IS ZONE 2 TRAINING THE BEST WAY TO TRAIN?

“Respect your body’s needs. Give your body excellent care to promote its health and well-being. Give it everything it absolutely requires, including healthy food and drink…Do not, however, use your body as an occasion for show or luxury” - Epictetus

Intro:

Heart rates are divided into zones to help monitor exercise intensity by associating different heart beats per minute (BPM). Heart rate zones are separated into five zones and within each zone provides insightful measures of your training and its benefits; the higher you climb the ladder of the five heart rates, the more intense your activity is. Tracking heart rate while exercising is a beautiful tool to ensure that you’re working towards the appropriate goals you’ve set for yourself.

WHAT ARE THE ZONES?

Before I get into the zone of zone two (see what I did there ;) I would like to present some information on the different zones of heart rate beginning with our first:

Zone 1: This is an active recovery zone using 40-50% of max heart rate. You are burning mostly fat for fuel to keep your body moving and you should be able to hold a conversation with ease. A casual stroll through the park is a good reference to being in zone 1.

Zone 2: Uses 50-65% of your max heart rate and majority of your body is burning fat for fuel. A good indicator of being in zone 2 is that your able to hold a conversation, however you’ll probably need to stop talking every so often to catch your breathe.

Zone 3: Your body is burning about 45% of its calories from fat according to Cleveland Health Clinic, this zone requires 70-80% of your max heart rate. Training in this zone requires a decent amount of focus and moderate strain on your body, so holding a conversation in this zone isn’t tangible.

Zone 4: There should be no conversation whats so over, at most you’ll only be able to speak a few words; of your max heart rate 85-90% of it is being used. Fat is no longer being used as a tool for fuel, your body is now relying on glucose to take the wheel like Jesus.

Zone 5: Talking is impossible, the body is using glucose, and your body is at its aerobic capacity.

Zone 2:

• Dr. Peter Attia and Inigo San Milan (exercise physiologist and coach of UAE Cycling Team) provides us with a substantial focus into the benefits of zone 2 training in the video linked below. Inigo defines zone 2 training as a way to stimulate mitochondrial function the most, in other words this means that training in zone 2 allows for your mighty mitochondria to improve on burning fat for fuel and clearing the body of lactate (lactate acid). Lactate is a natural product of cells of converting glucose into energy that occurs when there is not enough oxygen to use aerobic metabolism.

• If you remember from third grade science class the mitochondria is the “powerhouse of the cell”. Our bodies are host to 500-2000 mitochondrial cells whose job is to produce energy to make cells work (primarily from carbs and fat); They take the air you breath and the food you eat to create adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

• Zone 2 training is known to be the best kind of training for endurance athletes like runners and cyclists. A run or a cycle in zone 2 should be very enjoyable. These are the training days I look forward to because it gives me a chance to observe my environment, breath in the air, watch the birds leave their nest, and manifest my desires. The low intensity feels very slow but overtime your body will adapt to the pace, soon you’ll find yourself running faster paces with more efficiency.

I struggled with this at first because my whole life I thought the only way to get faster on the bike and on my feet was to always bring intensity. But as I began to invest more time into research and my training I learnt that operating within zone 2 more often will elevate my speed and performance. Bu why is that???

RUNNING SLOWER MAKES YOU FASTER??:

We’ve heard the classic saying “the turtle beats the hare every-time”, as silly as it sounds it’s better to be the slower turtle 80% of the time on your runs or cycles. It took me a while to divorce the idea I have to push hard every-time I run or cycle, but research has shown that the most effective way to become faster is by implanting a fast and slow day. It’s better to be diverse in your intensity instead of just sticking to one intensity on every training day. Benefits of Zone 2 include the following:

REDUCTION OF MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES - Balancing your runs with slow days, intervals, and fast days shifts the stresses on your bones, muscles and connective tissues

CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH - Zone 2 running strengthens the heart muscles and improves the rate in which the heart pumps blood by increasing stroke volume and lowering the resting heart rate.

METABOLIC HEALTH - Exercising different variations of intensity allows for greater mitochondrial density which means the more efficient your body will be when it comes to energy production.

BETTER RECOVERY - Implementing zone 2 as one of your protocols will allow for your body to recover efficiently, reduces risk of injury, over-training, and will allow your body to be more efficient the next hard run or cycle day you have.

IS DOING TOO MUCH ZONE 2 BAD?:

Too much of anything is never a good thing, the same principal goes for too much time spent in zone 2. This particular zone doesn’t allow for enough stress to be placed on the body, and we need to kick our own asses some days to improve and elevate our fitness. Over emphasis on light aerobic activity wont harm you by any means but it wont provide you with the health benefits you’ll find in other intense zones.

Conclusion:

Zone 2 training provides us with immense benefits that are crucial with improving fitness and elevating athleticism. I believe every athlete should be adding zone 2 days into their program in order to reap the benefits. It’s supposed to be enjoyable, if you just had a hard run, follow it up the next day with a zone 2 cruise for 30 - 60 minutes and you’ll find your body thanking you. As someone who struggles with taking it easy, exercising the discipline of residing within zone 2 has allowed me to recover faster and find more enjoyment in my training.