Blogs

What is Zone 2 Training?

You might have heard about it in passing — zone 2 training. But what exactly is it?

Simply put, zone 2 training is a type of cardio training to help increase your endurance and increase your aerobic fitness. It’s all about training your heart without straining other areas of your body.

I mean, really, you have arm, leg and core days, so why not your heart? As a runner, or aspiring runner, we’re sure you’re constantly looking at strategies to help improve your training and endurance, so let’s go over this particular method.

We have five heart rate zones (some people suggest even 6 or 7), with our zone 2 heart rate just one of them. It’s low intensity, as you’re only using about 60 to 70 per cent of your max heart rate, where you’re doing an exercise slowly and steadily for a long period of time.

It’s all about helping you build up your fitness levels over time to increase your aerobic capacity, which is essentially your body’s ability to use oxygen efficiently during any type of athletic activity. For all you casual exercisers out there, this means your easy workouts will be even easier, and for those of you who enjoy intense workouts, they will feel less so.

Is Zone 2 Fat Burning? If you’re engaging in zone 2 workouts for long enough and at the appropriate heart rate, zone 2 training can be a great fat loss solution because, in endurance exercises, your body uses fat as its fuel source. Zone 2 keeps your heart rate in a great weight management zone, where your body creates ATP, otherwise known as adenosine triphosphate, an energy system that burns fat.

Benefits of Zone 2 Training

Oftentimes, we think we need to do intense workouts to experience greater benefits, such as HIIT workouts. While these are great, there are actually immense benefits from lower-effort exercise, especially in the long run.

• Faster recovery: Doing a zone 2 training session the day after an intense workout has actually been found to help with a faster recovery, improve blood flow and speed up muscle repair.
• Improved cardiovascular fitness: Zone 2 training is actually great for longevity as it increases our cardiovascular fitness by improving our mitochondrial function, as well as lowers the risk of developing cardiovascular illnesses.
• Improved mental health: Since zone 2 exercising is relaxed and low in intensity, it also improves mental health, depression, anxiety and insomnia as it boosts people’s self-esteem and social functioning. It also helps people stick to workout routines.
• Prevent injuries: Due to zone 2 being low intensity, it also takes less of a toll on the body’s joints and muscles, helping to prevent injury.
• Improves your ability to oxidise fats: Allows you to burn more grams of fat per minute.

What are Zone 2 Exercises?

Endurance training doesn’t need to be draining; it can be something as simple as a long run at a doable pace or a relaxed long bike ride.

Some zone 2 cardio examples include walking, cycling and rowing.

Zone 2 running: It’s worth noting that if you’re not a good runner to begin with, it’s not recommended as a form of cardio until your fitness improves. It can be hard to maintain a zone 2 running heart rate. If this is something you want to start trying, start by running on a flat surface so you don’t experience spikes in your heart rate, such as on a treadmill. For a zone 2 running pace, start with intervals of 1-minute running and 1-minute walking, then over time increase your running and lower the walking.

It’s important to note, too, that zone 2 training is sometimes also called base training, as this type of exercise should make up the majority of your weekly exercise.

For a zone 2 training plan, start with 20-minute sessions, then slowly work this up to 60-minute workouts over weeks. While you can do zone 2 training every day, start with training 1 to 2 times per week, as this is the amount you need to start seeing results.

What is a Good Zone 2 Heart Rate?

To judge whether you’re in the right heart rate, if you can maintain a casual conversation while exercising without being too short of breath, you’re in zone 2. If it’s too easy, you’re still in zone one.

How Do I Know My Zone 2? While you can find a zone 2 heart rate calculator online, there are a couple of ways to get a rough zone 2 heart rate by age for yourself.

• Subtract your age from 220: For example, if you’re 25, your max heart rate would be about 195bpm. Since zone 2 is between 60 to 70 per cent of your max heart rate, your zone 2 training heart rate comes to about 117bpm to 136.5bpm.
• Maffetone method: Subtract your age from 180. For example, for a 25-year-old, this would be 155, then adding or subtracting 5 depending on your general health and fitness level.

Iñigo San Millán

Exercise physiologist and professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Inigo San Millan, used to be a competitive cyclist and wanted to find an exercise intensity that would improve his mitochondrial function to improve his performance (remember, these are the powerhouses of our cells, helping provide us energy). Through measuring the lactate in blood samples, he found that zone 2 was the best way to help all athletes improve their endurance.

You might have seen the Inigo San Millan metabolic map, where he compares lactate levels and metabolic stress in athletes, which differs from one athlete to another. You can purchase lactate metres to use at home and San Millan describes basic testing protocol as a good way to track your progress if that’s what you’re interested in. You can also take a metabolic test in a laboratory.

As for an Inigo San Millan training plan, you can learn more through his video, here, or, as he has mentioned, you can do two days a week to maintain your fitness or a minimum of three days a week to see improvements. Specifically, he mentions that the ideal training plan should be three to four days a week of zone 2 training for the first two to three months, then reducing this to two to three days a week as the season draws closer. This is then reduced to two days of maintenance once the season is in full swing. You can read more about that here.

Further Reading: How to Live Longer with Anti-Aging Exercises

End Note

Marathon runners and aspiring runners will find immense benefit from incorporating more zone 2 training into their weekly workouts. It’s designed to improve the way your body uses energy and reduce strain on your body, all the while improving your endurance so that you’re performing at your peak.

It’s also great for those who simply want to improve their fitness and lead a healthy lifestyle without becoming disgruntled and unmotivated at constant, intense workouts. So, begin with 20 minutes a day and start watching your fitness improve in the next few weeks!

If you’re looking for supplements that could help you throughout your fitness journey, get your hands on Xandro Lab’s Joint and Muscle Vitality Bundle to help improve your body’s function.

If you’re looking for other health supplements Singapore or anywhere else in the world, check out the rest of our supplements to see how they can be used to target your individual health concerns.