Peak Centre :: Mission Possible Program

Advanced exercise science and technology can make you lose weight permanently by dramatically increasing your body's ability to burn fat and build muscle. You can reverse decades of steady weight gains that often leave a person 30 to 40 or more lbs overweight. Greatly improved fitness accompanies the fat/weight loss - to the point that the program often acts as a springboard to other athletic activities. Associated benefits from this program include markedly lower risk of heart attack, stroke, and diabetes; improved hormonal balance; and reduced food cravings.

"I consider myself a very active person. I have been cross country skiing, mountain biking and running for many years. Every year my number one goal was to lose weight, but every year nothing seemed to happen ... until I met the people at the Peak Centre for Human Performance. Their system which integrates science and training is far superior to any other program I've ever done. The combination of training on the CompuTrainer by using power training zones and following the Peak Training system allowed me to lose 23 pounds over a period of 6 months"

Roanne Kilger
Ottawa, Canada

The Program

Mission Possible is an integrated, full service program that combines state-of-the-art hardware, software, analytical services, physical assessment, individualized exercise prescriptions, and periodic performance review. It's a program for the home or health club that takes less than an hour a day of moderate exercise for 5 days a week for a year. By the end of the year your body will be burning 2 to 3 times as much fat. Your muscle to fat ratio will have risen sharply, your muscle composition will shift in the direction of increased slow twitch (fat burning) fibers, and your weight will decline by 10 to 40 pounds or more depending upon how many excess pounds you have been carrying.

By the end of the year your general fitness level will also have improved dramatically and you will be ready, if you choose, to tackle serious athletic endeavors like triathlons, marathons, long distance bike tours, etc. Although the new weight can be maintained indefinitely with a 2 days/week exercise schedule, many people find the physical and psychological benefits of the higher volume schedule so important that they adopt it permanently.

Science behind the program

To burn maximum fat the body needs to be working below what exercise physiologists call the 'aerobic threshold'. When exercise intensity rises above the aerobic threshold the muscles produce more lactic acid which inhibits fat burning. (Most exercise programs operate far above the aerobic threshold with the result that little fat is burned.) Lactic acid levels vary greatly between individuals and can only be established by careful laboratory analysis.

The trick is to determine exactly where a person's aerobic threshold lies and set his/her exercise intensity level slightly below it. The only accurate method of doing this is to measure the lactic acid level in the blood at known exercise intensity levels set by an accurate ergometer. The program begins with a blood lactate analysis of blood samples taken at several exercise intensity (wattage) levels. With this information Peak Centre exercise physiologists establish the aerobic threshold precisely and prescribe the correct beginning exercise intensity level. After several months at this level your aerobic threshold will climb, and you will have gained strength and lost fat. At 3 months a second blood lactate analysis is done to determine the new, higher aerobic threshold and corresponding higher exercise intensity level. At the higher intensity level you will be burning even more fats and losing weight. The same process is repeated at 6 months and 9 months. By this time you will be burning roughly twice as much fat per minute as you were in the beginning, and your weight will be steadily falling. Equally important, your cardiovascular fitness will have improved greatly and you will be in shape to consider more challenging athletic activities. More is happening to the body in this process than simply losing fat and gaining muscle mass.


The basic composition of your muscle fibers is shifting to a higher percentage of 'slow twitch' fibers (fat burners) and a lower percentage of 'fast twitch' fibers (carbohydrate burners). This fundamental change in muscle composition enables the body to metabolize fats more efficiently. It explains why this program, unlike most weight loss programs, has a permanent effect. Furthermore, the program does not involve the use of supplements, hormones or drugs of any kind. Your body does it all naturally.