Zone 2 Cardio:
5 mins >3 hours, pick your modality and duration
Start with as little as 5 or 10 minutes.
Try to add around 10% each week.
If 5 minutes at Z2 is too much, start with holding Zone 1 for 5 or 10 minutes.
Feel free to start out at zone 2, then drop down into zone 1 or even lower if you need to.
If you have one, use a heart rate monitor. We suggest you increase volume or intensity by no more than 10% per week.
Your aim is at least 3 hours of Z2 a week, so given we only have time to fit in one cardio session and one mixed modality workout (on top of the 2 x strength, recovery and sprint sessions), we suggest you build up to a couple of hours of Z2. Mix the modalities up if it staves off boredom.
Find zone 2 by using this formula:
(220- your age) x 0.6 for the bottom of zone 2
(220- your age) x 0.7 for the top of zone 2
The other way is to aim to hang out around 180bpm – your age.
If you need a recovery day, drop the intensity to zone 1, same rules on volume. Start with something manageable and add around 10% each time you repeat the workout.
If doing a long zone 2 effort is too monotonous do rounds of 10 minutes of cardio, 300m heavy Farmer’s walk. You are welcome to change the cardio modality each round.
Photo by Ikrom Chinaski on Unsplash