The Long Haul: Zone 2 Exercise

Welcome to The Long Haul! Every week, I’ll explore a longevity topic and then give a roundup of the big news in Longevity.

We’re going to break down a trend in the health space this week: Zone 2 exercise. What it is, why it works, and how you can get into it.

TL;DR: Zone 2 is legendary.

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Today's Topic: Zone 2 Exercise

​Last week we talked about how 5-10 hours of moderate physical activity per week can add years to your life. That means:

• Brisk walking
• Light effort cycling
• Vacuuming & mopping

The buzzword for this “moderate activity” is Zone 2.

Health gurus Huberman and Peter Attia both love it. But why is it so great?

Regular/vigorous exercise works because it builds our endurance and makes us faster/stronger.

Focusing on Zone 2 exercise creates metabolic flexibility, meaning we burn fat AND glucose. [1]

When those keto people are putting butter in their coffee? Zone 2 uses that fat. (I tried it — it’s not as gross as it sounds.)

Metabolic flexibility, which involves burning both fat and glucose, comes from efficient mitochondria. In Zone 2, your body's mitochondria generate energy from the oxygen you breathe and stored fats, refueling as you exercise. [2]

Beyond Zone 2, muscles with fewer mitochondria rely more on carbs and glucose for fuel.

Some other Zone 2 benefits:

• Diabetes management & prevention: Zone 2 allows glucose to move through our bodies without insulin [3]
• Reduces recovery time: We can get back on the horse faster [4]
• Improved endurance [5]
• Reduced risk of heart disease [6]

The Zones

The five zones of exercise are based on heart rate. The zones tell us how hard our hearts are working to keep up with what we’re doing.

The higher the zone, the harder and faster your heart is pumping to keep up.

Zones are dependent on your maximum heart rate. This is different for everyone but easy to calculate: subtract your age from 220. From there, find 60-70% of that number for your Zone 2 heart rate. [7]

My max heart rate is 195. My estimated Zone 2 heart rate is 117-137 bpm. Now you can figure out how old I am.

Tracking your zones

Option 1: Trackers

A lot of people have tracking devices already. Apple Watches have a 91% accuracy rate. Fitbits are 84% accurate. [8]

When you log a workout in an Apple Watch, it provides Zone 2 data for you:

Option 2: Talk Test

This is an easy no-tech way to measure your zone. (This is what I do.)

• Zone 1: Easy to sustain a full conversation
• Zone 2: You can hold a light conversation, with some pauses to breathe
• Zone 3: Talking takes effort
• Zone 4: You can but don’t want to talk
• Zone 5: Talking is out of the question [7]

Option 3: Pulse Checks

Or the good old-fashioned way of checking your pulse:

Zone 2 Activities

Zone 2 looks different for each person in each activity. A Tour de France cyclist will have a different Zone 2 in cycling than in swimming.

It takes some effort to find where your Zone 2 is, and to find something entertaining enough to do for 5-10 hours a week. A lot of Zone 2 is found in your daily movement - but you should still integrate some into your workouts.

The general consensus is 80% of your exercise should be Zone 2 and 20% should be harder workouts.

I manage this using Nike Run Club. It’s a free app with guided slow, long & recovery runs (80%) and speed runs (20%). Their plans do a great job of keeping that balance even if you aren’t training for something specific.

(I trained for a Spartan half marathon using the app!)

The Haul: What you can’t miss in longevity this week

Research

• ​Intermittent fasting won’t kill you: If you saw the headline below on Twitter this week, don’t believe it. It’s junk science.

• ​Wim Hof Method may be onto something: A systematic review of the Wim Hof Method (basically, cold plunge = life) found that multiple studies showed inflammation reduction… but also that the studies were poorly structured. Study methods matter!

Podcasts

• ZOE Science & Nutrition tells us about the increase in type 2 diabetes​
  • 11:30: America flags people as prediabetic much earlier than Europe
  • 16:40: Most diabetes is caused by increased weight, but more people are getting it because we’re living longer — so our muscle mass and pancreas function are decreasing
  • 22:18: Building muscle and physical activity is a great way to reduce diabetes risk as you naturally use more sugars, reducing glucose in your bloodstream.
  • 24:01: Women are less likely to get diabetes due to their ability to store more subcutaneous fat
  • 30:37: Many people don’t initially realize they’ve developed diabetes, as symptom onset is slow. Watch for:
    • Peeing more often
    • Feeling more fatigued
    • Increased infections
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Thanks for reading.

– Robyn

6 weeks in already. Reply and let us know how you think we're doing!

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Outlive-Longevity-Peter-Attia-MD/dp/0593236599

[2] https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/nutritionscience/chapter/10b-fuel-sources-exercise/

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8321821/​

[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9246211/​

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6355121/​

[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6481017/

[7] https://health.clevelandclinic.org/exercise-heart-rate-zones-explained

[8] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/article-abstract/2566167

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​DISCLAIMER: None of this is medical advice. This content is strictly educational.