How to Train with Heart Rate Zones - The Science Explained

Summary

Highlights

• Discovering max heart rate is key to structuring your workouts 🚀
• Zone 1 (50-60% max HR) is for easy, recovery activities 🌿
• Zone 2 (60-70% max HR) enhances aerobic metabolism and endurance 🌟
• Optimize Zone 3 (70-80% max HR) for efficient threshold training 🚴
• Zone 4 (80-90% max HR) refines anaerobic speed endurance 😅
• Zone 5 (90-100% max HR) is all about short, intense bursts 🏋️‍♀️

Key Takeaways

• Find your max heart rate accurately for precise zone calculations 🏃‍♂️
• Zone 1 is perfect for recovery but not for intense training 🚶‍♀️
• Use Zone 2 for building aerobic base and fat burning 💪
• Zone 3 helps push lactate threshold, ideal before races 🎯
• Use Zone 4 for speed endurance with shorter intervals ⚡
• Zone 5 is for high-intensity workouts with short, hard efforts 🔥

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Heart Rate Zones This chapter provides an introduction to heart rate zones. It begins by discussing how to find one's maximum heart rate, which is crucial for determining different heart rate zones. The video explains the benefits of training in each zone: lower intensity Zone 1 and 2, moderate intensity Zone 3, and higher intensity Zones 4 and 5. By the end, viewers should understand the advantages of each zone and how to track their progress towards running goals by recognizing which heart rate zone they are training in.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Calculating Maximum Heart Rate In this chapter, the basic concept of calculating one's maximum heart rate is introduced, beginning with the common estimation formula: 220 minus your age. It provides an example calculation for a 28-year-old, yielding an estimated maximum heart rate of 192 beats per minute. However, it is noted that this estimate may not be accurate for everyone. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct a max heart rate test using specific protocols, such as the Bruce protocol, to obtain a more accurate measurement.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Testing Maximum Heart Rate The chapter explains a protocol for testing one's maximum heart rate. The method involves exercising in 3-minute stages, each becoming progressively more difficult until reaching maximum heart rate and the person can no longer continue. This staged approach is crucial, as starting with intense activity can lead to fatigue before actually reaching maximum heart rate. The chapter suggests that once the maximum heart rate number is determined, it could be various values like 190, 175, or 185, depending on individual capacity.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Zone 1 Training The chapter 'Zone 1 Training' explains how to calculate and understand the first heart rate zone, Zone 1. This zone is defined as 50 to 60% of your maximum heart rate, which is calculated by multiplying your maximum heart rate by 0.5 and 0.6 to find the lower and upper limits, respectively. Zone 1 training is described as very light or easy activity, primarily used for recovery. It indicates that achieving significant aerobic benefits from training in this zone requires extensive training.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Zone 2 Training This chapter discusses Zone 2 training, which is intended for those aiming to move beyond leisurely activities such as walking or hiking. Zone 2 training is performed at 60% to 70% of one's maximum heart rate, which translates to approximately 115 to 134 beats per minute for the speaker. This type of training is more suitable for preparing for events like a half marathon or a 5k.
• 03:00 - 04:30: Zone 3 Training The chapter on 'Zone 3 Training' focuses on aerobic training, particularly the benefits of running in Zone 2. Key points include how Zone 2 training helps in building an aerobic base, enhances fat burning, and allows for greater volume without excessive fatigue. It is characterized as low intensity steady state (LISS) training, beneficial for endurance athletes.
• 04:30 - 06:00: Zone 4 Training The chapter 'Zone 4 Training' discusses the necessity of spending significant time in Zone 2 during endurance race training. It notes that maintaining a low heart rate in Zone 2 may require alternating between running and walking. The chapter also touches on Zone 3 training, characterized by moderate intensity, with heart rates ranging from 70% to 80% of the maximum. It highlights that the lactate threshold for most runners falls in the middle of Zone 3, typically between 75% to 80% of the maximum heart rate, though this may differ for exceptionally well-trained athletes.
• 06:00 - 07:30: Zone 5 Training The chapter titled 'Zone 5 Training' discusses training at 85 or 90% of the maximum heart rate, often referred to as the threshold zone. This zone is sometimes accessed when runners go out for a moderate hard run for 30 or 40 minutes, typically ending up in zone three. For individuals running only a few times a week, it is suggested that keeping all runs in the threshold zone might be beneficial. However, the chapter notes that when runners increase their training volume, other considerations might come into play.
• 07:30 - 08:30: Choosing the Right Zone for Your Goal This chapter discusses the importance of selecting the appropriate training zone to meet specific fitness goals. It highlights the example of athletes, such as half-marathon runners, who may increase their training frequency and mileage, often operating in the threshold zone. However, staying too long in this 'gray area' can lead to fatigue and burnout, as this zone does not fully offer the benefits of aerobic or anaerobic training. The chapter suggests that athletes occasionally slow down their pace to engage in zone two training for longer runs to gain better adaptations and avoid burnout.
• 08:30 - 10:00: Conclusion The conclusion highlights the importance of Zone 3 threshold work, particularly before a race. Such training near the lactate threshold can provide race-specific adaptations by helping to increase the lactate threshold. The recommendation is to run for 15 to 30 minutes at threshold pace, allowing one to two minutes rest between multiple efforts.

How to Train with Heart Rate Zones - The Science Explained Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 in this video we're going to talk about how to find your max heart rate and then how to calculate your heart rate zones and then how much time you should spend in each different zone so we'll talk about the benefits of lower intensity Zone one and two training we'll talk about zone three training as well as higher intensity zone four and five Training by the end of the video you should have a good idea of the benefits of each training Zone and how to know which training Zone you're in so that way you know if you're making progress towards your running goals let's go and dive into it okay so to start off we need to find your maximum heart rate all of the heart rate training zones are
• 00:30 - 01:00 determined by your maximum heart rate so that's the first step now you can do an estimate with a very basic equation which is 220 minus your age so I'm 28 for example so 220 minus 28 makes my estimated max heart rate around 192 beats per minute this for me is actually pretty close to accurate but for some people this can be pretty far off so what I would really recommend doing is a max heart rate test you can do this with a specific protocol like the Bruce protocol this protocol involves running
• 01:00 - 01:30 for 3 minutes at each stage and getting progressively harder until you reach your maximum heart rate and you can't continue the test any longer it's important that we're doing this in 3 minute stages if you go out and you just start sprinting then chances are you're going to fatigue and tire out before you even hit your maximum heart rate by doing the 3 minute stages in the protocol you actually build up so that way you get to your maximum heart rate okay so now let's assume you have that number maybe that's 190 maybe it's 175 maybe it's 185 but that's your maximum
• 01:30 - 02:00 heart rate now that you have that you can calculate each heart rate zone we'll go ahead and get started with Zone number one which is from 50 to 60% of your maximum heart rate so to calculate this you would take your maximum heart rate times5 and times 6 that's the lower and the upper end of Zone one training now Zone one training is considered very light or very easy activity this is more of a recovery zone and it would take a lot of training to really get a good aerobic adaptation from training in this
• 02:00 - 02:30 Zone if you're just going out for a walk or a hike or a leisurely activity then this might be where you end up in training it's great for health but we probably want to go a little bit faster if our goal is to train for a half marathon or a 5k or something like that okay now let's move on to zone two and Zone 2 training is from 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate for me this works out to around 115 to 134 beats per minute I would consider Zone 2 true
• 02:30 - 03:00 aerobic training this means that the adaptations that you're getting from running in zone 2 are truly to your Aerobic System often times we consider our runs in zone 2 to be low intensity steady state or Liss training there are a lot of benefits to running in zone 2 this is really good for building your aerobic base this helps upregulate fat burning and helps you use fat as a fuel source when you run and it's also very recoverable meaning you can do a lot of it without getting fatigued and burnt out if you're in end endurance athlete
• 03:00 - 03:30 training for an endurance race then it's good idea to spend a lot of your time in zone 2 and just know that you might need to alternate between running and walking to keep your heart rate low enough to stay in zone two all right next we have zone three training and this is more moderate intensity so for Zone 3 we're between 70% and 80% of our maximum heart rate for the average Runner lactate threshold Falls somewhere in the middle of this Zone around 75 to 80% of your maximum heart rate for really well- Tred athletes their lactate threshold may be
• 03:30 - 04:00 85 or 90% of Max heart rate but because most people have a threshold within this training Zone this is sometimes called the threshold Zone often times if you just go out the door and you run kind of hard for 30 or 40 minutes to where it feels like a good run a lot of times you'll end up in zone three if you're only training for maybe a few runs per week maybe 30 minutes two or three times a week then it's probably not a bad idea to do all of your runs in the threshold Zone but a lot of Runners whenever they try to scale that up up and train for a
• 04:00 - 04:30 half marathon for example and they go from training three times a week to four to five with more and more mileage and they do it all in the threshold Zone they can get kind of fatigued and burnt out from doing a lot of training right at threshold also because it's kind of this gray area where it's not really aerobic and it's not really anerobic they're kind of missing out on some of the adaptations from the other zones so often times I'll recommend my Runners slow down a little bit on some of their runs and go below threshold into zone two for some of their longer distance
• 04:30 - 05:00 work and then keep some of their faster speed work at even higher zones four and five that said it can be really beneficial to do Zone 3 threshold work specifically as you're leading up to a race because this is going to give us race specific adaptations we're going to be training right near our lactate threshold and pushing that lactate threshold up and that's really important whenever it comes to a race the way I typically recommend doing this is by running 15 to 30 minutes at threshold with about a minute or two in between if you're doing doing multiple efforts so
• 05:00 - 05:30 that could be 20 minutes at threshold in Zone 3 2 minutes walking 20 minutes in threshold in Zone 3 2 minutes walking four multiple sets depending on your training volume by contrast a lot of your hourong or 90 minute long runs we want to keep those more towards zone two okay now let's get into Zone 4 and this is where we're starting to get very Anor robic meaning this is above our lactate threshold for most people this is between 80 to 90% of heart rate Max this zone is where we work on our speed endurance or the Capac capacity of our
• 05:30 - 06:00 anerobic systems the way we might do this is with shorter intervals anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes or so these workouts usually feel pretty tough and I usually only program them once or maybe twice a week as an example incorporating some Zone 4 training into our hybrid athlete training program involved 3 minute intervals in zone 4 with 3 minute walk breaks in between again depending on your training volume you might just do two or three sets of these or you might be doing five or six sets and then and then lastly let's move on to zone
• 06:00 - 06:30 five and this is the hardest training Zone from 90 to 100% of heart rate Max this is where we do true high-intensity interval training typically this Zone has the lowest volume of any zone for endurance athletes I recommend maybe one workout per week where we're pushing into truly hard 10 to 20 second efforts importantly you're not going to be able to necessarily look at your watch and during that 10 or 20 second effort see your heart rate go up that much it often takes a seconds or even minutes after
• 06:30 - 07:00 your workout or after you hit that high intensity for your heart rate to really catch up to the activity that you're doing so often times these workouts are based on how you feel and your effort and you just want to go really hard for a short duration of time with adequate rest in between intervals as an example you might be going for 10 seconds on with 2 to 3 minutes of rest between efforts that's going to allow you to make those 10 seconds really high intensity and push all the way to your max so as you can see there are benefits to each different heart rate zone based on the goal of the run that you're doing
• 07:00 - 07:30 you might choose one zone versus the other for those really long runs maybe you're choosing to be in zone two for those race specific 20-minute efforts maybe you're choosing zone three for those intervals where you're just pushing for 3 or 4 minutes maybe you're choosing Zone 4 and then for your really high intensity work of 10 to 20 second fast bouts maybe you're pushing into zone five if you're interested in following a running program that also includes strength training you can check out our hybrid athlete program in the description below that's the exact program that I do to combine running
• 07:30 - 08:00 width strength and even plyometric training as well I'll also leave a link in the description below to all the running products I recommend if you want to check those out thanks so much for watching guys subscribe so miss to see any future videos and I'll catch you next one [Music] thanks