Intensity is Important, Thankfully You Don’t Need Much!
Written by Jon Bula: Masters Athlete, Cat 2 Cyclist, MSc in Exercise Physiology
My previous post talked about Zone 2 training. While this training intensity should make up the bulk of your cardiovascular fitness training, the other important training zone for a healthy life is Zone 5.
Zone 5 is your high intensity zone (think HIIT). You don’t need to train very much at this intensity, but it is still important to hit. Imagine a scenario where you have to shovel a large quantity of snow, or carry heavy luggage up a couple flights of stairs. To lead a long and healthy life maintaining the ability to do work at this intensity greatly increases the quality of those extra years you are working to gain.
Zone 5 training is best done as interval work. Typically 1:1 work to rest. So you would run, hike, ride, swim hard for a minute then recover for a minute. Zone 5 intervals are typically done at around 4 minutes of work with 4 minutes of recovery, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 to 6 sets (16 to 24 minutes of work and the same time for recovery). The intensity should be hard, but not so hard that you can’t last the entire 4 minutes. Your last couple of sets should be close to the effort you can do during the first.
Zone 5 exercise needs only be done 1-2 times a week. The main purpose is to improve the glycolytic capacity of your muscles. This has been shown to reduce with age and inactivity. Having healthy mitochondria that support efficient glycolytic capacity is highly correlated to a long healthy life. Hard work pays off!
If you are new to intervals and Zone 5 training, don’t worry about starting at 4 minute efforts right away. Keep the work to rest 1:1 and start with 60 second or even 30 second intervals. Build up to 4 minute efforts over the course of a few weeks.
Below are a couple podcasts by Peter Attia. He is and MD and pioneer in health and longevity. I really enjoy his Podcast thedrive. If you are interested in being healthier longer and later into life, this Podcast is for you!
How often should you be doing Zone 5 training? | Iñigo San-Millán, Ph.D. & Peter Attia, M.D.