If you haven’t just been testing the Cooper test, you can gain 10 percent more distance just by getting used to it, just as a rough estimate. When you start running the Cooper test cold, the result is necessarily poor compared to your potential - at least most of the time.
If you haven’t run much and then run for a few months and also get used to the Cooper test separately, the result can be in a completely different league - significantly better.
May I ask how much Alokas might run in the Cooper test? I just read through your interview and it would be interesting to hear how much the “gym rat” does. 
My previous result from a couple of years ago was about 2670, if I remember correctly, and now my focus is slowly shifting more towards endurance sports, as the gym has become boring.
I haven’t tried in a long time, but some years ago I easily did 3200 meters in a treadmill Cooper test. An acquaintance of mine runs, and he said something like this treadmill is more realistic/harder than other treadmills, when he compared his results to outdoor running and other treadmills.
Even though that treadmill probably doesn’t give meters as easily as a normal treadmill, there’s no headwind on a treadmill and it provides a consistent speed etc. So it can’t be compared to outdoor running.
Currently, I wouldn’t even do 3000 meters cold on a sports field. I don’t really do aerobic exercise purposefully, even though I do some of it.
I am naturally, in my opinion (not necessarily a fact, just my own thought), so good at aerobic [activities]. My performances are not excellent, but the results have come quite easily, even though I don’t believe I’ve done anything particularly smart.
On the other hand, gaining muscle mass is a different story.
Good result! If we assume that the treadmill is properly calibrated, as it might be in quality gyms, and you ran at the correct incline, then it corresponds quite well to outdoor conditions.
As you noted, when running indoors in place, air resistance is lower than outdoors. This is compensated by running on the treadmill on a slight incline, i.e., by choosing a 1 percent incline from the treadmill settings. Running on a treadmill at a zero incline would mean that you are simulating running outdoors on a slight downhill.
For years I’ve lived with various knee problems that have slowed down my running hobby. At one point, kilometers flew by unnoticed; later, it felt like my knees were giving out within the first 100 meters. My knees have been examined, X-rayed, and poked at, but no problems have been found. Most likely, the problem has always been with my shoes, technique, and my own lack of skill.
So, after another year-long running break, I finally decided to try something completely new. Not the same forest road, with the same sneakers, and the same Sony Walkman on my belt. I ordered a treadmill and started running/jogging on it barefoot. That seemed to change everything a bit.
My knees don’t ache. Kilometers are accumulating. Absoluuttinen Nollapiste is playing in my ears.
This probably isn’t real running, and the pace isn’t breathtaking either. But I sweat, I have fun, and my knees feel better than they have in years. I show my wife, “Look, this guy can squat again, and even better, he can get back up.” Even on grocery trips, I pick up items from the bottom shelves like Miss Finland on stage, with a graceful and smooth movement. If only I could get rid of that old-man grunt with every squat.
I’m a complete contradiction. My endurance fitness has been really poor, but I’m talented in all short and explosive movements. In middle school, I ran 2500m in the Cooper test, but for example, in the standing long jump, I have the second best result in the upper grades 
I’ve started training running a bit now in adulthood and I notice that a 20-minute distance is best for me. My body just doesn’t like long distances. The summer before last, I reached my goal, meaning I ran a 10km distance in under an hour. The final time was probably 59 minutes, but that was an absolutely incredible result for me. At the same time, I have friends who run 10km in 45 minutes, but we’re all different! I’d like to try the Cooper test again too. 3000m would be more than enough.
Thanks!
In my opinion, running on a treadmill is also easier because the surface is exactly the same with every step. If you think about most people, few get to run on a completely optimal sports field, and then on a treadmill, you can somehow run in peace, meaning you don’t have to worry about others.
I wouldn’t dare to advise anyone too much on running, even though I improve relatively quickly, because of genetics.
Then, on the strength side, it has been different, especially in building muscle mass. That has already been a moderate achievement in my opinion, that over time I have made a clearly significant change in my own scale to a really weak muscle group, and on the other hand, perhaps that change is not big in the opinion of others, and the muscle is still not, of course, “big” or impressive.
Another new video from Utila
00:00 INTRO CHAT 00:19 Post-workout shake for morning workout in advance? 07:52 Different rep ranges in different workouts? 16:44 Pauses at the bottom 24:29 Faster progress after maintenance periods? 30:03 OUTRO CHAT
Anton Nykänen is an incredibly strong bench presser and an excellent powerlifter otherwise.
Anton Nykänen wants to test his own strength with intense training. The goal is the men’s world championship and to bench press 220 kilograms in the coming years.
– Next year, the target is a total of 800 kilograms in squat, bench press, and deadlift. Last year, I was the first in Finland to achieve a 700-kilogram total in the 74-kilogram category. It would be great to be the first 800-kilogram man in the 83-kilogram category, Nykänen ponders.
I had to dig up some motivation for my runs, and this was really good.
-The better your oxygen uptake capacity, the longer you live on average.
-Better stress tolerance
-Faster recovery
I need all of these; I should have realized this earlier, but better late than never.
The run itself was about 1 min 15 s of running and 1 min of walking in between, total duration 42 min 17s/5.5km. Average heart rate 132. I need to test my maximum heart rate sometime to make sense of my training zone. As I understand it, these are typically based on average heart rate? My heart rate during the exercise was mainly between 120-155.
Great job! I also do walking/running workouts every now and then. They allow me to keep the exertion clearly in the aerobic zone, and the training load remains low for runs lasting over an hour, compared to a pure running session. Heart rates have been between 110-150 and the average heart rate around 130 bpm. The average heart rate is about 10 beats below the calculated aerobic threshold, which in my opinion makes it a very safe aerobic zone workout. Heart rate peaks could be slightly lower, but my own perceived exertion has remained at a light/moderate level.
@RahatonMies just gradually work your way up to over an hour of walking/running sessions. It might take 2-3 weeks for the load to start accumulating and feeling it in your legs. It’s advisable to increase the load moderately so your body has time to adapt to the exertion.
Utti was again speaking on a podcast, lasting almost 2 hours and three quarters. 
EPISODE How to effectively build muscle? What factors should be considered in training and diet? In the studio, bodybuilding coach and competitor Utti Hietala. The episode was filmed on 4.6.2025. 
TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Utti’s sports career 6:57 Doping and sports 9:20 History of bodybuilding 22:38 Injuries 27:32 Natural bodybuilding 38:00 Coaching 45:33 Long-term consistency 59:46 Volume milestones 1:06:46 Progression levels 1:17:15 Volume 1:31:09 Intermediate trainees 1:37:40 Junk volume 1:43:47 Progression 1:55:57 Diet 2:01:20 Protein synthesis 2:06:46 Competitors’ diet 2:17:06 Food diary 2:34:51 Ankle mobility
I continue reporting on my activities. Standing long jump 2.4m with a few attempts. With a run-up ~3m, mobility and rhythm aren’t quite working. 100m in 17.13s. I lost to a 5-year-old boy who ran 60m in 15.2s.
I recommend other “older guys” to test their own limits; it really shatters assumptions about one’s current fitness
My own results are largely from a combination of weight training + minimal incidental exercise; it just doesn’t carry over to running at this age anymore. Let’s see how developing running fitness changes things.
A statistic for 100m classified by different levels was found there. What's A Good 100m Time? Average 100 Meter Times By Age + Sex
A sharp drop from the intermediate level to outside the table in 20 years 
That’s what inactivity does. I did run under 110m without a time first, but explaining won’t make this any better either..
Here is a table for standing long jump, Cooper test, etc. Uudelleenohjausilmoitus
I started running workouts last year in June. First, at most once a week, gradually increasing the volume. Now that I have data from runs a year ago, when I could already jog for an hour somehow, it’s motivating to compare the runs.
The heart rates of these two might not be entirely comparable, because the watch has changed and a heart rate belt has also been added. Furthermore, the first one was after rest, and the day before the latter, I trained speed endurance (10km).
I can’t claim that the progress is fast in any way, but little by little, even for an older man, fitness improves. 
Does your gym have 40-50 kg plates? (homemade or from a manufacturer) I can put those on the leg press, but you really have to be careful, and it almost feels like a workout just to lift such a big plate onto the press. Could perhaps use those giant plates in some of my own “strongman exercises”. I haven’t used them, as far as I remember, except on the leg press, and not even often.
I haven’t been to a gym suitable for pure strongman training, but there don’t seem to be many of them, just a few. Does any of you go to such a “strongman” gym? In the https://suomenvahvinmies.fi/ competitions, there are indeed things that one could try in their own training, if only possible at their own gym.
Explosive power is, at least for me, the first thing to go, and you might not be able to get it back at all. At least not to the same level. That’s something that’s easily left completely untrained, especially if you mainly go to the gym (unless you can do weightlifting). If you run, it’s good to occasionally do sprints (after a good warm-up ) with ample recovery.
That hundred meters you mentioned is a really long distance to go hard for someone who runs a little. It’s good to start with 20-meter sprints and gradually increase the distance.
That’s certainly how it is, and very low daily activity thanks to remote work doesn’t help much. It’s annoying when I used to run 100m with a hand-timer in about 12 seconds, without any special training.
Do you mean that muscle work would be the challenge at that distance? Such a short effort didn’t feel any worse than a set of squats in my lungs yet. But I’ll have to take some proper sprints during my run occasionally, thanks for the tip.
Running technique completely falls apart if you haven’t run. The upper body rises upright, the knee doesn’t rise, etc. And of course, at this more advanced age, the hamstrings are under strain when one suddenly starts pushing hard. Especially for someone doing sedentary work, the hamstrings and hip flexors are weak and shortened, which predisposes one to injury.
The problem is fast-twitch muscle cells, which atrophy in middle age and don’t really recover anymore. Here’s Yle’s article from a couple of years ago