A Forgotten Element of Good Quality Conditioning

In recent times there has been a huge emphasis in the fitness and

conditioning worlds for Zone 2 cardio

And while this is great, it's not the whole picture.

I believe, that like most things, the reason Zone 2 swung in so hard was

as a rebound to all the hate "long slow boring cardio" was getting back

in the late naughties and the realisation that for body composition and

a lot of sports performance, high intensity intervals yielded greater

results in less time.

And as always, the baby got thrown out with the bath water.

HIIT took over, people got results, until they didn't. There seemed to

be a point of diminishing returns with HIIT.

Strength and muscle does build initially, but then levels off.

Conditioning improves, but then levels off, or worse the people start

burning out.

So Zone 2 started to come back.

And I was delighted. You see, I kept the baby when I threw out my bathwater!

Conditioning is complex on paper, but simple in application.

And at it's base is the aerobic base.

Zone 2 is a great place to build this aerobic base, it's essentially a

mildly elevated heart rate, still slow enough to allow for the heart

muscle to expand and stretch, but at a pace above rest.

And that is all there is to it.

How we actually achieve zone 2 is up to us.

It can be mobility circuits, a series of exercises all done for 45

seconds work with 15 seconds to change stations. Do this for time, 20+

minutes, don't let the HR spike to much and you are building your

aerobic base while developing range of motion, core strength, improving

old injuries and more.

It could be handful of exercises each done for 5-10 minute sets as a

circuit. So the various ergs, jogging, shadow boxing, skipping, light

kettlebells and so on. Again the precise exercises matter a lot less

than the intensity of the exercises. Too intense and you lose the

desired effect.

But we also need the ability to go harder.

HIIT is still needed.

Maybe a couple of session per week of it. Sets of 1-4 minutes pretty

much flat out, drive the heart rate right up, all the way up!

Now here's the important bit, that heart rate MUST come back down again.

And this is the missing piece that no one seems to be talking about. At

least very few seem to mention it.

In the 90's I was told about it by my Karate instructor the late Jack Parker

Several highly respected S&C coaches mention it, all of whom are older

dudes.

And that is the speed at which the heart rate comes back down.

A healthy heart, a healthy aerobic system and a flexible nervous system

will bring that heart rate down almost as quickly as it elevated.

The currently very popular Norwegian 4x4 protocol for VO2 max

development requires a 4 minute work set pushing the HR up to around 85%

max, then a 3 minute active rest period, repeated for 4 work sets.

I enjoy doing this with the Kettlebell Snatch, but most folks will use

running, cycling, the various ergs. Again the exact exercise chosen

isn't that important.

But what should happen is at the end of that 4 minute work set, the

heart rate drops like a stone, within the first of those 3 minutes it

should be down to around 100BPM where it may stay for the rest of the break.

This ability to recover is a key component of performance training.

Yes it is reliant on having a good aerobic base, but it is practised by

doing HIIT type work and getting the HR high so you can work on getting

it back down again.Just as you would want it to come down and for you to

be able to recover between rounds in a fight, after a hard climb if out

running or biking, after an emergency if you're a first responder, so

you can go again and again and again.

It starts with an aerobic base, but thats not the whole story

Just keep it simple, but not easy

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Regards

Dave Hedges

www.DaveHedges.net