An 8-Year Drop in Biological Age Helped Make Smart Fit Method an XPRIZE Healthspan Finalist

Can a structured program of exercise and recovery actually reverse biological aging?

A clinical study conducted with Arizona State University suggests it can. Over eight weeks, ten participants followed a data-driven training and recovery protocol, resulting in an average reduction of eight years in biological age.

Those findings helped earn The Smart Fit Method a place among the finalists in the XPRIZE Healthspan competition, one of the world's most ambitious initiatives advancing the science of healthy aging.

What Is the XPRIZE Healthspan Competition?

The XPRIZE Healthspan competition is a $101 million global challenge with an ambitious objective: demonstrate that it's possible to reverse biological aging by 10 to 20 years through a one-year intervention. Rather than rewarding incremental improvements, the competition is designed to accelerate breakthroughs that could fundamentally change how we approach aging.

Its judging panel includes many of the world's leading longevity researchers, including Dr. Steven Austad, Dr. Nir Barzilai, Dr. Luigi Ferrucci of the National Institute on Aging, and Dr. Morgan Levine, a pioneer in biological age measurement.

Thousands of teams applied. Smart Fit Method, in partnership with Arizona State University, advanced to the finalist field, placing its approach among a select group of programs recognized for their potential to reshape the future of healthy aging.

A Closer Look at the Study

The Arizona State University research team built the study around this question:

Can increasing the body's capacity to produce and use energy actually reverse biological aging?

Their hypothesis centered on what they call reserve energy, a measure of your body's ability to fuel repair, adaptation, and resilience. As we age, that reserve tends to decline, limiting the body's capacity to recover, maintain muscle, and respond to physical stress.

To quantify it, researchers combined three well-established health markers, VO₂ max, lean muscle mass, and resting metabolic rate, into a single metric. The lower your reserve energy, the older your body is functioning, regardless of your chronological age.

Over eight weeks, ten adults between the ages of 50 and 70 trained three times per week using Smart Fit Method's AI-guided technology, including ARX, OxeFit, CAROL, and Vasper. Their training was paired with a structured recovery protocol, targeted nutrition, and supervised oxygen therapy, creating a comprehensive system designed to improve the body's capacity to generate and use energy.

What the Results Showed

After just eight weeks,

• VO₂ max, one of the strongest predictors of longevity, increased by 14.2%
• Lean muscle mass rose by 4.2%
• Resting metabolic rate increased by 3.1%
• Body fat decreased by 5.6%
• The study's reserve energy metric improved by nearly 25%

Taken together, those changes corresponded to an average reduction in biological age of eight years.

The benefits extended beyond physical health.

• Episodic memory improved by 18.8%
• Sustained attention increased by 5%
• Processing speed also improved, although the change did not reach statistical significance.

This was a pilot study involving ten participants over eight weeks. It wasn't designed to provide a definitive answer for everyone. It was designed to determine whether a measurable signal existed, and the results were compelling enough to help advance Smart Fit Method and Arizona State University to the finalist field of the XPRIZE Healthspan competition.

Perhaps most importantly, the improvements weren't isolated. Cardiovascular fitness, body composition, metabolic function, and cognition all improved together, suggesting the intervention influenced the body's underlying capacity for healthy aging rather than optimizing a single metric in isolation.

What This Means for You

Biological age was once a concept that lived mostly in research papers. Fascinating in theory, but difficult to measure, influence, or apply in everyday life. This study suggests that's beginning to change. By evaluating exercise, recovery, and oxygen therapy with the same rigor expected of a clinical drug trial, researchers showed that biological aging isn't just something we can observe. It's something we can meaningfully influence through a structured, measurable system.

For an industry that has long sold workouts, motivation, and willpower, this represents a shift toward something more accountable. The future of fitness isn't built on doing more. It's built on measuring the right things, applying interventions with intention, and continuously validating whether they're working.

That's the philosophy behind the Smart Fit Method. Every assessment, workout, recovery session, and retest is designed to function as part of one connected system, where progress is measured, adjusted, and backed by objective data. This study doesn't prove our approach, but it reinforces the direction modern longevity science is moving: away from guesswork, and toward precision.

What's Next

This is a milestone, not a finish line. The XPRIZE competition continues, and so does the research. We'll keep sharing what we learn as ASU's team moves forward.

Book your assessment and see where your own numbers stand today.