Dejan Reljic PhD

Dejan Reljic is a Senior Researcher and Head of the Sports Science and Exercise Physiology Lab at the Hector-Center for Nutrition, Exercise and Sports in the Department of Medicine at the University Hospital Erlangen Reljic has developed an extremely efficient HIIT programme with a duration of 14 minutes twice per week, which is successfully used in various patient groups at the Hector Centre. In a recent comparative study, Dr. Reljic has demonstrated for the first time that not only HIIT but also moderate-intensive interval training (MIIT) significantly improve the health of obese patients: This means that interval training has a health benefit even if it is only carried out with moderate intensity, Dr Reljic explains. Interval training courses are attractive because they can achieve health-protective effects in a manageable amount of time, says Dr. Reljic. After just a few weeks, we were able to observe clinically significant improvements in the cardiometabolic risk profile in obese patients thanks to the HIIT training in combination with an adapted diet,’ reports Prof. Dr. Yurdagül Zopf, head of the Hector Centre and spokesperson of the Obesity Centre at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen. ‘Some of these benefits are even comparable to those of drug therapy.