Zone 2 vs Vo2 Max Training Results: I WASTED 12 MONTHS!!

Comments · 328

• BE

  @becomingresilientwithJustin · 2 years ago (edited) · pinned

  Want to go deeper in ideas that help you become more resilient?<br>Subscribe to the substack!<br><a href="https://becomingresilient.substack.com/">https://becomingresilient.substack.com/</a>

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• SQ

  @squngy0 · 2 years ago (edited)

  Cardio is not just one thing! &nbsp;<br><br>There are at least 3 categories: &nbsp;Vo2Max, Muscular endurance, Aerobic endurance. &nbsp;<br>Any one of these three can be a bottle neck in a specific situation and in that is the case, training the others will not help that much. &nbsp;<br><br>However, there is a limit to how far you can train one of these without training the others. &nbsp;<br>If you only train Vo2max for example, you will hit a wall that you will not be able to pass until you raise the other two to a higher level. &nbsp;<br>To reach the maximum at any one of them, you must train all 3. &nbsp;<br><br>Traditionally, most training plans train aerobic endurance first, because it takes the longest to train and is the easiest to maintain, so it is seen as the &quot;base&quot; for the others to stand on (+ it is low intensity, which is easier for most people). &nbsp;<br>After that, most of the time the focus will be on muscular endurance (or threshold) while Vo2 will be sprinkled in where possible, due to taking a lot of time to property recover from a hard Vo2 block (proper Vo2 sessions should be extremely hard). &nbsp;<br><br>In terms of performance, Vo2 max is relevant for thing you do for up to about 2-10ish minutes. &nbsp;<br>Aerobic endurance is what you can sustain for all day (if your joints don&apos;t give out first) &nbsp;<br>Muscular endurance is relevant for the stuff in between those two, so for most endurance sports it is the thing that will be the most relevant during a race.

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• PA

  @patricklachance6880 · 2 years ago

  Moral of the story is don&apos;t just do slow runs and don&apos;t just do intervals. DO BOTH!

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• NA

  @nate11a · 2 years ago

  Peter Attia doesn&apos;t recommend ONLY Zone 2 training for longevity and nobody expects a to run a good 5k time on only Zone 2. Anybody in the endurance world will know that periodization between focusing on foundational (eg zone 2) and race specific training (speed or VO2 max) is how you train for fast times. (And yeah zone 2 on a treadmill or anything stationary is boring. Go outside.)

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• TR

  @TripsonBudget · 1 year ago

  I did zone 2 training for 6 months. I improve my 10k pb by 15 minutes: from 70 minutes to 55 minutes. Now I do also intervals tempo runs. I don&apos;t care about what VO2 my watch shows. Now I am about 50-51 minutes. Now it starts the real deal, to go to 40 min for 10k.

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• XU

  @xuchenglin6256 · 2 years ago

  LOL you can&apos;t really talk about this without mentioning the volume... What you did wrong is your volume is way toooooo low. You just won&apos;t see any benefit for a total of just 1.5 hr easy cardio PER WEEK -- that&apos;s shorter than many guys&apos; single session PER DAY -- to see any improvement to fitness, unless you were in the recovery from a surgery of something. Just ask anyone if you can get so much fitter with just 1.5 hr easy cardio per week... Ask all those resources you mentioned. Use your common sense, now you see the problem.<br><br>The idea of &quot;zone 2&quot; is to max your training volume (in a matter of &quot;time&quot;) without burning out. Basically, how to train everyday but still be able to recover the next day so you can train everyday. Zone 2 is a compromise, if you could go harder but still be able to recover the next day to continue training, why not go harder? It&apos;s only that soon you&apos;ll find that you can&apos;t hit the same intensity in the consecutive days, however the workout is still doable but your pace will automatically falls into that zone 2 range. That&apos;s how it works -- zone 2 as a result, but not a cause!<br><br>If you really want to boost your fitness, all you need to do is just try to run every day. Consistency beats everything. My fitness jumped when I just started run every day... 30-45 minutes per day, 7 days a week (life gets in, you&apos;ll have your natural &quot;rest days&quot;), all year around. That&apos;s about 7-10km/day, 30-50km/week, just about the minimum in the running community. <br><br>Garmin puts my Vo2max est. at 60, I ran a HM last Oct for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNQFu4AGyoU&amp;t=90">1:30</a>. My zone 2 pace is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNQFu4AGyoU&amp;t=280">4:40</a>-<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNQFu4AGyoU&amp;t=290">4:50</a>/km, in a cold day when it&apos;s good sometimes I can cruise at zone 2 HR at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNQFu4AGyoU&amp;t=270">4:30</a>/km for easy pace. Sometimes a hard tempo/LT session will see 5k in 20 minutes. That&apos;s all achieved with only one training method: just run everyday, for the amount time I mentioned above... I want to train more but I just find this is the length that I feel comfortable in my schedule. You&apos;ll do every intensity this day or that day, but for most days you just run zone 2, because that&apos;s the only possible pace you can run if you train everyday. All those zone 2 stuff is the result of trying to max training volume. When you try it you&apos;ll know it. <br><br>Just can&apos;t see you seems so serious about your fitness but just can&apos;t improve the correct way.<br>😉

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• RA

  @Ravedave5 · 2 years ago

  Consistent training schedule and 1x 4x4 a week has shown me improvements in 3 weeks.

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• CY

  @cyntheticgaming · 1 year ago

  I&apos;ve been getting back into running after a few years off and have been watching so many videos on the subject. I&apos;m so happy you posted yours as I think its more realistic in terms of progress and time investment compared to some of these youtubers who train for 3 months and do full marathons in ridiculously fast times. Personally I used to just try and run every day until my times would improve with not much strategy behind it, but only recently have I started learning about Zone 2 training, Vo2 Max training etc. It is like you said quite overwhelming for people getting started, but I think its a process by which you do whatever you can and get more competent and smart over time.

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• HN

  @hnmotorider242 · 2 years ago

  I started HR training running in January 2024. Based on my Garmin Forerunner watch, my inital VO2 Max was 46, and I reached 50 in July. For my surprise, I reached a VO2 Max of 51 in early September. It works if you combine zone 2 with zone 4 workouts. Keep grinding!

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• M.

  @m.a.c1379 · 2 years ago

  I think your main point is, do what you find enjoyable, and I fully agree. I do plenty of Z2 work because it is easier on my ageing body, and because I can watch stuff I have to watch while doing Z2 work, which helps me gain time. If you just want to feel fine and get better in a general purpose way, HIIT is fine. If you are obsessed with endurance sports and want to get the maximum, &nbsp;and can spare the time, traditional periodization (long base in winter, progressively harder efforts toward the late spring season) works for most people. Quicker to gain, quicker to lose too, and HIIT is quickest. Also, you may reach higher heights if you have an ample aerobic base before the VO2Max block. This said, there are so many approaches and experiences, the main thing is doing what works for you.

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• PI

  @pikachupiano · 2 years ago

  i totally agree that choosing sth u like is important, and then standard will elevate. I play badminton at quite a high intensity, heart rate usually goes up to 185… which is extremely exhausting. But I consistently play 8 hrs a week, and still want to improve by incorporating other workouts, like gym/vo2max/zone 2. I don’t need a training plan, my passion does it for me.

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• CO

  @Coobyliscous · 1 year ago

  I too have been on this journey of zone 2 vs HIIT. I&apos;ve found a magic formula for me: 1) 2 HIIT zone 2 sessions - 10 mins of 30s sprinting (20kmph) 30s walking (6 kmph) on a treadmill so takes time to change speed, followed by 50 mins of zone 2 2) Norwegian 4x4 - I actually do 5 sets of 4 min max runs 3) A faster mix session 10 mins HIIT as before then either longer rests or lower speed like 14kmph and 6kmph for 10 mins, then a constant 10mins at something like 10kmph. This has skyrocketing my VO2max, my 5k and 10k times and overall feeling of fitness and wellbeing. Don&apos;t know if this will help anyone else but has worked for me!

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