I Did Zone 2 Cardio for 10 Months - Here's What Happened

Zone 2 cardio is one of the trendiest forms of exercise that many doctors and longevity experts are raving about

The first thing we would do is say you probably need to be doing at least three hours a week of that zone 2, which is building an aerobic base

I didn't do regular cardio until 2020 and I definitely didn't track my zone 2 training

So about 10 months ago I implemented zone 2 cardio into my exercise routine

And in this video I'm going to share with you my results. I actually took my carter respiteer fitness from above average to the elite level in just a matter of

three months with this style of training. So make sure you watch until the end to know how to do

zone 2 cardio and improve your longevity in the process. First, let's clarify what do we mean by

zone 2 cardio. There are a total of 5 heart rate zones used in exercise. Zone 1, which is 50 to 60

of your max heart rate, zone 2 60 to 70%, zone 3 70 to 80%, zone 4 80 to 90% and zone 5 90% to 100%

Zone 2 is a lighter form of exercise where your body is burning the most amount of fat for fuel

It sits just below the anaerobic threshold after which you start burning glucose and at the

peak of fat oxidation, which is also called the fat max. It's also called the lactate threshold because after that point, your body begins accumulating

more lactic acid from exercise than it can clear it. This creates the burn sensation

Zone 2 training promotes the creation of slow twitch muscle fibers or type 1 muscle fibers

that help to clear out lactate. Resting lactate levels are 1 to 2 millimoles per liter

and the lactate threshold begins over 2mmol per liter. Professional athletes are much better at lactate clearance

and they have a higher anaerobic threshold, which means they have a higher level of cardiorespirator fitness

They can run a lot faster than a regular person while still staying in Zone 2 and burning fat for fuel

That's the goal of Zone 2 training to increase your anaeric threshold and lactate threshold

you know, we have our patients spend 80% of their cardio training time in zone two

That's really pushing that metabolic flexibility. This is a, this is the training system for making sure you expand the capacity of your mitochondria

to under ever increasing demands have the ability to utilize fatty acids for oxidative phosphorylation and glucose for that matter So I started training zone to cardio last year and I been tracking it for about 10 months First I would need to calculate my zone to heart rate zone

One easy way to do this is to find your maximum heart rate first. The formula for your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age

For me it's 220 minus 29 which means my maximum heart rate is 191

I'll share with you why this might not be the most accurate number, but it's a good starting point

My zone 2 heart rate zone is 60 to 70% of 191, which is 115 to 133

This is the typical range where my body is burning the most amount of fat and is increasing my cardiorespiratory fitness

As my fitness improves, this number should also increase, as I'll explain shortly

To measure this heart rate during exercise, I use the polar H-10 chest strap

I put it on during my runs, and it shows my heart rate on my phone

While running, I tried to stay between 115 to 133 beats per minute

If you don't have a heart rate monitor, then you can also pay attention to your breathing to assess if you're in zone 2

Usually if you're breathing through the nose, you're still in zone 2. And if you start breathing through the mouth, you've crossed over into zone 3 and you're

burning glucose. When training for zone 2, you want to avoid that

If you see that your heart rate rises too high or if you start breathing through the mouth, then you should actually slow down

Reduce your speed, let your heart rate drop down, and let your breathing rate normalize

so you can breathe through the nose again. I know it sounds a little bit counterintuitive

you think you need to just run as fast as possible for as long as possible to improve your cardio

However, the goal of Zone 2 is to increase your anaerobic threshold

To be able to run as fast as possible while in Zone 2, because it improves your mitochondrial function, improves lactate clearance

and promotes metabolic flexibility. That's where the longevity benefits come from. You have a very big base for cardiovascular function

Professional athletes, the people who have the highest cardiorespirator fitness in the world

they spend 80 to 90% of their training time in Zone 2. They literally spent over 10 hours a week training in the zone 2 zone, because that's what increases their carter respiratory fitness the most

And it's also the least taxing form of training on your nervous system. Research finds that the people with the highest card respiratory fitness, as measured by a VOTMX, have the lowest risk of mortality

Having very high cardiorespiratory fitness so having a VO2 max that is elite we would define that as the top 2 of the population compared to below average is a five reduction in all cause mortality death from any kind Whoa I mean we don have drugs that have a 5 reduction in mortality

Here's what my workout plan looked like. I did three zone two cardio sessions per week

lasting for 45 to 55 minutes each. My heart rate stayed between 115 to 145 beats per minute

Based on the 220 minus 29 formula, I would already be in zone three

But what I noticed was that as my cardiorespirator-respirative fitness improved, I was still able to breathe through the nose while being in a higher heart rate zone

The reason was because I was already fitter than the average person. And I was able to stay in zone 2 at a higher heart rate zone

Now granted, I didn't use a lactate meter to measure my blood lactate levels, but I was still able to breathe through my nose

and I didn't feel any burn. So that's why I figured that it's much better for me to calculate my maximum heart rate

and my zone 2-houtreasease based on my VO2-Mex and my cardiorespenter fitness

not on my chronological age because, you know, I'm much, much fitter than the average 29-year-old

I did happen to measure my Vio to Max before I started doing Zone 2, and I got a result of 53 milliliters per kilogram per minute

That's already the lowest mortality risk group. However, for my age, it was only above average

Then I measured my Viotomax the second time after having trained Zone 2 for three months

and I got a result of 66 milliliters per kilogram per minute. That's an elite category of 18-year-olds

your Vio to Max would peak usually when you're 18 to 19 years old

But because I just improved my fitness so much, I was able to still have that result when I'm 29 years old

Because of that, I moved my goalpost for Zone 2 also slightly higher to accommodate the cardiorespiratory fitness of an elite 18 year old

220 minus 18 is 202, and 60 to 70% of that is 121 to 141

This is the heart rate zone that I'm now tracking for doing Zone 2 cardio because I'm much fitter

now, my Vio2 max is higher and I'm still able to stay in zone 2 with a resting heart rate that

is slightly above. So during the first three months of my zone 2 training, my Vio2 max went from

53 to 66 milliliters per kilogram per minute, which is an amazing result. I already outlined my

workout plan three times a week of zone 2 cardio for 45 to 55 minutes. As someone who wasn't doing

that much cardio before, I actually enjoyed it a lot. If you're running in a park or a forest

then it very enjoyable I listening to podcasts getting sunlight breathing fresh air not looking at a computer as I do all day for work so I actually started to love doing this I kept doing this same routine for 10 months now and I feel that my cardiorespeter fitness is much better than it was before

even though I was still above average 10 months ago. I'm going to be getting my Vyotech

max tested again in the 12-month mark to see if I've made any additional improvements. Here are the

other things that I noticed over this 10-month period. I've gotten leaner obviously because of the

higher amount of energy expenditure. My strength has decreased slightly because I now weigh about

three to four kilograms less than before, but I've still maintained about 90% of my strength

So it's a good trade-off in my mind because I was already at the advanced level with strength

training. With better cardio, I just feel better during a day and when I'm taking the stairs

or something like that, of course I wasn't struggling with this before, but I do notice that

going from a V-R-2-Max of 53 to 66 has had visible improvements in my aerobic function

Another question people might have is regarding injuries and joint pain. If you're running like three hours a week, is it going to wear down your joints

I haven't noticed anything like that and my joints are working fine. Actually, my bone density is about 1.5 to 2 standard deviations above normal

because of doing a lot of strength training before. So it could be because my bone density is so high and I don't get really any joint pain from running either

Some other people who have never done any resistance training, they might get some joint pain if they're just running too much

So that's why it's important to do both resistance training as well as some cardio respiratory fitness

Running alone isn't going to increase your bone density. You need weight-bearing exercise and a higher protein diet for that

Lastly, if you do get injured from running, then change it to cycling. It's less impact and can be as good for cardio

Swimming or hiking can also be adequate. I've tried walking with a 30-kilogram weight of vest, but this didn't put me into zone 2 and I was below zone 1 even

However, walking up a hill with a weight of west or hiking up a steep hill could take you to zone 2 if you're less fit

Overall, I'm very happy that I started doing zone 2 cardio. I'm going to be probably doing it for the rest of my life because I enjoy it

and it has had very beneficial effects on my health and cardiorespiratory fitness

Based on the research, then having a higher cardiorespiratory fitness and higher rear to max is one of the best things for your longevity and reducing risk of all cause mortality

If you want to learn the key concepts of longevity that can lower your biological age and add healthy years to your life, then check out my free longevity training at seamline

dot CEO for which allows for longevity national training. Other than that, kind for watching this video

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