Why is Zone 2 better than Zone 3?

The theory is that you use Z2 to get in the training without overtaxing yourself and therefore give your body the proper recovery it needs to make your hard days hard. Z3 used to be referred to as “junk miles” because they were not hard enough to stimulate growth/adaptation, but not easy enough to facilitate recovery.



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Zone 2 is considered the target range for aerobic and base fitness work and should be about 60-70% of your HRmax. Zone 3 is the range for aerobic endurance work and should put you at about 70-80% of your HRmax.

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Can you do zone 2 training every day? If that's what you feel like doing, absolutely. It's low-impact and low-intensity nature means there is no harm in doing zone 2 training every day, but know that you will see results from doing it just 1-2 times per week, as per Vincent's advice above.

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Zone 3: 70 – 79 percent of Max HR: Moderate activity, such as speed walking, running, aerobics or riding a bike on flat ground. Talking while exercising becomes more difficult, and you can only speak in short sentences. This level puts you in the aerobic zone and starts to improve your heart and lung endurance.

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Beyond this point, your body will begin to utilize more and more carbohydrates and then begin to decline in metabolic efficiency. Zone 2, therefore, is where you should spend a lot of your time training if you want to improve your fat-burning capability.

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