There are Benefits of training in heart rate zone 2and you’ve probably heard all about it. But what happens when your heart rate rises into Zone 3, whether while running or doing cardio at the gym? Surprise – you don’t lose the benefits of Zone 2 training. Zone 3 is probably just as good for you, maybe even better.
Remember: The reason people get excited about Zone 2 training is because it helps you build your aerobic base and burn calories without causing much fatigue. Guess what zone 3 training Also does? Yes, it helps you build your aerobic base and burn evenly more Calories and fatigue are typically only slightly more than Zone 2. So why don’t we all do more cardio in Zone 3?
Zone 2 is overrated
There are reasons to run (or do cardio) at lower intensities and reasons to use higher intensities. Before heart rate monitors were widely available, you had to judge for yourself what was “easy,” or by comparing your running speed to the speed you knew you could do in a race. Non-athletes had the “speaking test”: If you could hold a conversation while jogging, you knew you were running at a relaxed, steady pace.
But if everyone has a watch that tells them their heart rate, suddenly we see certain numbers, and our watches color-code the numbers so you know when you’re in Zone 2 or Zone 3. Is your heart beating faster? You’re out of your zone. Straight to the training prison!
But the reality is that your body isn’t getting a significantly different workout at 153 beats per minute than it is at 152. There’s probably not even much of a difference between, say, 145 and 155, as long as they’re both in the range of that talkative effort level.
There are no real training zones
Most popular Heart rate zone Systems are invented and have no precise connection to what is going on in your body. Your body does There are some dividing lines when it comes to exercise intensity (e.g. the point at which you can no longer speak comfortably or the point at which lactate builds up faster than you can clear it), but they don’t correspond exactly the typical five zone system.
As a reminder, the five-zone system is based on where your heart rate falls as a percentage of your maximum heart rate. Specific percentages are defined for the boundaries of each zone, and the five zones are usually described something like this:
This is a nice idea and many people find this system helpful, but these zones are not based on science that shows we get such and such benefits at 60-70% of maximum heart rate, and such and such benefits at 71- 80%. If you’re not convinced, just look at how Different gadgets and apps define the zones differently: Your “Zone 2” might be 60-70% on the Apple Watch, but 65-75% on a Peloton.
Research into the benefits of exercise doesn’t use heart rate zones, at least not of this kind. They can measure intensity in a variety of ways, including whether you’re above or below your ventilatory threshold (basically, whether you’re during workouts may or may not speak) or your lactate threshold (measured by blood chemistry, but basically the highest exertion you can sustain). for a long time). Sometimes they measure METs, which relate to how much energy you use to work, or they relate everything to oxygen consumption (which is where the term comes from). VO2 max comes from). Occasionally, these studies send participants home with heart rate-based guidelines, but these are typically based on their personal scientific measurements rather than the predetermined zones you get from an app or from watching a video on YouTube.
The conversation pace covers Zone 2 And most of Zone 3
So let’s take a closer look at the idea of “conversation testing” or “conversation pacing.” The guideline to keep your easy cardio workout at a conversational pace does come from a scientific concept: the respiratory threshold.
Imagine starting with a walk and increasing your speed a little every minute or so. As you work harder, you’ll reach a point where your breathing becomes a little uneven and your sentences become choppy. When you were talking to a friend, you grunted a few words at a time instead of casually telling a story. This point is your respiratory threshold, or VT (sometimes called VT1).
When athletes or coaches talk about easy pace or effort, they usually want you to be below your VT. The way people talk about Zone 2, you might think that VT occurs at the top of Zone 2. But no –Call speed is closer to 80%, which is the peak of Zone 3. For example, Here’s a study of recreational runners that found that, on average, VT1 was at 78% of the runners’ maximum heart rate. And her tested runners’ maximum heart rate, rather than using an age-based formula. (Never trust the standard formulas.)
So if you’re trying to exercise at a relaxed pace or if you do Use the 80/20 rule to keep 80% of your runs easyyou can do easy runs or cardio training sessions Zones 2 and 3not just Zone 3.
Zone 3 is still aerobic and still easy
Now that I’ve explained why the distinction between Zone 2 and Zone 3 is arbitrary, you’ll understand why it makes more sense to think of Zones 2 and 3 (or even Zones 1 through 3) as a continuum. At the low end, you’ll run or pedal slower, burn fewer calories, and feel like you’re barely doing any work. (Hello, leisurely cardio!)
At the top end (or the top of Zone 3), you’re still doing a lot of aerobic work, which still benefits your mitochondria, your capillaries, and everything else, but you’re doing it in a shorter amount of time. If you are interested in calories burned per hour, Zone 3 is more efficient.
Cyclists sometimes call training in this area the “sweet spot.” It gives you some of the benefits of a harder workout without tiring you too much. For runners, Zone 3 can include some of your tempo runs, some of your race tempo runs, and some of your faster “easy” runs.
So what’s the use of Zone 2 when you can reap all the benefits in Zone 3? That depends on your big picture: If you train a lot, you probably want some of it to take place in Zone 2, if only to save some energy while you log more miles. But if, for example, you only run three times a week, those few runs are unlikely to exhaust you much, even if you complete them all in Zone 3.
You shouldn’t read too much into your heart rate anyway
This brings me back to my grudge against heart rate monitors. (It’s a grudge of love; I track my own heart rate while running and find it useful in many ways.)
Not your heart rate only Track your training effort; it also responds to many other factors. For example it reacts to summer heat and shows you higher values in hot weather. You may also see higher values if you are more tired or at the end of a run compared to the beginning, and you may see higher values if you are slightly dehydrated. When you’re running a race, you may find that your heart rate is higher than expected at the start just because you’re a little nervous. Some medications can also change your heart rate – beta blockers, for example, notoriously lower your heart rate.
And then there is the question whether the zones of your fitness tracker are set correctly (even if they know that their boundaries are set). If you’ve never run a race or a series of hill sprints, your watch may never have shown your maximum heart rate. So if it says that your maximum value must be 184 because you are 36 years old, it is just numbers from a formula. This makes as much sense as buying shoes based on the average shoe size of a 5’10 woman rather than actually measuring your feet (or trying on the shoes). If you go for an easy run and notice that your heart rate was in “Zone 5” the entire time, I guarantee you that this is not your Zone 5.
So if your heart rate creeps into Zone 3 during a “Zone 2” training run, that may or may not be true. But even if that’s the case, if you can still breathe and speak more or less normally, you’ll benefit from your Zone 3 cardio workout.
