Today we’re gonna talk about zone 5 Cardio training which is a series of high-intensity intervals followed by an easy, Zone 2 type of pace for Recovery between intervals. You can use whatever cardio equipment that works for you or even run outside or on a treadmill. I like using a Stationary Bike to stay in my specific interval zone because the intense interval is 4 minutes which can be pretty difficult to do out on a street with cars, people, stop signs…squirrels…. Jay walkers…you get the point.
Zone 5 is the most unpleasant zone to do but definitely important to improve your Vo2 Max for health & longevity. VO2 max training should be part of your fitness protocol if you want to live a long and healthy life but, good thing is, you don’t have to do it that often. Your VO2 max is the volume of oxygen that your body can effectively transport and utilize to create energy while you’re pushing yourself to your physical limits. This number, more than any other, precisely reflects your overall physical fitness. The higher your VO2 max, the more physical activities you’ll be able to perform. So, Zone 5 training should account for about 20% of your weekly cardio. So for me I’m doing Zone 2 Cardio training three days a week and Zone 5 interval training once a week and maybe, maybe twice a week every other week.
Now the Zone 5 Training that I do is called 4×4’s. All that is is after about a 5 minute warm-up on the bike I will do a four minute interval at the highest output I can maintain for four minutes and then follow that up with a four minute recovery at zone 2. I repeat that for about six intervals, so that comes out to be about 50-55 minutes total with a warm up and a cool down. I find it helpful to take some notes, I do it on my phone, especially if you’re new to Zone 5 training because it will take a while to figure out the Resistance and RPM’s or pace on whatever Cardio equipment you are using to maintain a 4 minute interval, but once you do it makes it less of a guessing game and you can focus on the interval & getting through the pain at a particular resistance and output. Again, I do zone 5 training to increase my VO2 max, which has a strong correlation with longevity, and also to stimulate my glycolytic system.
As we age, we lose glycolytic capacity so it’s important to stimulate the glycolytic system and that’s what Zone 5 training does.
The glycolytic pathway, is the primary energy system that uses the glucose stored in the muscle, broken down primarily from carbohydrates, to form ATP (energy).
Interestingly, Increasing mitochondrial function through Zone 2 cardio training does take months or years
But, Increasing the glycolytic system through Zone 5 training takes much less time, weeks or months.
If you stimulate the glycolytic system 2-3 days a week you’ll see progress, and this doesn’t have to be a full dedicated Zone 5 session but Adding a single 4-5 minute high intensity interval at the end of your Zone 2 training, you’ll target both energy systems: the oxidative mitochondrial system ( Zone 2) and the glycolytic energy system ( Zone 5).
So, you’ll do 1 Day a week of Zone 5 High Intensity Interval training and another 1 or 2 days a week of adding a single 4-5 Minute intense Interval at the end of your weekly Zone 2 Cardio.
Make sure you do the Zone 5 interval at the end of your Zone 2, not the middle or beginning because this will trigger a high blood lactate, and We know lactate inhibits the breakdown of fats and other lipids to release fatty acids. Also, lactate at the autocrine level decreases the activity of CPT1 and CPT2 (needed for fatty acid transport into the mitochondria for oxidation.). So lactate interferes with the transport of fatty acids as well.
Okay, so That’s Zone 5 training in a nut shell and If you need a refresher on Zone 2 Low- Heart Rate Training check out the video on my Channel and at the end of this video.
#zone5cardio #longevity #mitochondria #zone5training #vo2max #highintensityinterval
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