how much cardio is best for fat
loss and or body recomposition is hit training better or steady state cardio
have you heard about heart rate training or zone 2 cardio but you really don't know what
that means or have you always just done cardio thinking the more intense and the more calories
you burn the more sweaty you get the better kind of like a hit junkie don't really know if
that's effective in helping you on your fat loss journey don't worry in today's video i'm going to
talk all about zone 2 cardio what are the benefits of zone 2 cardio when it comes to fat loss body
recomposition and so many other health benefits how to calculate your zone 2 heart rate range
and how to track your zone 2 heart rate cardio sessions even if you don't have a smart watch and
make sure you watch all the way to the end because i'm going to give you a plan of approximately how
many minutes of zone 2 cardio you should be doing for fat loss and body weight composition benefits
but also major health benefits okay we're going to get right into it but of course if you're new here
make sure you subscribe to my channel and hit that bell so you get a notification when i release a
new video every single week just like this one my name's michelle roots kinesiologist personal
trainer nutrition coach and fitness and fat loss motivation specialist and mom of two baby boys
and this channel is all about helping you on your fitness and fat loss journey by taking all
of the information and breaking it down for you in the simplest way to understand so of course if
you find this video helpful make sure you give it a like if you have any questions leave them
in the comments below or feel free to shoot me a dm on instagram i'm always happy to help you
guys out let's start out by talking about what is zone 2 cardio what does that even mean so
when we are looking at heart rate training or when you are actually doing cardiovascular
exercises you're usually in one of five heart rate zones with zone one being warm up or cool
down very low intensity about 50 to 60 of your max heart rate don't worry in a minute i'm gonna
show you exactly how to calculate your max heart rate so that you can figure out these training
zones for you and then we have zone two which is working at a comfortable pace where you can kind
of hold a conversation but you might get a little bit out of breath and that's in a range of about
60 to 70 percent of your max heart rate and then we have zone 3 which is a little bit more intense
you're looking at 70 to 80 of your max heart rate so you might not be able to hold a conversation
maybe a few words here and there definitely out of breath then we have zone four which is eighty
to ninety percent of your max heart rate so it's pretty intense consider it like a sprint and then
we have zone five which is your max heart rate pretty much you're about ninety percent of your
max heart rate usually you can only last in zone five for about 60 to 90 seconds depending on your
fitness level but zone five is the maximal effort so looking at all of these different training
zones what's so great about zone two so without getting too scientific in this video because i
want to keep it simple to understand during zone 2 cardio so when you're about 60 to 70 of your max
heart rate your body's primary fuel source is fat you are going to be using a little bit of stored
carbs but the primary go-to fuel source is fat and then once you get a little bit more intense so
again you're pushing yourself a little bit harder eighty percent of your max heart rate you're
moving into zone three and that's when your body switches over from using fat as its fuel source
to carbohydrates so glucose that's stored in the muscles so zone three zone four zone five your
body is primarily using carbohydrates to fuel you through those zones hence why marathon runners
or athletes who are going to be doing a long period of intense exercise or cardiovascular work
you hear about carb loading so they're going to be eating a lot of carbs the night before a run in
order to increase the amount of stored glucose in their muscles but when you're working in what's
called zone 2 you were under what's called your lactate threshold and zone 2 cardio is often
overlooked because it seems too easy the whole world we live in right now is hit classes crazy
intense cardio spin classes and bodyweight hit and all of these things where as much as you can go as
hard as you possibly can destroy yourself which is good it has its place in your training program but
i think because walking or something simple like zone 2 cardio seems almost too easy and you're not
burning a lot of calories while you're doing it it definitely gets overlooked but it does have a
huge role in both body fat loss body recomposition and overall general health which i'm going
to talk about now so what are the benefits of zone 2 cardio so there are so many benefits
when doing zone 2 cardio and i'm going to give you a quick little simple science lesson so
mitochondria they are known as the powerhouse of the cell so all of your cells have these little
powerhouses called mitochondria and it's very important that they are working properly because
they are responsible for your overall health so if your mitochondria aren't working correctly
you are at higher risk for things like cancer heart disease type 2 diabetes insulin resistance
and metabolic syndrome and mitochondria in your cells are also responsible for something called
metabolic flexibility meaning your body's ability to use fat as its main fuel source during low
intensity exercise so doing regular zone 2 cardio can not only increase the amount of mitochondria
you have but also improve the effectiveness of the mitochondria you do have so when we were
looking at not only fat loss we were looking at overall general health and living a longer
life zone two cardio can definitely help you live a healthier longer life and boost your immune
system which we all really need right now it can also help lower your resting heart rate decrease
your blood pressure improve insulin resistance zone 2 cardio is also great for fat loss so when
you are doing zone 2 cardio you are recruiting your slow twitch type 1 muscle fibers and these
muscle fibers have lots of mitochondria in them and they use fat oxidation so fat as their primary
fuel source to make them work so if you're looking to decrease your overall body fat percentage
zone 2 cardio can definitely help you with that as well as improve your aerobic base and your
cardiovascular fitness a lot of athletes will use zone 2 cardio to help them improve in their
zone 4 zone 5 cardiovascular because of its lower intensity you can work for a longer period
of time meaning increase your calorie burn and you don't necessarily need as much recovery that's
why zone 2 cardio is great you are not running your body into the ground you don't need a huge
amount of time to recover from zone 2 cardio like you would from an intense crazy hit workout you
don't have to worry as much about over training so if you are working at an intense zone four zone
five you're doing sprints it's gonna break down your body a lot faster and you are at a risk of
over training especially if your goal is to build more lean muscle you don't want to be doing too
much hit cardio like every single day hit intense hit cardio after or before a strength session
because you're almost going to counterbalance and you could actually over train whereas when you are
doing your zone two cardio you're still gonna get the benefits of the fat loss the cardiovascular
the heart health all of the things the calorie burn but you're not necessarily running your body
into the ground and you can do it every single day if you want i can actually 100 vouch for this
prior to having kids i was one of those hit maniacs i always had that mentality of i just
want to sweat i want to burn as many calories i want my watch to say as many calories as i've
burned i want to run myself into the ground every single day six days a week seven days
a week sometimes because the calorie burn calorie burn and i want to work really hard but
i wasn't able to build as much lean muscle even though i was strength training i was almost
over training on the hit cardio side versus now i'm the leanest i've ever been after two kids
and now i do about one hit cardio session a week i strength train three to four times a week and
then the rest of my workouts are zone two cardio two to three times a week and that means probably
taking my kids for a walk or going for a walk myself or doing light cardio on the rowing machine
at my studio anything like that where i'm in this zone two range and i have definitely seen
the change in just my own body and my own body recomposition i talk all about my transformation
especially after having my second baby in this video i just posted last week if you want
to know more about how i transform my body after having my second kid i'll link that video in
the description below if you want to check it out next i also keep talking about body recomposition
in this video if you're not actually sure what body recomposition is and you don't know what
i'm talking about check out this video right here i break down body recomposition put briefly
decreasing body fat increasing lean muscle to appear more lean but i'll link that video in the
description below for you as well so now that we know zone 2 cardio is great we know everything
that'll do for us how do we calculate what our zone two is so everybody is different remember
your zone two is not the same as your best friend zone two your husband's zone two everybody is
different but i'm gonna show you exactly how to calculate it the first thing you want to do
is figure out your max heart rate so that means basically the amount of times your heart can beat
in one minute when it's under extreme stress now there are two ways to do this there is the basic
way that i actually learned in university about 15 16 years ago and it still works but since then
there's been more research that have come out so i'm going to give you both ways you can decide
which one you want to do the most basic way to find your max heart rate is 220 minus your age so
for example i am 39 years old so i would do 220 minus 39 that gives me a max heart rate of 181.
now the thing is is with this calculation if you are just looking to start zone 2 training and
you're not really an extreme athlete and you're looking to really dial it in this calculation is
perfectly fine and a great place to start but if you're looking for a more detailed formula i'll
put the formula in the description below as to how you can get them way more detailed max heart rate
calculation if that's what you're looking for but again if you're just a beginner and you're looking
to start getting into zone 2 heart rate training 220 minus your age will be a perfect starting
block so now all we're going to do we know that zone 2 training is 60 to 70 percent of your max
heart rate so with my calculation i'm going to go 181 times 0.6 and 181 times 0.7 so for me that
gives me a rate of 108 beats per minute to 126 beats per minute so when i go out to do my zone
cardio i want to keep my heart rate within that zone so if your heart rate's at 100 you're gonna
push a little bit harder to get your heart rate up if your heart rate's at 140 you need to pump
the brakes and slow it down and go at a more steady pace so again these numbers aren't set in
stone these are all just estimations but a great place to start but now that we know our numbers
how are we going to track that during our zone 2 workout so one if you have an apple watch a
fitbit a garmin any kind of smart watch that you use to track your workouts it is probably
most likely going to tell you your heart rate right on your screen right on your wrist as you're
working out that is probably the simplest way to do it but if you don't have a smart watch or you
don't wear one there are two other ways that you can make sure that you are in zone two during your
workout first way is simply just checking your pulse so if you've been exercising exercise for
about 10 minutes and then you're gonna stop what you're doing you're gonna take your two fingers
and put it right on this is called the radial side so remember thumbs up you're going to go on your
thumbs up side right in here and you're just going to press down once you feel your pulse you're
going to time yourself for 15 seconds and time how many pulses you feel in 15 seconds and you're
gonna times that by four that's going to give you your heart rate at that moment in time the
second way is what we call the talk test or rate of perceived exertion so with the rate
of perceived exertion basically what it is scale of one to ten ten being i literally am
working the hardest i've ever worked in my life i can't breathe i can't talk to you we're
in that zone five one being i'm sitting here right there not really doing anything i literally
got up got to went to the fridge and came back so that's your one that's your ten if you're in zone
two cardio you wanna be at about a five or six so again like i said before you were able to hold
a conversation but you might not be able to sing a song now beyonce probably can sing a song
while she's doing zone 2 cardio because she's the queen and we've all seen her on stage but
the average person probably hold a conversation but you might be a little bit out of breath but
not too much out of breath that you can't hold a conversation but those are just two other ways
i feel like the majority of people have um apple watches or fitbits or whatever now but if you
don't don't worry about it you don't have to run out and get one of course best case scenario you
do have one because it's going to give you direct feedback right on your wrist as to what your
heart rate is but if you don't you can use these two other factors and last but not least as
promised how much of this should you do a week if your goal is fat loss or body recomposition or
just longevity of life and decreasing your risk for type 2 diabetes heart disease cancers all
of these things and just boosting your immune system again that's why we all exercise in the
first place right fat loss is great but in turn it's going to overall help your health the general
prescription is about 150 minutes of week of zone 2 cardio to get the best benefits these are all
just estimations but a great goal and something to think about so for example if you strength
train monday wednesday friday maybe tuesday and thursday or your zone two cardio days you go for
an hour at that steady pace or you could break it down to 45 minutes 30 minutes whatever you
have but just keep in mind 150 minutes a week minimum and let's see how you feel again i'm
not hating on hit cardio i do it myself i teach metabolic hit cardio classes down at my fitness
studio so i hope in this video i've kind of helped you understand the benefits of zone 2 cardio if
you're on a fat loss journey and you're not really seeing results you're doing your strength training
workouts but you're not really hitting your 10k steps every day and you might not be doing this
zone 2 cardio it might be something you want to try out again i speak from experience as to how
zone 2 cardio and just focusing on slowing things down and not being so intense all the time and
just going for longer cardio sessions how much it has helped me in my own body recomposition and
sustainable fat loss so leave your questions in the comments below i always do my best to answer
every single question or again you can shoot me a dm on instagram but if you're interested
in personalized nutrition coaching or fitness and nutrition coaching i'll leave a link in the
description below as to where you can find out more about working with me one-on-one to really
reach your fitness and fat loss goals of course i hope this video was helpful today guys thank you
so much for all of you who subscribe to my channel and keep telling me how much these videos are
helping you it's motivating me to keep bringing the videos for you guys and keep educating thanks
again for watching and i'll see you next week you
