The Formidable is Family Show: January 13th. Burn fat, improve your aerobic capacity all on a recovery day? Get in zone 2 baby!

What is Zone 2 Training, and Why Should You Incorporate It Into Your Fitness Routine?

Here is a great video from one of the leading minds in Fitness Chris Cooper explaining Zone 2.

When it comes to improving endurance, burning fat, and enhancing overall cardiovascular health, Zone 2 training is a game-changer. But what exactly is Zone 2 training, and how can you make it part of your workout routine? Let’s break it down.

Understanding Zone 2 Training

Zone 2 training refers to a specific heart rate range where your body optimally burns fat for fuel while improving your aerobic capacity. This zone typically falls between 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. It’s a pace where you can sustain conversation without feeling overly breathless, often referred to as the “fat-burning zone.”

The Benefits of Zone 2 Training

  1. Fat Utilization: Zone 2 training helps your body become more efficient at using fat as a primary energy source, which can lead to improved body composition over time. You’ll burn fat!
  2. Aerobic Base Building: It strengthens your cardiovascular system, improving your heart’s ability to pump blood and your muscles’ ability to use oxygen, setting a strong foundation for higher-intensity workouts.
  3. Recovery: Because it’s low-intensity, Zone 2 workouts are excellent for active recovery days, helping you stay active without over training.
  4. Sustainability: It’s easier to maintain consistency with Zone 2 training since it’s not overly taxing on your body, reducing the risk of burnout.

How to Add Zone 2 Training to Your Week

For Personal Training Clients: If you’re a personal training client (or semiprivate training client) at CrossFit Formidable, your coach will prescribe “blocks” of Zone 2 throughout your week. A “block” is 30 minutes of steady-state training. Just follow their instructions – they have a plan for you, and they’ll integrate Zone 2 into that plan.

For Group Clients: If you’re a group client at CrossFit Formidable, you’ll need to add Zone 2 exercise between your workouts. You can also ask the coach how to ‘scale’ the workout to get a Zone 2 benefit. Wear a heart rate strap to class and a watch to display your heart rate, and the coach will help you stay in Zone 2. If you come to group classes three times per week, try to dedicate at least one workout to Zone 2 and go hard on the others. Plan your ‘easier’ days for the end of the week.

On Your Own: If you are not a client at CrossFit Formidable yet, click here to chat about it. On your own, you can buy a heart rate monitor and a watch to display your heart rate. Test your maximum heart rate on your own (or subtract your age from 220). Try to maintain a Zone 2 heart rate for at least two “blocks” per week (uninterrupted exercise of 30 minutes in that zone).

Why Zone 2 is a Game-Changer

Zone 2 training makes you more metabolically flexible. You can use fats for fuel, which helps in reducing body fat. If you’re always going full out, you can actually train your body to burn less fat during exercise. Use Zone 2 if fat loss is your goal!

Incorporating Zone 2 training into your routine can lead to significant improvements in your fitness journey, making it a worthwhile addition to any well-rounded workout program.

Personal training, nutrition, group CrossFit classes and teen classes; we’ve got it all. And we’re on a mission to be the best gym in Canby.

You can subscribe on:
Apple Podcasts
Spotify

Or just pasted the RSS feed into your favorite podcast player:
https://feeds.captivate.fm/formidable-is-family/

Schedule your free intro

Talk with a coach about your goals, make a plan to achieve them.

Fill out the form below to get started

Take the first step towards getting the results that you want

By providing your phone number, you agree to receive text messages from CrossFit Formidable