Zone 2 vs Vo2 Max Training Results: I WASTED 12 MONTHS!!

In this video I share my zone 2 vs vo2 max training results.
I will show you my routine changes as I tried the different approaches with the goal of longevity. You might be wondering how to run faster, don’t worry I’ll show you which training would be better: zone 2 vs vo2 max training

** 🧠 ** Neuro Resilience Course:

0:00 Intro
01:15 My Story
02:55 The Start 80/20 Zone 2 Focus
04:55 Just Do More Of The Thing
06:25 Vo2 Training
07:20 Vo2 Max Test
08:00 My BJJ Friend's Results
08:55 Recommendation No. 1: Starting
09:45 Recommendation No. 2: Testing
10:46 Recommendation No. 3: Enjoy
11:15 Moving Forward
13:00 Being Overloaded

[becomingresilientwithJustin]

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[squngy]

Cardio is not just one thing!

There are at least 3 categories: Vo2Max, Muscular endurance, Aerobic endurance.
Any one of these three can be a bottle neck in a specific situation and in that is the case, training the others will not help that much.

However, there is a limit to how far you can train one of these without training the others.
If you only train Vo2max for example, you will hit a wall that you will not be able to pass until you raise the other two to a higher level.
To reach the maximum at any one of them, you must train all 3.

Traditionally, most training plans train aerobic endurance first, because it takes the longest to train and is the easiest to maintain, so it is seen as the "base" for the others to stand on (+ it is low intensity, which is easier for most people).
After that, most of the time the focus will be on muscular endurance (or threshold) while Vo2 will be sprinkled in where possible, due to taking a lot of time to property recover from a hard Vo2 block (proper Vo2 sessions should be extremely hard).

In terms of performance, Vo2 max is relevant for thing you do for up to about 2-10ish minutes.
Aerobic endurance is what you can sustain for all day (if your joints don't give out first)
Muscular endurance is relevant for the stuff in between those two, so for most endurance sports it is the thing that will be the most relevant during a race.

[Jay-sdye]

Want to run distance, run more often and keep pushing the distance. Want to run faster, run faster more often.
Your body gets used to it pretty quickly.
I'm doing both speed and distance for races.
my slow distance runs are 8 min per mile (able to hold for 13ish miles). My fast distance runs are 6 min per mile(held for 6 min per mile).
It all matters on why you are doing cardio.
Don't over complicate cardio. It's not hard

[natea]

Peter Attia doesn't recommend ONLY Zone 2 training for longevity and nobody expects a to run a good 5k time on only Zone 2. Anybody in the endurance world will know that periodization between focusing on foundational (eg zone 2) and race specific training (speed or VO2 max) is how you train for fast times. (And yeah zone 2 on a treadmill or anything stationary is boring. Go outside.)

[hnmotorider]

I started HR training running in January 2024. Based on my Garmin Forerunner watch, my inital VO2 Max was 46, and I reached 50 in July. For my surprise, I reached a VO2 Max of 51 in early September. It works if you combine zone 2 with zone 4 workouts. Keep grinding!

[xuchenglin]

LOL you can't really talk about this without mentioning the volume... What you did wrong is your volume is way low. You just won't see any benefit for a total of just 1.5 hr easy cardio PER WEEK -- that's shorter than many guys' single session PER DAY -- to see any improvement to fitness, unless you were in the recovery from a surgery of something. Just ask anyone if you can get so much fitter with just 1.5 hr easy cardio per week... Ask all those resources you mentioned. Use your common sense, now you see the problem.

The idea of "zone 2" is to max your training volume (in a matter of "time") without burning out. Basically, how to train everyday but still be able to recover the next day so you can train everyday. Zone 2 is a compromise, if you could go harder but still be able to recover the next day to continue training, why not go harder? It's only that soon you'll find that you can't hit the same intensity in the consecutive days, however the workout is still doable but your pace will automatically falls into that zone 2 range. That's how it works -- zone 2 as a result, but not a cause!

If you really want to boost your fitness, all you need to do is just try to run every day. Consistency beats everything. My fitness jumped when I just started run every day... 30-45 minutes per day, 7 days a week (life gets in, you'll have your natural "rest days"), all year around. That's about 7-10km/day, 30-50km/week, just about the minimum in the running community.

Garmin puts my Vo2max est. at 60, I ran a HM last Oct for 1:30. My zone 2 pace is 4:40-4:50/km, in a cold day when it's good sometimes I can cruise at zone 2 HR at 4:30/km for easy pace. Sometimes a hard tempo/LT session will see 5k in 20 minutes. That's all achieved with only one training method: just run everyday, for the amount time I mentioned above... I want to train more but I just find this is the length that I feel comfortable in my schedule. You'll do every intensity this day or that day, but for most days you just run zone 2, because that's the only possible pace you can run if you train everyday. All those zone 2 stuff is the result of trying to max training volume. When you try it you'll know it.

Just can't see you seems so serious about your fitness but just can't improve the correct way.
😉

[TomsPakulis]

amazing video! thanks for sharing this information. There are so many videos out there talking about the zone 2 training as the gold standard to improve cardio. but this changed my mind and hopefully will save me time aswell

[m.a.c]

I think your main point is, do what you find enjoyable, and I fully agree. I do plenty of Z2 work because it is easier on my ageing body, and because I can watch stuff I have to watch while doing Z2 work, which helps me gain time. If you just want to feel fine and get better in a general purpose way, HIIT is fine. If you are obsessed with endurance sports and want to get the maximum, and can spare the time, traditional periodization (long base in winter, progressively harder efforts toward the late spring season) works for most people. Quicker to gain, quicker to lose too, and HIIT is quickest. Also, you may reach higher heights if you have an ample aerobic base before the VO2Max block. This said, there are so many approaches and experiences, the main thing is doing what works for you.

[Avianthro]

Excellent advice! Your channel deserves a lot more subscribers! Keep up the great work!

[Ravedave]

Consistent training schedule and 1x 4x4 a week has shown me improvements in 3 weeks.

[dghost]

I think your issue might have been to expect speed out of your longevity approach. Acquiring speed is a bit different.

[pikachupiano]

i totally agree that choosing sth u like is important, and then standard will elevate. I play badminton at quite a high intensity, heart rate usually goes up to 185… which is extremely exhausting. But I consistently play 8 hrs a week, and still want to improve by incorporating other workouts, like gym/vo2max/zone 2. I don’t need a training plan, my passion does it for me.

[kamilkurzynowski]

Did I just watch a 15 minute video of a guy complaining about lack on improvement in area that he didn’t trained for a year? You will not get faster at running by cycling in zone 2. Zone 2 training needs high volume to deliver effects.

[g_rr_tt]

When I enlisted in the US Army 12 years ago, I couldn't run a complete 2 miles... However, my 1-mile time was 7:30.
We did something called 30-60s (30 seconds full-out sprint, 60 seconds walk) and eventually worked up to 60-120s. I swear by that and ruck marches to improve cardio and leg endurance. My fastest time at the end of basic training was 12:25 2-mile time, and even going to my unit where I could smoke, drink, and eat junk food I was able to maintain 14:00 2-mile with just our weekly group runs.

[davidlyness]

Strange video but glad you have something you enjoy and feel benefits from. Seriously, there is no Z2 v VO2max battle: they are both very potent and powerful if deployed well. The 80 / 20 is what works for most endurance sports. BJJ is more subtle- alot of players gas because they don't know how breathe, manage pace.

[patricklachance]

Moral of the story is don't just do slow runs and don't just do intervals. DO BOTH!

[oliverallen]

Rhonda Patrick is providing evidence that more time in Zone 4/5 is needed to move the needle, and deep down we know if it doesn’t suck, it prob isn’t working.

[danielnunez]

Zone 2 training is called "Base Training" for a reason, it helps you to build an aerobic base that will help you to recover better from your runs, and that will let you do more high intensity training or weekly milleage. For example, using the 80/20 rule Jakob Ingebrigtsen runs 30+ kms AT HIGH INTENSITY

1 year ago I was running 5k in 22:30 and my weekly milleage was about 20(32 km) but I was running without a plan or periodization. I started a 16 week plan to improve it, Im currently in week 10 and I did 8 weeks of base training where I was running 100% in zone 2 and adding around 10% of distance every week. Im running 70 km this week and I already added the intervals and tresholds and I noticed that I can do a very hard interval session, lets say 16x400 at 4:00 pace(1:36 per lap) and 2 min recovery and be ready for the next day(I run every day of the week) and that because of the base training that helps your recovery.

Right now I can do a 5k in like 20:30 and that improve was all because of the zone 2 training because I did it two weeks ago(when I was doing 100% zone 2)

My goal is to reach 5k sub 16 in two years and a weekly milleage of 80(125 km). What was your milleage during that year? Maybe it was too low or you didn't improved it every week. I think that if you don't have enough time it is better to do intervals 2 or even 3 of those 4 times per week and the improvement will be better, because zone 2 training needs at least 50+ km per week, and that number grows depending of your desired race pace, I mean, if I had to choose between running 20 km per week doing 15 in zone 4 and 5 in zone 2, or vice versa, I do choose 15 in zone 4, because if the distance is low, zone 4 pays better

[unknownKnownunknowns]

Appreciate your experience. you should have followed a 5k training plan if you wanted to show improvement there - a mix of speed and longer runs every week. 5o year old science!

[vidnovoc]

It seems like your zone 2 training did its job. It built your base so you can now do things like Norwegian 4 by 4's. you quit smoking. I just started back running and I tried Norwegian 4 by 4's and my calves wouldn't let me, so now I am doing zone 2 training, and I am making surprisingly good progress.
I think zone 2 is really the best place to start unless you are a young athlete. You can add speed stuff later if you want.