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

Siim, great video. I have been watching since you had less than 5,000 subs and am delighted for you at the well deserved growth of your channel and more importantly that your no-nonsense clear and concise messages of inspiration are reaching the ever increasing audience that need and can personally benefit from them... Keep going, do more and thank you!

Slim is my favourite longevity guru. His protocol is easier to follow.

Excellent video! Been looking for content on Zone 2 like this for a while. Thanks for sharing 💪

This is an excellent video on Zone 2 training and the benefits. Thank you SIIm. Everything you say is in very good alignment with the best science I have read on Zone 2 training. On a side note regarding running and injury. I recall some medical people telling me when I was 28 years old and had just begun running that my knees would wear out. That was over 40 years ago and my legs are doing just great, thank you.

Great video Siim!

Wonderful info, Mr. Land

Great video, Siim!

I'm 70 years old and my max heart rate is 185.

Great video. Regards from Mexico City

These heart rate zones do not work in warm or hot weather. Your heart rate will be higher for the same intensity activity in hot and humid weather - sometimes significantly higher.

loved your Lorrna Shore workout shirt!!

Goal of zone 2 is to increase aerobic threshold(~

Been doing consistent zone 2 cardio now for about 2 years, after none for the first 22 years of my life. My life is so much better because of it. Inflammation has gone down significantly (there is research showing that 60 minutes of zone 2 cardio upregulates autophagy to the same degree as a 72 hour fast). My mood is through the roof during and after a chill run. My facial aesthetics have improved signifcantly - noticed both from personal judgement and comments from friends/family. Thanks for video siim.

Thanks, i finally get it now 😊

Attia recommends 45-90 mins of z2 in accordance with Inigo San Millan afaik and I think he personally would put 3 sessions of that on the lower end of the spectrum. There’s a lot to it and I’m personally not convinced many of the arguments around the space are actually all that well founded. But it’s certainly a great and important base.

Did you do any intervals or sprints in addition to your zone 2 training?

Nice presentation. Do you also do your strength training on your zone 2 days, or do you do strength on separate days?

Your max heart rate is probably somewhere between the Hunt formula (192.4) and 220-age (191) unless you measure higher. To adjust zone 2 for your fitness level use Karvonen formula (131-146) or calculate zones from your lactate threshold.

I've been doing Zone 2 training (3x 1 hr sessions per week) for a couple of years now. I have to emphasize, 1x weekly HIIT training is still essential in terms of cardiovascular fitness. When I don't do it, my HR in Zone 2 averages around 115 bpm. But after three weeks of getting back to HIIT training, my average HR for an hour of Zone 2 last night was 125 bpm - i.e. 80% of my theoretical HR max (as a guy in his 60s). And I could have gone on forever. Bottom line - don't let Attia's 80%-20% breakdown fool you. That 20% of HIIT training is VERY important. Also, ignore the HR max formula. Assuming you don't have a lactate meter, just use subjective aspects to figure out if you're in Zone 2.

Where do you get your stats around VO2Max based on age groups ?

With zone 2, keep in mind that going by heart rate alone doesn't necessarily tell you how the muscle in working. For example in cycling zone 2 is best defined as the muscles working continuously at a constant power, rather than having high and low power sections through a pedal stroke. As I remember using weighted vests has this high power/low power cycle and using them doesn't emphasise the type 1 fibres. Just something to think about for specificity of training.

My max HR is 194 and I recently measured 2mmol/L lactate at 160bpm during a ramp test. I use that as the upper bound for zone 2 training. My Fatmax is 140-151bpm. I'll use the Morpheus app to measure my HRV in the morning to adjust zone 2 max accordingly.

adding a bit more glycine and glutamine after the training reduces cortisol and gives the joints more building blocks to repair. maybe a small protein shake with extra added glutamine is before starting the exercise is good too.

HRmax differs between individuals due to genetics(heart size rel to body, stroke volume etc etc) more so than age. 220 minus age is just a general guide and doesn't really apply to individuals. Mine was 191bpm 10yrs ago(from actual cycle race data) but now at 50 its 187bpm as of a few months ago. Doing a max effort up a 3min steep climb in a fun competition between friends. Top cyclists/endurance athletes have been doing good Z2 training for years which is the foundation for mitochondrial efficiency.

I can do a 15 min zone 2 bike ride to work and back about 3-4 times per week. That will be about 2 hours of extra zone 2 work. Will these shorter sessions have any benefit?

09:00 haha I had the same idea, I've been experimenting with ankle weights because I found a vest is less impacting on a treadmill

Hi Siim, where do you go to test fitness numbers like you did? Is it a lab, physical therapy, gym?

I think zone 2 is great advice for basically everyone. As you mention even elite athletes do it for the majority of their training. It’s less intimidating for beginners, more enjoyable and low risk of injury. We don’t need to strain ourselves, just do zone 2 consistently and plus maybe one short speed session a week.

Use the Karvonen Formula to calculate your Zone 2 HR. It's more accurate than just 200-age.

Have you ever done any research on the athlete’s heart adaptations? Such as left ventricular and atrial enlargement. I am a very fit person and that made me have an atrial enlargement which may increase my risk of atrial fibrillation but I am not too concerned about it. It would be interesting to cover this topic

Up untill now i have been doing 70/80% of my max heartrate for zone 2 training but i guess that's rly zone 3 (140/150BMP and im 32 years old).. how do u recommend normal people calculate their zone2 range? Just by doing 60/70% from max heartrate and being able to breathe through my nose? Because i was able to do that as well with 140/150BMP..

I wear a 45lb pack and hike 3 hours every day and it gets me nowhere near zone 2, but if I use hiking poles and chew gum it gets me just into zone 2.

Insane results for so little input. I don’t think many people will get anywhere near such massive improvements without having all the other things dialed in outside of the workout itself

I agree that Zone 2 is 60-70% but when you actually deep dive with Maffetone, Attia, Galin, and others they all define Zone 2 as being around 75-80% which is actually Zone 3. This makes sense since that is just below the lactate threshold for most people.

What is your fastest mile time?

Thats weight.vest ... Where did you buy it ?? I mught wanna try it for my daily walk. (or I'll just put on a small backpack with sand or stones in it)

Would be good to know if the cooper test is also a good routine? It certainly improves vo2 max, since it is a legit way to measure it without fancy equipment. Also way harder, but you need way less time. (once a week)

Just a warning. I was able to nose breath on the stationary bike to 168bpm and I had heart palpitations for a month after that session. It might be abnormal to have that efficient of nose breathing but it makes a point that being able to nose breathe doesn't mean you aren't past zone 2.

Would love for you to look into a protocol called REHIT. Thanks to Peter Attia, I'm aware that a high VO2 Max correlates very well with longevity. Using REHIT (2 x 20 second supramaximal sprints separated by 3 mins rest, 3 times per week) I've got my VO2 Max from 80th percentile to 95th percentile for my age (58) in 20 weeks. My max heart rate is 195. What I would like to know is why Zone 2 is considered so important, when I've managed to get my VO2 Max pretty high doing no Zone 2 at all. Surely Zone 2 is training mostly improving Zone 2, and there are much more time efficient ways to increase VO2 Max? If VO2 Max is the important metric for longevity and you can get it to a high level using only sprint training, why would one need Zone 2 at all?

You trained in zone 3 but used your perception of effort to conclude it was zone 2 training. Interesting and I'm just starting a block that is heavy in zone 3 because of looking at results of people like yourself. Paul Allen also trained in zone 3 using Maf initially and had great results. For the under 30 crowd Maf training is actually quite intense and come close to marathon effort. Zone 3 keeps you in aerobic zone but might cause more adaptation. Good vid!

Vo2max from 53 to 66 for 3 month is increasing only when you lose some weight. In average increasing VO2 by 1 takes about 4 month for the same weight.( in terms of increasing mitochondria mass)

What do you say to Michael Lustgarten's recent video about vo2max that claims that the benefits of vo2max aren't actually that crazy? Seems to me like vo2max is just the latest trendy topic...

Why do you guess your max HR based on fitness/VO2 max/age? Since you frequent testing facilities, can't they just test for max HR as well? Or how about using the highest value your HR measurements have ever hit over years of measuring?

Could do it on a stationary bike for the joints.

I’m 28 years old and my max hr rate is 196 according to my watch ( didn’t even try to hit it ) so I think it’s a bit higher and I breath from my nose until I hit 167bpm) then I will start to inhale from my nose and exhale from my mouth

Would it be possible to be in Zone 2 while doing a normal workout at the gym rather than running/jogging ? Sorry, I'm really new to all this health stuff xD

How much cardio did you do before? Your VO2 max was already high! Improving it further like this takes an incredible amount of work.

Can you do a 5k time trial? 66 is insanely high. Reaching that with just 3 easy running sessions a week feels way too easy 😅

Fit people, what is a good device to keep track of your heart rate?

Indeed, the formula is too generic. For me, I just measured my absolute max HR on a track, with a polar H10 and a very strenuous running session. It measured 192 bpm so I adjusted my zone percentages accordingly.

Im still breathing through my nose at 150 beats per minute. my vo2 max is 57 so something is likely not measuring correctly

This is like watching someone walking over themselves. Look how amazing I am.

Good work Siim.. Now participate in a half maraton or 10k and get out of the lab.. Then you can compare your results with your age-group.. will you still in the top end?

220 - age is bs. You need to do a max heart rate test and then maybe add +5 to it, because you probably didn't even reach it.

Hasn't very hard training being linked to enlarged heart in the past?

Your body adapts to any challenge you face. Does it mean that higher VO2MAX or doing Zone 2 cardio has any benefit for longevity? No. It's just a correlation.

Siim your birthdate is listed in that dexa. Best to blur that out too.

Im 90 and my zone 2 is 155

You look like Bane with that oxygen mask.

👍🏻

220-age are you serious…

If VO2 max is already high, there is little if any gain for longevity pushing it higher. And pushing for higher values I strongly suspect diminishes longevity because of the cheat they do in calculation. Everything is divided by mass. This gives nice correlations for longevity at lower VO2 max conditions because being obese is obviously bad. But this is not what the test by name is supposed to be measuring. And being very lean is not optimal for longevity. Lowest all cause mortality is 24% fat, which is just a point or two from obese (for men). That could be an artifact of wasting diseases, but even so, it is unlikely that below 12% body fat is a positive for longevity. In nature, there are very few animals below this, that are not suffering difficulties getting enough to eat. There are a lot of stem cells in fat, and I am just speculating, but I suspect some of those would be lost or more subject to damage in highly lean states. A body with very little fat is also more subject to organ injury because there is less padding. Various hormone production can also fall off. Skin health can diminish as well. Obviously, I am not saying one should be obese. I do think a lot of this competitive leanness stuff is cultural. We are trained to see fat, all fat, as unfitness and a measure of fitness. But like most things, there is a balance. Oh, back to VO2-max. People recognize that at lower mass they will earn a bigger VO2-max score, so they try to get as lean as possible to get that higher score, they assume that this means they are healthier. I highly doubt that is the case if they are driving both fat at 12% lower, and muscle lower. I see this calculation as a fail and a disservice. Better would be O2 utilization relative to height, or something else people are less likely to tweak to cheat. As a fitness instructor or similar profession, I suppose you will get more business looking very lean like this. But again this is pandering to cultural nonsense. If someone is exceedingly serious about maximizing lifespan, and wants every day they can get, then they must recognize the limitations of each metric, especially at the extremes. For some blood markers, it is true that optimal may be out of the "Normal" range. Muscle is great, but there are likely bounds there too. Having too much might hamper kidney function from too much creatinine. Too much exercise probably creates too much oxidative stress, or may increase fibrosis from repeated muscle damage. I think too much is made of things like vitamin C, other antioxidants or Metformin "blunting" the effects of exercise, if we are not professional athletes, and are just trying to increase longevity and healthspan. What does it mater if you have to spend 10 minutes longer exercising, if less oxidative damage is done? I don't take metformin anymore, because I genuinely needed to lose more weight, and I still do, though I have lost 60 lb, but I continue to take many antioxidants, and I am taking berberine as well. I am fast approaching the best health of my life. My body comp scale says I have 160 lb of muscle, but I would like to raise that to 180-185, mostly upper body. The wheels of time truly feel like they are rolling in reverse. I can sit on the ground fiddling with DIY stuff for an hour or more without the slightest pain when getting up. I thought that would be with me forever. But it is totally gone. I can also bend down with legs straight and rest my knuckles on the ground, and again no pain. And I was in terrible shape 5 years ago. Everything hurt. Flexibility was terrible. I think in a year or two I will be in my best shape ever, and I am 55. The only negative is extra skin, hence the desire to build more upper body muscle to minimize that look. No, I did not get a GLP-1 drug. I am trying to lose fat slowly, so I can maintain body comp improvements when I have achieved my targets.

70-80% of max hr is a more accurate zone 2 for me

+13 on your VO2max in 3 months doesn't come from your training, your first test was wrong or you just didn't give your best at all. Btw you just can speak of cardio zones and use 220-age 😂 you can get 5 to 10 bpm off-zone with this calculation. Just make a max HR test and you'll be good to go, with a good value. You can't have a good output if you have a bad input.

In your Your longevity training you say people are lving longer which is wrong which even you show that age 70 and up it didnt change much. the infant mortality rate is what is added up into the death rate which skews it. So people are kind of living less when outside the clear country line. Since I had many relatives living over 110. Even Socrates which was 2500 years ago died in his 71s from death penalty and not old age, Plato 80 despite treated bad, etc I think you have some error since your results to age less at your age is not fair to compare to older people for various reason but I am not denying that you are going a good job. :)

I feel like your HR would be way above 191

I still think sprinting is better for you.

your zone 2 range is wrong

I think you should definitely verify your information and make a new video. This one is packed with incorrect information. - Zone 2 that you are referring to is 70-80% of HRmax. There are multiple zoning systems so it can have different number or name. - It sits just below aerobic threshold or LT1. When there is no number, anaerobic LT is meant (LT2), that sits higher. (cca 90% HRmax). You are confusing those two in the whole video. - Fat max is usually at around 70% HR, or 65% VO2max (those are two different things). Without previous endurance training it is at lower HR. - Goal of Z2 training is definitely not increasing anaerobic threshold at all. It is to increase endurance of legs, make them more efficient at using lactate, to use more fat as fuel, increase density of capillars in leg muscles, increase working capacity and improves recovery. Also "increase anaerobic threshold" what does it really mean? That you can run faster at LT2? Yes. I would call that improving threshold tempo... - Formula 220-HR doesn't work for most people, it can lead to incorrect zones, different then intended training and other than expected results, as you correctly said. - Breathing through nose is not a good indication, some people cannot do that in Z2, some can do it in Z3. Much better is talking test - you should be able to to talk in full sentences in Z2, slightly winded. It should feel like effort. - Zone 2 is least taxing, but to the metabolic system. Nervous system gets tired in weight training exercise and is limiting factor for overtraining there. - Your calculated Z2 was different from real measured because of a combination of 1) you you used incorrect 60-70% formula and 2) the estimate 220-age doesn't work. Not because you had super high Vo2max (you didn't have). The recommended Z2 was probably 60-75% HRmax, it was quite wide interval. Would be interesting to know your LT2 for this, that one is almost always around 90-92% max... - You cannot calculate HR zones based on VO2max. HR frequencies for LT1 are mostly genetical, then slightly affected by age and training (LT1 can be changed a bit more than LT2). - Joint pain and bone density is not the same thing. Joint is "soft tissue" ligaments, cartilages etc. Bone is hard tissue. - Strength training really does improve your ability to run injury free. Good tips on the alternative activities. Congratulation on the results. You did the right thing, let lab tell you the zones and then you trained accordingly. You could have better results if you followed the 80/20 and had 20% some trainings around LT2 (high aerobic and anaerobic - sprints and tempo runs and intervals), as are doing the fit athletes you mentioned at the beginning of the video. One tip on the VO2max for longevity. It is definitely good and nice to be fit, but it compound metric. Low body fat, low BMI, high volume of regular training. Fot that you need to eat healthy, be mindful of recovery and not drink, sleep a lot have no illness etc. If you have all the necessary building blocks, you will live longer. And most probably will have high VO2max as a side effect. It is like most of the longevity indicators, grip strength for example. If you only train your grip, you will not live longer. If you are physically active, you live longer and have stronger grip.

What about pace?? Dafuq...

Zone 2 is the most boring thing ever, so hard to stick to it even tho im a longevity enthusiast :(

Trendy?! This was developed in the early 1980s!!! C’mon!

If all of this focus on exercise was increasing lifespan, there would be data showing emphatically that elite athletes live much longer that the general population. There is no data confirming this. In fact, the studies show that very few if any of the oldest people did any systematic exercise training at any time in their lives.

Attia is a hack.

You raised your VO2 max into the 60’s by doing two 30/45 minute zone sessions a week? I don’t believe you. You’re talking absolute bull 💩.