe Key to Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health

At CATALYST, we prioritise Heart Rate Recovery (HRR) as the most practical, client-first measure of cardiorespiratory health. HRR shows how quickly your heart rate drops after exercise. It is a clear signal of autonomic recovery, resilience, and lower long-term cardiovascular risk. We can capture it safely in 3 to 5 minutes with high compliance, a minimal footprint, and enough frequency to build reliable trendlines.

VO₂max remains the laboratory gold standard for maximal aerobic capacity, but routine testing is operationally heavy, time-intensive, and often excludes a portion of the general population due to effort tolerance and screening needs. More importantly, it seldom changes our week-to-week decisions compared with submax protocols anchored on HRR. We reserve VO₂max for athlete cohorts or research pilots when results will directly alter thresholds or event pacing. For a healthspan-first studio serving diverse clients, HRR delivers the actionable insight without the cost, complexity, or client-experience trade-offs. That is why it is the cornerstone of our Cardiorespiratory Fitness pillar.

Reference:

Jouven, X., et al. (2017). Heart rate recovery and risk of all-cause mortality among middle-aged and older adults: the Henry Ford Exercise Testing (FIT) Project. Journal of the American Heart Association, 6(7), e005164.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5524096/

The Foundation of Fall Prevention and Neuromuscular Health

We focus on lower body dynamic stability, measured with the Y-Balance Test. This test challenges your ability to control balance, posture, and joint alignment while moving in multiple directions which is a skill that declines with age but remains critical for preventing falls and injuries. Lower body stability is more important than upper body stability because most loss of independence events, such as slips and falls, originate from the legs. The Y-Balance Test provides a reliable, real-world picture of how well your hips, knees, ankles, and core work together to keep you steady. By identifying asymmetries or weak links, we can address them before they lead to injury or mobility loss, helping you stay independent and resilient in daily life.

Reference:

Smith, C. A., Chimera, N. J., & Warren, M. (2015). Association of Y Balance Test reach asymmetry and injury in Division I athletes. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 47(1), 136–141.

https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/fulltext/2015/01000/association_of_y_balance_test_reach_asymmetry_and.18.aspx

The Most Important Physical Predictor of Lifespan

We focus on Grip Strength, a simple yet powerful indicator of overall health and resilience. Grip strength is more than just a measure of hand power; it reflects whole-body strength, neuromuscular function, and even long-term health outcomes. Large-scale studies involving hundreds of thousands of participants show that lower grip strength is linked to higher risks of frailty, disability, cardiovascular disease, and premature mortality. In fact, some researchers consider grip strength a stronger predictor of mortality than blood pressure. Because it is quick, safe, and highly predictive across all ages, grip strength serves as our core metric for the Strength pillar, giving us a reliable snapshot of both functional ability and longevity potential.

To complement this, we also assess strength through three fundamental movement patterns: pulling, pressing, and squatting. These tests are chosen not just for simplicity, but because they mirror how the body works in daily life and have proven links to independence and resilience:

• Pulling strength (e.g. lat-focused patterns) reflects upper-back and postural health, critical for shoulder stability and spinal integrity.

• Pushing strength (overhead patterns) is not only a fundamental upper-body strength movement but also a key indicator of shoulder mobility, scapular control, and trunk stability.

• Lower-body strength and power (split-squat style patterns) are among the strongest predictors of maintaining independence, since lower-limb weakness is one of the earliest signs of frailty and a major risk factor for falls.

Together with Grip Strength (age- and sex-stratified thresholds), these movement assessments create a multidimensional strength profile. More than numbers, they provide a science-backed forecast of your independence, resilience, and long-term healthspan

Reference:

Bohannon, R. W. (2019). Grip strength: An indispensable biomarker for older adults. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 14, 1681–1691.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6778477/