Zone 2 is known for its harsh conditions and cold temperatures. It can drop as low as -50 to -40 degrees F here. Because of this, some plants simply aren’t suited to grow in this zone... 😂
I used the talk test proposed by Inigo san Milan as I do not have any fancy equipment, a lot of estimation. But what I think is Z2 has definitely improved my cardio.
@@webb3201 I guess doing zone 2 in normal clothes with a commuter bike might ease that pain. I'm sure Z2 in lycra with a rocket of a bike is making it more painful.
I started cycling at the beginning of 2023, no cycling background at all. My brother in law was doing triathlons and was on my case about fitness. He told me just do zone 2 it’s not hard. I was 227-230 pounds totally out of shape. I finally gave in and tried it. I did zone 2 for a year straight, I lost 30 pounds! Starting this year I hired a cycling coach. Surprise, surprise 80 percent of my training time is still zone 2 :) My brother in law is now the one getting dropped ;)
As a former distance running coach, my biggest problem was getting athletes to understand that all out every day is not the answer. That “no pain no gain” attitude still persists. Thank you for showing once again that science does show the way!
Personally, I believe that the reason behind this attitude (no pain no gain) is because in order to have the addictive endorphin effect, that makes you feel great after a workout, you need to feel the exertion. A zone 2 workout is 1)boring, 2) not addictive at all (so much less gratifying than a full gas effort), and for me, that I don't care about performance or improvements, not worth my time, simply because it doesn't give me the feeling that I look for when cycling/swimming/exercising in general. So, interesting video, but I won't change my attitude of training full gas all the time. But it's a matter of what each of us wants to get out of exercise...for me is just the feeling that I gave everything :)
@@mattiamarosohonestly I don’t get why they think that way. I love my indoor z2 rides because I can game on a console while riding on the trainer; can’t do that when I’m barely surviving on my threshold sessions 🥲
It’s true that times are changing. Everyone now wants “easy”, so that’s a simple message to sell. But it’s not really accurate or effective. VO2 Max and muscular strength are essential for strong riding. Neither increase particularly well when training is restricted to Zone 2. You know this… it’s been covered elsewhere by GCN. Zone 2 is great for recovery rides. It’s better than sitting on one’s ass too. But you must mix training… Zone 5 intervals, Zone 4 threshold rides, and yes, Zone 2 recovery rides. Selling Zone 2 on its own does a disservice to those wishing to increase their riding fitness to the maximum extent possible.
I joined you from week one. It has been a great experience. As a 60 year old cyclist of 40 years, aging has taught me that training must change as my age has. I get more out of lower intensity than I did when I was younger. Recovery time is critical as I age. Here are my 7 week results. Starting FTP - 195 Ending FTP - 226 That's a huge difference for what felt like low intensity consistent riding. Sooooo Goood!
It is good to know that just having a long and enjoyable ride is good for improving. Our cycling group is too much focused on riding faster and faster, and in the process people are being dropped literally and socially. Good experiement!
One thing I enjoy about my club is there are a lot of different ride levels. There's Advanced for the people who want to zoom, intermediate where the pace is good but nobody gets dropped, and social pace which I mostly stay in zone 1 for. You might need to make your own slower paced group!
I normally shoot for zone 5 and above, just because, and a month ago, I had an owie so I couldn’t go as hard as I normally do on the stationary bike. I took it easy that day, but the next time I rode outside on the bike, I had so much more power. Now, if I could just force myself to do zone 2 on days when I’m not injured. 🤔
S**t attitude when people are shunned for being dropped. I seriously don't like those Social Darwinists. When I am stronger in a group ride, I try to cheer on people and maybe give them some tips on how to improve, if it is wanted. How hard is it to be nice? 🤷
@someinconsequentialusernam7799 ? The risk to benefit is of the chart for this one. If you are in good shape, you only need zone 5 20 minutes a month max
@@KeithFlint350 well the only scientific advice back then was the older guys telling you not to use the big ring till May and just spin little gears everywhere, mind you that was often 42x23 so it wasn’t that little compared to todays bikes. Oh, and to eat a banana every hour ….. I still have a pathological hatred of bananas 30 years later
After getting Corona in October last year and the flu 2 months later, which had a great impact on my health. It dropped my VO2 massive. The zone 2 training helped me getting back in shape over the past 3 months. And now almost back at the same number in the VO2 elite group for a 62 year old.
I had a similar experience. Got a respiratory infection that only took me down for about a week. However I lost 90 days worth of gains adding many minutes to my pace time. And it took me a full three months of rigorous training just to get back to where I was before breaking through.
@@Lumencraft- I should have a reply here from a week ago. PS did u have a blood test? Same sort of thing happened to me. Haven't got it back. I was training a lot, not really focusing on diet and sleep and got sick and really low energy the next Month. Could have been something that shows up in blood work.
Historically I trained full gas as much as possible. Now after a 5 year break from anything over 15 miles I am training for a 115 mile ride. I have been following zone 2 training plan and am finding, that I can train more frequently and do longer rides and am seeing measurable improvements week on week. I’m 4 weeks away from the event and feeling confident that I will cover the distance, albeit not that fast. On real rides (away from the turbo) HR blows out the top on the climbs but then quickly comes back.
Practically anyone would have told you that just going full gas as much as possible is a bad idea😂. The same thing goes for avoiding anything over 15miles unless your schedule just doesn't allow for it
That's awesome! Keep it up 🙌 Sounds like you're smashing it 115 miles is very impressive 🤯 Some of these tips might help 👉 ruclips.net/video/AY4RN_82TpY/видео.html
Zone 2 training helped me in sports, professional life, and personal life. Simply put, it taught me that fast doesn’t last, and pace wins the race… I no longer max effort everything. I now max out my time at manageable paces. Makes everything better in the long run..
I wrote a book about the importance, and benefits, of zone 2 training back in 2007; Base Building for Cyclists. I did the exact same testing on athletes back then with 6 week before/after zone 2 focus training with similar results. Great to see this training method getting some discussion/attention again. It's not a new idea! It wasn't a new idea when I wrote Base Building for Cyclists in 2007, but I wanted to communicate the importance of zone 2 base training to athletes that were often training too hard too often. One misunderstanding has been that base training is just riding around easy all day. Thank you for reminding riders that you need to be riding in zone 2, and not in zone 1, in order to stimulate adaptations and realize these benefits. Zone 1 is for warm up, cooling down, and recovery rides. Zone 2 is for base training. Thank you for sharing your experience and data! Brought back memories of doing this with my athletes many years ago. Great video, great information.
How many hours over how many sessions to get decent result? I missed where she said time spent on the bike. I know maffetone method say most get best results with 7 hours a week. Not sure how it's broken up.
@@michael1 u could do the test in the video to test the theory. What happened probably only applies for beginners i dont. He did say probably from this point she would have to do high high effort stuff to add gains.
@@michael1 There is no one size fits all training plan, and how we train needs to be adjusted based on several factors - including the type of events we’re training for, the amount of training hours we have each week, and our current metabolic balance. Intensity training is important, but it’s also important to do the correct type and amount of intensity training so that we achieve the correct metabolic energy system balance needed for the demands of our goal events, and at the right time. Some training plan outlines will have more intensity earlier on with more focus on zone 2 in the later phases, and others will have more intensity focus in the later phases. You are correct that in order to see continued progression you need to place ongoing training load challenges on the body/mind. We refer to this as progressive overload. It can be through increases in duration, intensity, or some combination of both. You can, however, also perform maintenance of energy systems as well. So, we are also benefiting from consistency and repetition without increases. It is important to establish, and maintain, our aerobic system foundation, or base, through consistent, ongoing zone 2 training. The aerobic system takes longer to develop, and how well it is developed will impact how much anaerobic system development we can achieve. But, again, how we structure our workouts should be based on our personal cycling, and fitness goals, rather than some standardized formula. And, as we get closer to our goal events, our training should focus on the energy system balance that best suits the demands of that event. The training outline for racing crits and track differs from preparing for a 24 hour mountain bike race, but both require a substantial aerobic system base. There are a lot more details to answering this question, but more information about the individual, and their goals is needed to provide those details, so I’ll leave it there.
The weather here in Scotland was terrible earlier in tbe year so i decided to train indoors while watching pro races for 2 hours a day for 50 days. I dropped 13kg weight so far and my average speed has increased from around 20kph to 26kph for each ride. I dont have access to lab testing but i feel a lot fitter and a lot lighter and about to treat myself to a new Giant TCR for some out door rides now the weather's improved. 😂
“Whilst watching pro races” great idea. Do u think none sports fans would get the benefits or be hyped up by doing that? Tour defiance or France used to be on daily for a month or so 20 years ago. U could change sports, marathon one day, iron man the next. Shame I can’t get hyped watching the finance channel.
The amazing thing is I bought Davis Phinnie's book in the early 90's, used a Polar heart rate monitor & learned all of this back then and did fantastic fitness wise with it. The book laid out very well that your LSD (Long Slow Distance) Zone 2 was the hardest phase of training because it was so damn boring & felt pointless, yet would improve your cycling the most dramatically. Now...we're being shown Zone 2 training for a new generation of riders who think this science is new. It's been around for so very long.
I’m 71 and started riding about 4 years ago. I was a squash player for 40 years, playing 3 to 4 times per week, so base fitness was pretty good. I found Zone 2 on the trainer over the winter to be key to beginning the outdoor season in great shape. Your results make sense and I encourage others to try it out. The key is time, you have to put in the hours on the saddle. It can be excruciatingly boring, so a good book on Audible really helps pass the hours.
I'm a senior rider now, not racing, but when I was racing many years ago we (my racing club) would do Zone 2 (that's what it's called now) after our racing season into the cooler months. It was a social thing to ride slower and we didn't have to train for races. When the spring came and we got serious rides in it was a lot easier and we reached a greater fitness level for our races.
It's not shaming if your purposely running an experiment of Z2 only but hitting Z3 . Ironically the power zones suggest 80/20 . I don't care either way but being a white Knight for blurring the results isint a flex .
I did 3 days of zone 2 and 1 day VO2 Max internals all winter and got faster that i did last year doing mostly of sweet spot and VO2 Max. And the best part... It's easier!
64 y.o. Rider four months after my second total hip replacement in two years. Training for a week of riding in the Dolomites first week of July. I’ve been doing a combination of Zone 2 and hard efforts and mixing the two on weekends on long 4-6 hour rides in the mountains. I’ve been doing it more sporadically and getting 12-15 hours in a week. This will help me be a little more intentional and organized going into my last month of prep before tackling my dream ride vacation. Getting out the training plan spreadsheet now.Thank You Manon for such a well delivered lesson!
You are impressive! I hope that I’m still moving that well when I’m your age, and I wish I was as consistent as you are, now. Hope your training goes smoothly and that you have a wonderful trip
Great going. Same age and one hip replacement. Don’t do anything like your distance but ride consistently. Good to see someone demonstrating that a hip replacement is not an impediment to riding.
@@hoppers6899 Thanks! I had met another local rider who had both hips done a few years ago and he is in late 60s and still cranking up the steep climbs. We have one climb that gains 3,000 vertical feet in 9.2 miles. I have a love/hate relationship with it but go back week after week. Stubbornness is half the battle with rehab and a professional PT friend agrees, LOL
@@ancientfifer that’s savage! I try to do my local hill 3x per week but it’s only 4km/96m (2.5m/312ft). Technology has given me a gift so not going to waste it. Plan to ride until I go into the box! Also still play baseball (not well) so I agree about the stubbornness. Just got to have a crack. Too many people give up. Good luck with the event!
As a runner I've been zone 2 training for the last 6 months and had a revelation. Looking at my past easy runs I was in low zone 3 for a lot of them even though they felt easy. It was hard at first every time i hit a hill the HR would fly up and I had to walk 10-20m to stay in zone 2. I had to slow my pace down for a 4:30/ km pace for easy runs to 5:15/km and on hills at first I had to walk some sections 10-20m just to stay in that zone. I've noticed over time those those easy runs have got easier and the pace has gone from 5:15/km to 4:50/km and in addition my HR has dropped in zone 2 considerably. However, the biggest change I've noticed is that workouts in Zone 3 are harder to raise the HR meaning I need to run faster to get there which has meant my speed development has come along nicely. For example a workout in zone 3 that I'd have been running 3:55/km for HR would be moving north to zone 4, over time at the same pace HR has come considerably down. In addition I'm less sore coming into hard workouts and more recoved.
Im 52 have done December January February riding solely HR below 135 for the mallorca 312. No idea of my ftp or actual Z2. But it certainly improved my riding. Outside every other weekend when i could then doing an hour here and there when i have my kids. Increased training in march and april to simply increasing cadence. 312 achieved and now riding longer faster at lower HR than before by around 15bpm.
Don't cancel it. You still need to train your vo2 max. This video is just about sticking to zone 2 during the base building phase. Then you incorporate higher intensity into your sessions, but still keeping most of your rides to zone 2.
I love this vid. I'm a big believer of Seiler's heirarch of training needs and this vid further helps that point. I also love that the coach was pointing that out near the end. Also that coach is a real hype bro and I love him for that too. Another thing is I also kinda feel what Mannon felt, that it didn't feel like I was "training" but every so often you get that feeling of "Did I get stronger" or "That segment felt real good/easy(compared to previous attempts). Edit: I further love this vid just coz Manon.
At 1:09 Manon was reining it in so much she was peddling backwards. Great video Manon, loved you gave your insights into the training rather than just before and after numbers.
I’m a 67 y/o male and thought I was pretty fit, and I was in pretty fair shape when compared to others in my age group. I started doing Zone 2 training about 6 months ago when my FTP was at 140. My FTP went from 140 to 190 in 6 months doing Z2 training 2-3 hrs/wk, with some high intensity scattered in the mix. My goal is to hit an FTP of 250 in the next year. I don’t agree with the host saying she didn’t break a sweat doing Z2. If you do Z2 properly for an hour, you’ll be wet. Not drenched, but you’ll need to change your t-shirt.
Coming from a period of not riding your bike much, you of course, are going to increase your fitness regularly riding your bike in ANY zone. Lots of hard work for you either way. Thanks for your efforts to provide content.
@@gcnIf you live in a flat area that is. Coming back to riding heavily overweight, I would have to stick to flat boring roads in my area and that would make me quit fast. I simply can't go up 10+% hills while strictly sticking to zone 2 but that hilly terrain with lots of turns makes me love riding my bike.
I have had some great results with zone 2 training for the last 6 weeks. Lost 10 Kg, and power output increased dramatically. I also just feel so much more comfortable (butt, hands, neck and shoulders) after putting in some long hours on the bike, and my position has gotten way more aerodynamic. Today I went out for my first interval session of the year and could not believe how good I felt. I definitely think almost entirely zone 2 at the start of the season is the way to go - and try to get in as many hours as possible. One thing I’ll add - IMO it’s important to have some (short) climbs on your long rides even if they take you out of zone 2 for a bit. They really help to empty the tank, and get the most out of your long rides. Just try to take them as slow as possible.
@@vladf777 im over 5000 km so far this year, houer vary alot, 2 weeks back it was 6 houers, this week its 14 houers one 6 one 7 and one recovery ride today, then I do weights and I walk
This Z2 training definitely shows on your face. The before and after is really visible. Which comes as a surprise, since you really didn't start out as a slouch. What an amazing glow up.
Hi Manon, I love your videos training tips and examples, keep it up you're giving such brilliant insights into both competition/racing, and recreational cycling. I am currently following a "Grand Fondo" Garmin training plan, and it is working really well for me. Most ( probably around 85%) of the rides are in zone 2 because I'm in the build-up phase and already I have increased my MAX VO2 from 37 around 8 weeks ago to 46 and recently (today) rode 45 km spending around 45mins at 32-34kmh with my HR at 130 so for me riding the majority of my rides in zone 2 is definitely working. My zone 2 is 110-150Watts and I often have to "come off" the pedals a bit because I'm finding it very easy to stray into 170Watts or higher without feeling any real difference in effort, so as you alluded to; it's quite difficult to remain in the specified range for long rides, but I think as long as you keep adjusting and trying to stay within it, the training effect seems to work. My other rides which are 2-a-week are full on intervals of varying power and duration but they are killers and together with the zone 2 training seem to be getting me where I need to be for racing my bike later in the summer. By the way I am 67 years old.
That was a pretty crazy increase. I'll be honest, looking at the original lactate curve, I couldn't see how hey were coming up with 140 watts for LT1. Lactate was clearly increasing at that level. But with this second test, the 160 watt level is really clear. As the researcher said, it didn't really matter since you were training to heart rate. But what floors me is the improvement in only 6 weeks. I can see that I'm missing a trick by not doing some longer rides. Thanks for this series!
Have to think age also plays a role as well. Would be interesting to see a similar test (with similar fitness level subjects) for maybe a 40 year old and 60 year old.
Nah, probably she just didn't ride much nowadays, so the baseline is "detrained". To me it's obviously this is the case. For a well-trained and actively-training personel no such drastic change could be achieved in just 6 wks... Or you'll making all the Olymplians who train 20-30 hrs/wk a joke -- otherwise they can just do this easy stuff on and on and on and the lactate level will just approaching zero. If only thing to take home probably it's the consistency/frequency. With this program the frequency is the biggest change here. Not the length. Or in a simpler terms, just ride more.
Unfortunately this test suffers from similar problems as early nutrition studies on athletes: the single measurement points are poorly controlled with way too many variables
I didn't understand the purpose of combining Zone training with HR Zone 2 training and how it's done. What does this entail? I'm familiar with Zone 2 training in the context of power training only. Could you please clarify?
@@emileone1 "Zone 2" actually refers to a metabolic state, not a power level. It depends on which zone system you use, but in the context of this video, "Zone 2" refers to staying below the effort where lactate (lactic acid) accumulates in your blood appreciably. Basically, at this level of effort, your muscles are primarily burning fat (which doesn't produce lactate) and a smaller amount of carbohydrate/sugar (which does). However, you body can actually burn that lactate in this state and so it never actually builds up very far. The highest power that you can put into your pedals where you can maintain that state is a point called "Lactate Threshold 1", or LT1. There is also a corresponding heart rate at that point. So you can either train to try to put X watts of power into your pedals, or you can train to maintain your heart rate below a certain level. You can think of power as the input to the system. If you push more power, your metabolism needs to work harder and as a result your heart has to work harder. The power is the input and the heart rate is the output. Heart rate can be affected by other things (heat, how tired you are, etc) so sometimes you want to train to power because you are interested in hitting a specific input. However, your heart rate is a reliable measure of how hard your metabolism has to work, so it's generally a better indicator of whether or not you have stayed in zone 2 (kept your metabolism in the state where you aren't accumulating lactate appreciably). I hope that explains it! FTP is a similar point to LT1 (and is sometimes called LT2 -- lactate threshold 2). It's the power where your lactate is accumulating very slowly. Above that point lactate accumulates very quickly. You can get very geeky about it and there is a very technical description called MLSS (Maximal Lactate Steady State). But, again, you can measure the input to the metabolic state (power) or you can measure the output (heart rate) depending on what your are trying to do. If you want to stay under LT2, then heart rate is good. If you want to hit your "threashold power" to train something specifically, then power is good.
Congrats Manon on a good training experiment! Going to ride up and down some hills with less "stay in Zone 2" concerns now to have some fun? I tried my Garmin intervals training workouts, and it really did not work at all where I live. Stoplights all over, and hills. High power for 30s? Sorry, stop light! Recovery or zone 1? Haha there's the hill! I liked seeing that Manon improved with what is generally a "go ride the bike comfortably" sort of feel. Honestly that makes me feel better about ditching the Garmin recommended training - it made riding less fun. "Just ride the bike" for endurance improvements? Heck yeah. If I want to do some free form training, just go hard up a hill when I get to it.
Of all the GCN videos i’ve seen, this is the one i’ve been most interested in and waiting for! Cruising speed is pretty much as fast as i can medically sustain/average for any noteworthy distance, zone 2 is basically flat out.
I live in hilly North Wales, and I found the answer in equipping my e-bike with power meter pedals. This allows me to control my power output and still romp up the hills by adjusting the power assist.
To make Zone 2 interesting also you could do cadence intervals which are at zone 2 but OBS different rpms. This is what I give to my athletes. E.g 1min at 100rpm 2mins at 90rpm x 10/20. Lots of variations to zone 2. Also progressive sessions from low zone 2 to high zone 2.
One thing that I will say after having done quite a bit zone two training is to focus more on RPE, rate of perceived exertion. Once you know and understand your body, it's a much more accurate way of staying in zone two. Accounts for day to day body changes and lets you work right at the edge of the zone easier. Also accounts for the fact that your zone two output will change over time as fitness changes. As noted, zone two works.
The graph presented shows blood lactate above 2 mmol/L. Zone 2, as defined by San Millan, is a blood lactate between 1.7 and 2 mmol/L. The power improvement stated (140 to 160 watts) in Zone 2 is still a blood lactate level above 2 mmol/L. What was Manon's heart rate and watts at a blood lactate level between 1.7 and 2 mmol/L when she started and then after the six weeks? Manon's Zone 2 training improved her Zone 3 and beyond zones, but did her actual Zone 2 improve? The graph does not show this. Please clayify
We don't see you enough Manon! I love watching the guys, I am entertained and I learn a lot from their crazy videos. As a woman, I relate more to you. Thank you for sharing this with us!
I have been waiting for this vid, thanks that was great, its hard to believe something that takes so little effort, at least physically can have such an impact.
I’m really impressed by the vulnerability which Manon is prepared to share in this series (and likewise Dan in his new challenge). I can’t imagine it’s easy for elite athletes to talk about how their performance has dropped off (even if it is now growing again 😃) and yet it’s great for us to see the journey they’re going through and better understand what works. 👏
Working with Uphill Athlete coach Scott Johnston (now moved on) made me a true believer in this approach for endurance sports. Two days weight training and 4 days of long duration workouts below aerobic threshold were a game changer once followed up with muscular endurance work afterwards. Don't think I've ever been fitter, or more durable than when i took that approach.
The exercise physiologist Prof. Hiroaki Tanaka did conclusive research on this very thing. He was so convinced that he started the International Slow Jogging Assn. His book on the technique shows the science. I love that their logo is a snail! One of his protégés finished the Tokyo marathon in 2:31, and yet she stated that nearly all of her training is done in this way, at low intensity, certainly Z2 or even lower! Dr Tanaka explains the cellular benefits of it, and it makes total sense.
Great video, Manon (as usual). For me, all of this recent focus on zone 2 has been so beneficial because I normally want to go hard and steady (I doubt I'm alone in this). So now I have a new focus for my training, and, to be frank, it's helped me just get out and have more fun rides, where I don't feel the need to push.
I actually like training in Zone 2 and fitting in efforts twice a week to add resistance. With my lifestyle it works because I use my commute to train.
I have a question for GCN. All the ‘professionals’ I have heard, say; If you stray into Z3 the changes in body response are almost instantaneous, metabolic systems change etc and even if you drop back to Z2 immediately, it can take 30-40 mins before the body reverts to the Z2 systems. Irrespective of heart rate/power your body is still running in Z3. So who is right and is there any hard data to support either theory?
Exactly what I’d like to know too, and how long do you need to be in Z3/4 before your system needs to recover to get back into Z2? So hard to do Z2 here when there’s a steep hill at the beginning of every ride.
This actually was addressed in the video. I heard what you heard as well. Laurence said 'no foul' briefly passing the threshold of Z2 into Z3 because Manon asked the question. There maybe other scientists on the web that believe otherwise as you suggest.
This is explained in the video. If you are going for a long Z2 ride you should avoid any prolonged time in Z3. However 20-30 sec going up a hill isn't going to impact the result of your Z2 training.
It wasn’t really addressed in the video, he said it didn’t matter for ‘a few seconds’ hmmm that’s not very precise and there are few hills round me that can be done in seconds. I’m sure clinical studies have been done that contradicts the idea ‘it doesn’t matter’ I’d like to know what science this is based on, hence asking GCN directly 😁
I will do zone 2 work a few times per week where I keep my HR at 130-140BPM for 30 min. My method of choice is stair climbing where I brisk walk one at a time up a full 15 stair flight, back down, and repeat on loop. I can usually get 80+ flights in 30 min. It breaks a light sweat and gets me just slightly winded right after I finish which I recover quickly from. It's a good contrast to heavy sled pushes I do 3x per week after full body lifting. The sled gets my HR to the red zone. Aside from the stairs 2x per week and sled 3x per week, I walk 20K steps daily for general activity.
I don't know how many of your turbo sessions were on Zwift, but it's a brilliant way to stay in Z2 IMO...the robopacers are always filled w/ plenty of folks ready for a chat (or not)...I am sorry I missed your group rides. Congrats on your improvement and thanks a ton for these videos, they are extremely helpful to me
Love this! They didn’t really discuss the different shapes of women’s anatomy, but when I was searching for the perfect saddle I learned the difference between “innies” and “outies”. It was such an aha! moment. Changed my life. I finally found a saddle which works and also finally understand why so many of my female cycling friends never experienced painful chafing or used chamois cream before!
I did 5 months in Z2 on the trainer 6 days/week for 1 hr. My Z2 went from 125W to 175W. My FTP went from 225 to 257, I also lost 30lbs. So a lot of that could be in just weight loss too.
Really great video. I’ve spent am entire off season in zone 2 and my lactate threshold increased as well. Best presentation of what zone 2 can do for you. It literally took me 20 years to believe zone 2 or base building works. Now it a mainstay of my life.
Those are SUCH relevant questions you're asking he coach! Like what would happen if I did this for another 6 weeks, etc. And really straight to the point answers!
7 years ago, I got a Garmin 1030 and HR strap. I read about Z2 training and started trying to stay out of Z3 on my typical 20 mile rides. It took me a solid month of trying to get over a mid ride 8% hill below Z3 and that was mid season with a couple thousand miles in my legs. Now, most of my solo rides are Z2 and it's almost trivially easy to make it over that hill in Z2 and last year, I road up the Tourmalet going just a few beats into Z3. I've most definitely increased my power output in the lower zones!
Two years ago I rode similar to this for 8 months. I don't have a powermeter but I used my heartrate. After a few months, I saw some improvements in speed at the same heartrate. The last 2 months I saw a large jump in speed and even endurance (longer rides) with the same heartrate. Some of that could have been weather related (90+°F (32+°C) at the beginning to 60-70°F (15-20°C) for the last 2 months). For the last two month, it felt like I was barely breaking a sweat but I was flying.
Thank You for sharing the research and results!!! Getting confident answers is very difficult to find as many athletes don’t want to share what works best!
I found that staying in zone 2 was hard to do because of climbs etc. So the turbo trainer is a great way to do it, but I found that riding an ebike also helped. When a climb came up, just get that motor running and it was much easier to stay in zone 2.
Zone 2 allows healing and building, it improves mitochondrial efficiency, and it's also mentally easier to do and therefore more sustainable, I think Zone 2 is an excellent conditioning intensity for any level rider
As a corollary "If trying to decide on whether to go on a hard ride or easy ride, the correct answer is 'yes'. Ride as hard or long as you wish, but ride."
Won’t feel so guilty about just going out & enjoying the long hours / conversation rides anymore rather than feeling like I have to ruin myself just to get results. Thanks Manon, I throughly enjoyed these 2 videos 👏👏👏
yea, i mean training works. if you look at Manon's strava you can see months of basically nothing before this 6 week block. i reckon if she did a 'normal' training plan with 1-2 days of intensity a week and throw in a long ride (4-6 hrs) all her numbers would have seen larger improvements than 6 weeks of 130-160w to me (from the intro) it sounds like it was hard for her to train outside to maintain that zone and that she got bored with it and liked some endurance intervals her coach provided. to me it sounds like a fun experiment but not something to try ourselves
Well done you. I did something similar two winters ago where I sat at exactly the top of zone 2 for every ride. I was doing 9/10/11/12 hour weeks then back to 9 on a repeat cycle. Alot on the kickr but I managed it outdoors also. So I did 5 months over the winter and my power went for 208w to 262w. I was amazed at the results. Your video has made me realise how I can improve it more. Thanks for the great content.
I've been doing loads of Z2 training as part of my Marmotte prep. The power I can hold while maintaining a static heart rate at the top of my Z2 range for 2 hours has risen from 180W back in November to 220W now (May). It's helped me avoid overtraining and injury. Anyone who has held Z2 in erg mode on a trainer for 2 hours knows that it's not exactly easy. I'm convinced that it works, provided you have the time to do it. Doing it on the trainer is a good way to keep control and avoid going into Z1 or Z3, although I do add 6x4min blocks in Z3 just to add in some variety into what can be a very boring session.
Without all the science, simply remaining cognizant of maintaining zone 2, i have adapted my training over the past 2 months. What I have experienced is an improvement in performance on my weekend rides. Having added time and miles to a steady diet of zone 2 during weekday indoor trainer riding, climbing power in the real world has improved. I feel much stronger and my endurance has increased.
Good work! I only strength train, mostly in Zone 2, and I historically have had a great cardio base just due to that. The proof has been randomly going for a distance run after not running for a year or two.
I suffered with a slipped disc in my back for 6 months so couldn’t ride or run. My rehab consisted of LOTS of walking and therefore only operating in Zone 2. My cardio fitness is now better than it ever was.
This may be a long comment, but in 2023 I started riding in August after having an operation on my heart. I learned about zone 2 training and rode there. I was able to get fit enough so that in 2 to 3 months I was setting either PR's or top 2-5 on my segment times on Strava. By February 2024 my heart went back downhill and ai had to stop riding again. I started riding in 2012, doing mountain and road riding. I did a ton of riding, mountains, flats, did all the training rides and group rides in my area. Over time my heart started deteriorating very slowly, but by spring 2019 I had to stop riding all together. I thought that would be the last time I ever rode. I may have to have another operation done. But I'm hoping I can get back on the bike and pedal around in zone 2 again, cruising with all my old friends ai once rode with.
Did a great job keeping in the zone as desired. For most people (like myself) it's really more about doing whatever keeps you doing it on a regular basis and having the bulk of it in zone 2 helps me to be consistent.
Over the last 2 years I've done a lot more zone 2. The biggest thing I noticed for me is that after 9 months, my heart rate recovery was much better between efforts. So I could ride for longer without as much fatigue. After about 14 months I started to do more harder efforts, and that combined with Z2 I saw some good FTP improvements. Increasing from just over 200W to 250W over a 6 months period. So this winter went in to Z2 training with my highest FTP, ready to see more improvements this year.
I am in my mid 40s. I have done a significant change this year, and that is, limit my rides in the first few months of the season to 3 hours maximum, with no surges. The reasoning by my coach was, at that part of the training season, rides longer than 3 hours or with intensity just burn you out, it is not the kind of fatigue you can actually absorb and get better. The extra fatigue won't drive adaptations and it will have you too tired to do stuff the next day. So I tried being consistent and doing stuff that did not get me too tired to train the next day too. After a few months doing mainly 9-10 hours Z2 with some intervals from now and then, I have noticed an increase in fitness without any extreme fatigue, so I have progressed about the same as other years, but with way less fatigue. Now I am throwing in threshold for the muscle fatigue resistance , and I think I am quickly seeing the gains.
Great film and study Manon. I really appreciated your honesty by sticking to the facts.Zone 2 has definitely helped me develop base fitness coming back from some poor health. I found I missed the anaerobic fitness to keep up with surges by it definitely gave me the ability to ride long and recover better. What would work well now would be to add the harder efforts and see how that helps the adaptations.
With all the hype about Zone 2 since Peter Attia and others made videos about it, I think a great name for a cycling café would be "Zone 2 Café". Decades ago when I was a runner, and many didn't have heart rate monitors, we just did LSD -- long slow distance. Lots of it. And then more recently, cannabis was legalized.
Great video! I've been training in Zone 2 for a week now. Sweating a bit, as it's Dubai, LOL. What I love about it is that my chronic pain has become less intense, and my knee is feeling better. Plus, I'm building strength in my quads and hamstrings. I would stay even 3 months in zone 2 and I am making it daily thanx be to Allah almighty.
So, I did a similar experiment to yours. I had the test at the beginning and end of my experiment, only Zone 2 cycling, almost all of which was on a trainer, one hour rides, for a total of 85 hours between mid February and the end of April. My Zone 2 top heart rate (as measured by the aerobic thresshold) improved from 101 in February to 131 at the end of April. The testing facility told me I started out with "Aerobic Threshhold syndrome" (artificially low aerobic threshhold level) from too much time spent exercising in higher zones before I came to them to be measured. I'm in my 50s and don't have any kind of a history of being trained or in especially good physical shape.
I’ve found my emtb is of amazing use for getting up off road inclines while maintaining an easy effort. No need to go into higher zones if you don’t want to if you embrace a motor
Proper Zone 2 training includes 20% of training in Zone 5, using intervals or other forms of HIIT. Regardless of your results, you need to carefully and deliberately do Zone 5 days, as well as resistance training. Z5 should always follow Z2 if you do both in the same day. My peak VO2 was 81.3 on the bike and 83.1 on the treadmill.
Doing exclusively zone 2 after injury. Noticed how much more pleasant rides are and I am getting faster. Was worried about straying out on hills and loosing concentration but now you have said its ok I will continue.
What has your experience with zone 2 training been like? 👀
Let us know in the comments! 💬
Zone 2 is known for its harsh conditions and cold temperatures. It can drop as low as -50 to -40 degrees F here. Because of this, some plants simply aren’t suited to grow in this zone... 😂
Pretty impossible tbh. Velcro up shoes, HR 49... pedal off down the road, HR 165 😂
I mix it up on zwift for zone 2.sometimes I try to hold it for an hour and other times I do workouts with zone 2 efforts
@@LaurentiusTriarius 😂
I used the talk test proposed by Inigo san Milan as I do not have any fancy equipment, a lot of estimation. But what I think is Z2 has definitely improved my cardio.
No matter how many times I repeat to myself "stay in Z2". A plastic bag carried by wind is enough to start a race in Z4 😭
Same, that’s why I’ve stayed almost exclusively indoors on a stationary cycle.
@@RLiuMRGid rather have the fresh air and vitamin d and random encounters than optimize 1 bio measure
I have to stay inside to stay in 2….I just cant standing being seen outside running in z2 zone lol
@@webb3201 I guess doing zone 2 in normal clothes with a commuter bike might ease that pain. I'm sure Z2 in lycra with a rocket of a bike is making it more painful.
The amount of noise is key for me. If I'm riding next to a busy road, I will ride faster automatically. If it's quiet, it's easier to ride slow.
I started cycling at the beginning of 2023, no cycling background at all. My brother in law was doing triathlons and was on my case about fitness. He told me just do zone 2 it’s not hard. I was 227-230 pounds totally out of shape. I finally gave in and tried it. I did zone 2 for a year straight, I lost 30 pounds! Starting this year I hired a cycling coach. Surprise, surprise 80 percent of my training time is still zone 2 :)
My brother in law is now the one getting dropped ;)
Now it is your turn to push your brother on.
Awesome! Sounds like you're smashing it 🙌 What's your next goal?
Zone 2 is also the most efficient at burning calories from fat stores while minimizing muscle loss.
How much is that in normal people metrics -kg?
@@geopolityk1160 30 pounds its about 13+kg. Just googe "pound o kg" it will be faster than leaving a coment
As a former distance running coach, my biggest problem was getting athletes to understand that all out every day is not the answer. That “no pain no gain” attitude still persists. Thank you for showing once again that science does show the way!
Yeah i train my athletes with running power and getting them to slow the hell down can be frustrating.
Personally, I believe that the reason behind this attitude (no pain no gain) is because in order to have the addictive endorphin effect, that makes you feel great after a workout, you need to feel the exertion. A zone 2 workout is 1)boring, 2) not addictive at all (so much less gratifying than a full gas effort), and for me, that I don't care about performance or improvements, not worth my time, simply because it doesn't give me the feeling that I look for when cycling/swimming/exercising in general. So, interesting video, but I won't change my attitude of training full gas all the time. But it's a matter of what each of us wants to get out of exercise...for me is just the feeling that I gave everything :)
Times are changing 🙌 Chilled zone 2 rides are the way to go!
@@mattiamarosohonestly I don’t get why they think that way. I love my indoor z2 rides because I can game on a console while riding on the trainer; can’t do that when I’m barely surviving on my threshold sessions 🥲
It’s true that times are changing. Everyone now wants “easy”, so that’s a simple message to sell. But it’s not really accurate or effective.
VO2 Max and muscular strength are essential for strong riding. Neither increase particularly well when training is restricted to Zone 2. You know this… it’s been covered elsewhere by GCN.
Zone 2 is great for recovery rides. It’s better than sitting on one’s ass too. But you must mix training… Zone 5 intervals, Zone 4 threshold rides, and yes, Zone 2 recovery rides.
Selling Zone 2 on its own does a disservice to those wishing to increase their riding fitness to the maximum extent possible.
I joined you from week one. It has been a great experience. As a 60 year old cyclist of 40 years, aging has taught me that training must change as my age has. I get more out of lower intensity than I did when I was younger. Recovery time is critical as I age.
Here are my 7 week results. Starting FTP - 195
Ending FTP - 226
That's a huge difference for what felt like low intensity consistent riding.
Sooooo Goood!
👏 nice!
Nice! That’s a crazy amount of FTP gained in just seven weeks.
Woah! That is incredible!
Pretty much as Manon said: Outside cycling very difficult to stay in zone 2, inside very boring.
Whoop whoop! keep smashing it 🙌 Have you got a goal FTP in mind?
It is good to know that just having a long and enjoyable ride is good for improving. Our cycling group is too much focused on riding faster and faster, and in the process people are being dropped literally and socially. Good experiement!
One thing I enjoy about my club is there are a lot of different ride levels. There's Advanced for the people who want to zoom, intermediate where the pace is good but nobody gets dropped, and social pace which I mostly stay in zone 1 for. You might need to make your own slower paced group!
I normally shoot for zone 5 and above, just because, and a month ago, I had an owie so I couldn’t go as hard as I normally do on the stationary bike. I took it easy that day, but the next time I rode outside on the bike, I had so much more power. Now, if I could just force myself to do zone 2 on days when I’m not injured. 🤔
S**t attitude when people are shunned for being dropped.
I seriously don't like those Social Darwinists.
When I am stronger in a group ride, I try to cheer on people and maybe give them some tips on how to improve, if it is wanted. How hard is it to be nice? 🤷
@someinconsequentialusernam7799 ? The risk to benefit is of the chart for this one. If you are in good shape, you only need zone 5 20 minutes a month max
Too much cock waving in our group as well, they have zero tolerance and understanding of zone 2
As an older rider, this all sounds pretty much like what we used to call the ‘getting the miles in’ winter training rides
Right?
Time on the bike goes a lot further than people realize.
yeah, just today you need a power meter, smart trainer, Zwift subscription and two VO2Max lab tests at the beginning and the end
@@KeithFlint350 well the only scientific advice back then was the older guys telling you not to use the big ring till May and just spin little gears everywhere, mind you that was often 42x23 so it wasn’t that little compared to todays bikes. Oh, and to eat a banana every hour ….. I still have a pathological hatred of bananas 30 years later
@@thedecliningcyclist3321you forgot to say it was a fixed gear also!!!
@@thedecliningcyclist3321 science is just another religion
After getting Corona in October last year and the flu 2 months later, which had a great impact on my health. It dropped my VO2 massive. The zone 2 training helped me getting back in shape over the past 3 months. And now almost back at the same number in the VO2 elite group for a 62 year old.
If were vaccinated what was the point of the vaccine? Only the obese were hospitalized. More damaged by the vaccine than by covid if were healthy.
I had a similar experience. Got a respiratory infection that only took me down for about a week. However I lost 90 days worth of gains adding many minutes to my pace time. And it took me a full three months of rigorous training just to get back to where I was before breaking through.
@@Lumencraft- I should have a reply here from a week ago. PS did u have a blood test? Same sort of thing happened to me. Haven't got it back. I was training a lot, not really focusing on diet and sleep and got sick and really low energy the next Month. Could have been something that shows up in blood work.
Well done! The end of the ramp test was the face of someone who had given absolutely everything. Kudos 🎉
Manon smashed this 🙌
Historically I trained full gas as much as possible. Now after a 5 year break from anything over 15 miles I am training for a 115 mile ride. I have been following zone 2 training plan and am finding, that I can train more frequently and do longer rides and am seeing measurable improvements week on week. I’m 4 weeks away from the event and feeling confident that I will cover the distance, albeit not that fast. On real rides (away from the turbo) HR blows out the top on the climbs but then quickly comes back.
Practically anyone would have told you that just going full gas as much as possible is a bad idea😂. The same thing goes for avoiding anything over 15miles unless your schedule just doesn't allow for it
What about the ramp test?
What event? Cts?
That's awesome! Keep it up 🙌 Sounds like you're smashing it 115 miles is very impressive 🤯 Some of these tips might help 👉 ruclips.net/video/AY4RN_82TpY/видео.html
How did the event go @kizzysmith6151
Zone 2 training helped me in sports, professional life, and personal life. Simply put, it taught me that fast doesn’t last, and pace wins the race… I no longer max effort everything. I now max out my time at manageable paces. Makes everything better in the long run..
I wrote a book about the importance, and benefits, of zone 2 training back in 2007; Base Building for Cyclists. I did the exact same testing on athletes back then with 6 week before/after zone 2 focus training with similar results. Great to see this training method getting some discussion/attention again. It's not a new idea! It wasn't a new idea when I wrote Base Building for Cyclists in 2007, but I wanted to communicate the importance of zone 2 base training to athletes that were often training too hard too often. One misunderstanding has been that base training is just riding around easy all day. Thank you for reminding riders that you need to be riding in zone 2, and not in zone 1, in order to stimulate adaptations and realize these benefits. Zone 1 is for warm up, cooling down, and recovery rides. Zone 2 is for base training. Thank you for sharing your experience and data! Brought back memories of doing this with my athletes many years ago. Great video, great information.
I love your book! I used it back in 2011 and made tons of progress! Thank you!
@@sidpackard8613 Thanks for letting me know! Always good to hear from people that have read my book.
How many hours over how many sessions to get decent result? I missed where she said time spent on the bike. I know maffetone method say most get best results with 7 hours a week. Not sure how it's broken up.
@@michael1 u could do the test in the video to test the theory. What happened probably only applies for beginners i dont. He did say probably from this point she would have to do high high effort stuff to add gains.
@@michael1 There is no one size fits all training plan, and how we train needs to be adjusted based on several factors - including the type of events we’re training for, the amount of training hours we have each week, and our current metabolic balance.
Intensity training is important, but it’s also important to do the correct type and amount of intensity training so that we achieve the correct metabolic energy system balance needed for the demands of our goal events, and at the right time. Some training plan outlines will have more intensity earlier on with more focus on zone 2 in the later phases, and others will have more intensity focus in the later phases.
You are correct that in order to see continued progression you need to place ongoing training load challenges on the body/mind. We refer to this as progressive overload. It can be through increases in duration, intensity, or some combination of both. You can, however, also perform maintenance of energy systems as well. So, we are also benefiting from consistency and repetition without increases.
It is important to establish, and maintain, our aerobic system foundation, or base, through consistent, ongoing zone 2 training. The aerobic system takes longer to develop, and how well it is developed will impact how much anaerobic system development we can achieve.
But, again, how we structure our workouts should be based on our personal cycling, and fitness goals, rather than some standardized formula. And, as we get closer to our goal events, our training should focus on the energy system balance that best suits the demands of that event. The training outline for racing crits and track differs from preparing for a 24 hour mountain bike race, but both require a substantial aerobic system base.
There are a lot more details to answering this question, but more information about the individual, and their goals is needed to provide those details, so I’ll leave it there.
The weather here in Scotland was terrible earlier in tbe year so i decided to train indoors while watching pro races for 2 hours a day for 50 days. I dropped 13kg weight so far and my average speed has increased from around 20kph to 26kph for each ride. I dont have access to lab testing but i feel a lot fitter and a lot lighter and about to treat myself to a new Giant TCR for some out door rides now the weather's improved. 😂
TCR
“Whilst watching pro races” great idea. Do u think none sports fans would get the benefits or be hyped up by doing that? Tour defiance or France used to be on daily for a month or so 20 years ago. U could change sports, marathon one day, iron man the next. Shame I can’t get hyped watching the finance channel.
The amazing thing is I bought Davis Phinnie's book in the early 90's, used a Polar heart rate monitor & learned all of this back then and did fantastic fitness wise with it. The book laid out very well that your LSD (Long Slow Distance) Zone 2 was the hardest phase of training because it was so damn boring & felt pointless, yet would improve your cycling the most dramatically.
Now...we're being shown Zone 2 training for a new generation of riders who think this science is new. It's been around for so very long.
I’m 71 and started riding about 4 years ago. I was a squash player for 40 years, playing 3 to 4 times per week, so base fitness was pretty good. I found Zone 2 on the trainer over the winter to be key to beginning the outdoor season in great shape. Your results make sense and I encourage others to try it out. The key is time, you have to put in the hours on the saddle. It can be excruciatingly boring, so a good book on Audible really helps pass the hours.
Best video I've seen on the actual implementation and then validation of Zone 2 training of a consistent block of time. Great job!
Zone 2 only must have been torture for an ex-trackie. 😂
Well done Manon - it's great to see some of the data behind the zone 2 recommendations.
Hahaha a real test of patience here 🤣
Oh dear god, I didn't know.
Thank god, she wasn't bored to death.😂
@@thomaskositzki9424 cant really get bored if its kind of hard though, only boring people gets bored btw..
I'm a senior rider now, not racing, but when I was racing many years ago we (my racing club) would do Zone 2 (that's what it's called now) after our racing season into the cooler months. It was a social thing to ride slower and we didn't have to train for races. When the spring came and we got serious rides in it was a lot easier and we reached a greater fitness level for our races.
Those winter base miles are often done at perfect zone 2 pace 👌
Lol at naming and shaming the 'well actually" dudes pointing out she momentarily went into Z3!❤
It's not shaming if your purposely running an experiment of Z2 only but hitting Z3 . Ironically the power zones suggest 80/20 .
I don't care either way but being a white Knight for blurring the results isint a flex .
Sounded to me they were pointing that out in jest...
But getting offended is "in" these days.
@@Paksusuoli95 or just being twats
Either it’s in jest or could be misogynistic peeps. lul
@@scninja07 Good citizen, always on the watch for wrongthink.
I did 3 days of zone 2 and 1 day VO2 Max internals all winter and got faster that i did last year doing mostly of sweet spot and VO2 Max. And the best part... It's easier!
64 y.o. Rider four months after my second total hip replacement in two years. Training for a week of riding in the Dolomites first week of July. I’ve been doing a combination of Zone 2 and hard efforts and mixing the two on weekends on long 4-6 hour rides in the mountains. I’ve been doing it more sporadically and getting 12-15 hours in a week. This will help me be a little more intentional and organized going into my last month of prep before tackling my dream ride vacation. Getting out the training plan spreadsheet now.Thank You Manon for such a well delivered lesson!
You are impressive! I hope that I’m still moving that well when I’m your age, and I wish I was as consistent as you are, now. Hope your training goes smoothly and that you have a wonderful trip
Great going. Same age and one hip replacement. Don’t do anything like your distance but ride consistently. Good to see someone demonstrating that a hip replacement is not an impediment to riding.
@@KelvinSuddith Thanks Man! That means a lot!
@@hoppers6899 Thanks! I had met another local rider who had both hips done a few years ago and he is in late 60s and still cranking up the steep climbs. We have one climb that gains 3,000 vertical feet in 9.2 miles. I have a love/hate relationship with it but go back week after week. Stubbornness is half the battle with rehab and a professional PT friend agrees, LOL
@@ancientfifer that’s savage! I try to do my local hill 3x per week but it’s only 4km/96m (2.5m/312ft). Technology has given me a gift so not going to waste it. Plan to ride until I go into the box! Also still play baseball (not well) so I agree about the stubbornness. Just got to have a crack. Too many people give up. Good luck with the event!
As a runner I've been zone 2 training for the last 6 months and had a revelation. Looking at my past easy runs I was in low zone 3 for a lot of them even though they felt easy. It was hard at first every time i hit a hill the HR would fly up and I had to walk 10-20m to stay in zone 2. I had to slow my pace down for a 4:30/ km pace for easy runs to 5:15/km and on hills at first I had to walk some sections 10-20m just to stay in that zone.
I've noticed over time those those easy runs have got easier and the pace has gone from 5:15/km to 4:50/km and in addition my HR has dropped in zone 2 considerably. However, the biggest change I've noticed is that workouts in Zone 3 are harder to raise the HR meaning I need to run faster to get there which has meant my speed development has come along nicely. For example a workout in zone 3 that I'd have been running 3:55/km for HR would be moving north to zone 4, over time at the same pace HR has come considerably down. In addition I'm less sore coming into hard workouts and more recoved.
Im 52 have done December January February riding solely HR below 135 for the mallorca 312. No idea of my ftp or actual Z2. But it certainly improved my riding. Outside every other weekend when i could then doing an hour here and there when i have my kids.
Increased training in march and april to simply increasing cadence.
312 achieved and now riding longer faster at lower HR than before by around 15bpm.
I was going to do a VO2 max ramp test next week. I'm thinking of cancelling it after watching this! Manon, you are a beast.
Don't cancel it. You still need to train your vo2 max. This video is just about sticking to zone 2 during the base building phase. Then you incorporate higher intensity into your sessions, but still keeping most of your rides to zone 2.
I love this vid. I'm a big believer of Seiler's heirarch of training needs and this vid further helps that point. I also love that the coach was pointing that out near the end. Also that coach is a real hype bro and I love him for that too. Another thing is I also kinda feel what Mannon felt, that it didn't feel like I was "training" but every so often you get that feeling of "Did I get stronger" or "That segment felt real good/easy(compared to previous attempts). Edit: I further love this vid just coz Manon.
At 1:09 Manon was reining it in so much she was peddling backwards. Great video Manon, loved you gave your insights into the training rather than just before and after numbers.
I’m a 67 y/o male and thought I was pretty fit, and I was in pretty fair shape when compared to others in my age group. I started doing Zone 2 training about 6 months ago when my FTP was at 140. My FTP went from 140 to 190 in 6 months doing Z2 training 2-3 hrs/wk, with some high intensity scattered in the mix. My goal is to hit an FTP of 250 in the next year.
I don’t agree with the host saying she didn’t break a sweat doing Z2. If you do Z2 properly for an hour, you’ll be wet. Not drenched, but you’ll need to change your t-shirt.
Coming from a period of not riding your bike much, you of course, are going to increase your fitness regularly riding your bike in ANY zone. Lots of hard work for you either way. Thanks for your efforts to provide content.
Zone 2 can be a great way to get people back onto bikes, it's a little less intimidating that going out on a smash fest 😉
@@gcnIf you live in a flat area that is. Coming back to riding heavily overweight, I would have to stick to flat boring roads in my area and that would make me quit fast. I simply can't go up 10+% hills while strictly sticking to zone 2 but that hilly terrain with lots of turns makes me love riding my bike.
I have had some great results with zone 2 training for the last 6 weeks. Lost 10 Kg, and power output increased dramatically. I also just feel so much more comfortable (butt, hands, neck and shoulders) after putting in some long hours on the bike, and my position has gotten way more aerodynamic. Today I went out for my first interval session of the year and could not believe how good I felt. I definitely think almost entirely zone 2 at the start of the season is the way to go - and try to get in as many hours as possible.
One thing I’ll add - IMO it’s important to have some (short) climbs on your long rides even if they take you out of zone 2 for a bit. They really help to empty the tank, and get the most out of your long rides. Just try to take them as slow as possible.
Def a benefit, best results I ran 5 miles with a much decreased HR, from 155 to 135-140.
My favorite video with Manon to date. Very insightful for the every day guy or gal rider.
Ive gone from 203 watts in december to 285 watts in april with 80-90 % zone 1 and 2, 1 to 7 ouers rides and still 2 months to go to raceday 👌🚴♂️💨🤣🤣
how many hours do you ride per week those are some impressive gains
@@vladf777 im over 5000 km so far this year, houer vary alot, 2 weeks back it was 6 houers, this week its 14 houers one 6 one 7 and one recovery ride today, then I do weights and I walk
That's very impressive. I'm going to try this in November and try it for 4 months
This Z2 training definitely shows on your face. The before and after is really visible. Which comes as a surprise, since you really didn't start out as a slouch. What an amazing glow up.
Hi Manon, I love your videos training tips and examples, keep it up you're giving such brilliant insights into both competition/racing, and recreational cycling. I am currently following a "Grand Fondo" Garmin training plan, and it is working really well for me. Most ( probably around 85%) of the rides are in zone 2 because I'm in the build-up phase and already I have increased my MAX VO2 from 37 around 8 weeks ago to 46 and recently (today) rode 45 km spending around 45mins at 32-34kmh with my HR at 130 so for me riding the majority of my rides in zone 2 is definitely working. My zone 2 is 110-150Watts and I often have to "come off" the pedals a bit because I'm finding it very easy to stray into 170Watts or higher without feeling any real difference in effort, so as you alluded to; it's quite difficult to remain in the specified range for long rides, but I think as long as you keep adjusting and trying to stay within it, the training effect seems to work. My other rides which are 2-a-week are full on intervals of varying power and duration but they are killers and together with the zone 2 training seem to be getting me where I need to be for racing my bike later in the summer. By the way I am 67 years old.
That was a pretty crazy increase. I'll be honest, looking at the original lactate curve, I couldn't see how hey were coming up with 140 watts for LT1. Lactate was clearly increasing at that level. But with this second test, the 160 watt level is really clear. As the researcher said, it didn't really matter since you were training to heart rate. But what floors me is the improvement in only 6 weeks. I can see that I'm missing a trick by not doing some longer rides. Thanks for this series!
Have to think age also plays a role as well. Would be interesting to see a similar test (with similar fitness level subjects) for maybe a 40 year old and 60 year old.
Nah, probably she just didn't ride much nowadays, so the baseline is "detrained". To me it's obviously this is the case. For a well-trained and actively-training personel no such drastic change could be achieved in just 6 wks... Or you'll making all the Olymplians who train 20-30 hrs/wk a joke -- otherwise they can just do this easy stuff on and on and on and the lactate level will just approaching zero. If only thing to take home probably it's the consistency/frequency. With this program the frequency is the biggest change here. Not the length. Or in a simpler terms, just ride more.
Unfortunately this test suffers from similar problems as early nutrition studies on athletes: the single measurement points are poorly controlled with way too many variables
I didn't understand the purpose of combining Zone training with HR Zone 2 training and how it's done. What does this entail? I'm familiar with Zone 2 training in the context of power training only. Could you please clarify?
@@emileone1 "Zone 2" actually refers to a metabolic state, not a power level. It depends on which zone system you use, but in the context of this video, "Zone 2" refers to staying below the effort where lactate (lactic acid) accumulates in your blood appreciably.
Basically, at this level of effort, your muscles are primarily burning fat (which doesn't produce lactate) and a smaller amount of carbohydrate/sugar (which does). However, you body can actually burn that lactate in this state and so it never actually builds up very far.
The highest power that you can put into your pedals where you can maintain that state is a point called "Lactate Threshold 1", or LT1. There is also a corresponding heart rate at that point. So you can either train to try to put X watts of power into your pedals, or you can train to maintain your heart rate below a certain level.
You can think of power as the input to the system. If you push more power, your metabolism needs to work harder and as a result your heart has to work harder. The power is the input and the heart rate is the output. Heart rate can be affected by other things (heat, how tired you are, etc) so sometimes you want to train to power because you are interested in hitting a specific input. However, your heart rate is a reliable measure of how hard your metabolism has to work, so it's generally a better indicator of whether or not you have stayed in zone 2 (kept your metabolism in the state where you aren't accumulating lactate appreciably).
I hope that explains it! FTP is a similar point to LT1 (and is sometimes called LT2 -- lactate threshold 2). It's the power where your lactate is accumulating very slowly. Above that point lactate accumulates very quickly. You can get very geeky about it and there is a very technical description called MLSS (Maximal Lactate Steady State). But, again, you can measure the input to the metabolic state (power) or you can measure the output (heart rate) depending on what your are trying to do. If you want to stay under LT2, then heart rate is good. If you want to hit your "threashold power" to train something specifically, then power is good.
Congrats Manon on a good training experiment! Going to ride up and down some hills with less "stay in Zone 2" concerns now to have some fun?
I tried my Garmin intervals training workouts, and it really did not work at all where I live. Stoplights all over, and hills. High power for 30s? Sorry, stop light! Recovery or zone 1? Haha there's the hill!
I liked seeing that Manon improved with what is generally a "go ride the bike comfortably" sort of feel. Honestly that makes me feel better about ditching the Garmin recommended training - it made riding less fun. "Just ride the bike" for endurance improvements? Heck yeah. If I want to do some free form training, just go hard up a hill when I get to it.
Of all the GCN videos i’ve seen, this is the one i’ve been most interested in and waiting for!
Cruising speed is pretty much as fast as i can medically sustain/average for any noteworthy distance, zone 2 is basically flat out.
Everyones zone 2 will be different 🙌 If you need some help finding yours, with will help 👉ruclips.net/video/qWSMTbg0P3U/видео.html
Finally Manon! You are the best. I thought I'd never find the result I'm so glad you posted this. I've been searching this every few days.
I live in hilly North Wales, and I found the answer in equipping my e-bike with power meter pedals. This allows me to control my power output and still romp up the hills by adjusting the power assist.
To make Zone 2 interesting also you could do cadence intervals which are at zone 2 but OBS different rpms. This is what I give to my athletes. E.g 1min at 100rpm 2mins at 90rpm x 10/20. Lots of variations to zone 2. Also progressive sessions from low zone 2 to high zone 2.
One thing that I will say after having done quite a bit zone two training is to focus more on RPE, rate of perceived exertion. Once you know and understand your body, it's a much more accurate way of staying in zone two. Accounts for day to day body changes and lets you work right at the edge of the zone easier. Also accounts for the fact that your zone two output will change over time as fitness changes. As noted, zone two works.
The graph presented shows blood lactate above 2 mmol/L. Zone 2, as defined by San Millan, is a blood lactate between 1.7 and 2 mmol/L. The power improvement stated (140 to 160 watts) in Zone 2 is still a blood lactate level above 2 mmol/L. What was Manon's heart rate and watts at a blood lactate level between 1.7 and 2 mmol/L when she started and then after the six weeks? Manon's Zone 2 training improved her Zone 3 and beyond zones, but did her actual Zone 2 improve? The graph does not show this. Please clayify
We don't see you enough Manon! I love watching the guys, I am entertained and I learn a lot from their crazy videos. As a woman, I relate more to you. Thank you for sharing this with us!
I have been waiting for this vid, thanks that was great, its hard to believe something that takes so little effort, at least physically can have such an impact.
Crazy isn't it! If you fancy a deeper dive into zone 2, this video should help 👉ruclips.net/video/dBbK-0vh-d8/видео.html
I’m really impressed by the vulnerability which Manon is prepared to share in this series (and likewise Dan in his new challenge). I can’t imagine it’s easy for elite athletes to talk about how their performance has dropped off (even if it is now growing again 😃) and yet it’s great for us to see the journey they’re going through and better understand what works. 👏
I was eagerly anticipating this video. Thanks for sharing your results!
Glad you enjoyed it! What's next for Manon? 👀
Working with Uphill Athlete coach Scott Johnston (now moved on) made me a true believer in this approach for endurance sports. Two days weight training and 4 days of long duration workouts below aerobic threshold were a game changer once followed up with muscular endurance work afterwards. Don't think I've ever been fitter, or more durable than when i took that approach.
The exercise physiologist Prof. Hiroaki Tanaka did conclusive research on this very thing. He was so convinced that he started the International Slow Jogging Assn. His book on the technique shows the science. I love that their logo is a snail! One of his protégés finished the Tokyo marathon in 2:31, and yet she stated that nearly all of her training is done in this way, at low intensity, certainly Z2 or even lower! Dr Tanaka explains the cellular benefits of it, and it makes total sense.
I Absolutely love watching people go to their limit. Love the motivation and drive.
"Hopefully 300 watts" - what a look to camera!
Great video, Manon (as usual). For me, all of this recent focus on zone 2 has been so beneficial because I normally want to go hard and steady (I doubt I'm alone in this). So now I have a new focus for my training, and, to be frank, it's helped me just get out and have more fun rides, where I don't feel the need to push.
This is what it's all about! When you start finding riding run again you know you're doing something right 🙌
Thanks Manon , Lawrence and crew. ....are you going to keep going ? AND. well done you !
I actually like training in Zone 2 and fitting in efforts twice a week to add resistance. With my lifestyle it works because I use my commute to train.
I have a question for GCN. All the ‘professionals’ I have heard, say; If you stray into Z3 the changes in body response are almost instantaneous, metabolic systems change etc and even if you drop back to Z2 immediately, it can take 30-40 mins before the body reverts to the Z2 systems. Irrespective of heart rate/power your body is still running in Z3. So who is right and is there any hard data to support either theory?
Exactly what I’d like to know too, and how long do you need to be in Z3/4 before your system needs to recover to get back into Z2? So hard to do Z2 here when there’s a steep hill at the beginning of every ride.
This actually was addressed in the video. I heard what you heard as well. Laurence said 'no foul' briefly passing the threshold of Z2 into Z3 because Manon asked the question. There maybe other scientists on the web that believe otherwise as you suggest.
Iñigo San Millán also said it doesn't happen that fast in his GCN interview (video called "Zone 2 & beyond").
This is explained in the video. If you are going for a long Z2 ride you should avoid any prolonged time in Z3. However 20-30 sec going up a hill isn't going to impact the result of your Z2 training.
It wasn’t really addressed in the video, he said it didn’t matter for ‘a few seconds’ hmmm that’s not very precise and there are few hills round me that can be done in seconds. I’m sure clinical studies have been done that contradicts the idea ‘it doesn’t matter’ I’d like to know what science this is based on, hence asking GCN directly 😁
I will do zone 2 work a few times per week where I keep my HR at 130-140BPM for 30 min.
My method of choice is stair climbing where I brisk walk one at a time up a full 15 stair flight, back down, and repeat on loop. I can usually get 80+ flights in 30 min.
It breaks a light sweat and gets me just slightly winded right after I finish which I recover quickly from. It's a good contrast to heavy sled pushes I do 3x per week after full body lifting. The sled gets my HR to the red zone. Aside from the stairs 2x per week and sled 3x per week, I walk 20K steps daily for general activity.
I don't know how many of your turbo sessions were on Zwift, but it's a brilliant way to stay in Z2 IMO...the robopacers are always filled w/ plenty of folks ready for a chat (or not)...I am sorry I missed your group rides. Congrats on your improvement and thanks a ton for these videos, they are extremely helpful to me
We're always on Zwift 🙌 It's such a great tool in keeping those indoor workouts fun 🥰
Love this! They didn’t really discuss the different shapes of women’s anatomy, but when I was searching for the perfect saddle I learned the difference between “innies” and “outies”. It was such an aha! moment. Changed my life. I finally found a saddle which works and also finally understand why so many of my female cycling friends never experienced painful chafing or used chamois cream before!
I did 5 months in Z2 on the trainer 6 days/week for 1 hr. My Z2 went from 125W to 175W. My FTP went from 225 to 257, I also lost 30lbs. So a lot of that could be in just weight loss too.
Wow an hour on trainer would kill me. Never done over 40 minutes
@@secretagent86 Just put on a good TV or movie, or read a book.
Really great video. I’ve spent am entire off season in zone 2 and my lactate threshold increased as well. Best presentation of what zone 2 can do for you. It literally took me 20 years to believe zone 2 or base building works. Now it a mainstay of my life.
At 67, zone 2 is my gemeral state and as far as I get. - Zone 3? and beyond !😂😂😂
Those are SUCH relevant questions you're asking he coach! Like what would happen if I did this for another 6 weeks, etc. And really straight to the point answers!
Zone 2 training sounds great. Not too hard but still gains. I want to hit all zones but managing my effort has made training more sustainable.
7 years ago, I got a Garmin 1030 and HR strap. I read about Z2 training and started trying to stay out of Z3 on my typical 20 mile rides. It took me a solid month of trying to get over a mid ride 8% hill below Z3 and that was mid season with a couple thousand miles in my legs.
Now, most of my solo rides are Z2 and it's almost trivially easy to make it over that hill in Z2 and last year, I road up the Tourmalet going just a few beats into Z3. I've most definitely increased my power output in the lower zones!
9:51 you could get this chart more confusing by making it in a grayscale
Two years ago I rode similar to this for 8 months. I don't have a powermeter but I used my heartrate. After a few months, I saw some improvements in speed at the same heartrate. The last 2 months I saw a large jump in speed and even endurance (longer rides) with the same heartrate. Some of that could have been weather related (90+°F (32+°C) at the beginning to 60-70°F (15-20°C) for the last 2 months). For the last two month, it felt like I was barely breaking a sweat but I was flying.
Brilliant, been waiting for this.
We hope you enjoyed it? 🙌
Im trying to get my FTP to 300 by November. I have mostly been doing hard rides, I'm going to start adding in longer zone 2 rides thanks to this video
This was super cool, great job Mannon! Question - did they go over whether her FTP changed? I am not sure if I missed it
Well, her LT has shifted so FTP would have as well...
Thank You for sharing the research and results!!! Getting confident answers is very difficult to find as many athletes don’t want to share what works best!
Yay Manon content!! What a fun experiment!🎉
I found that staying in zone 2 was hard to do because of climbs etc. So the turbo trainer is a great way to do it, but I found that riding an ebike also helped. When a climb came up, just get that motor running and it was much easier to stay in zone 2.
Great information 😊
Zone 2 allows healing and building, it improves mitochondrial efficiency, and it's also mentally easier to do and therefore more sustainable, I think Zone 2 is an excellent conditioning intensity for any level rider
A wise man once said: ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike.
As a corollary "If trying to decide on whether to go on a hard ride or easy ride, the correct answer is 'yes'. Ride as hard or long as you wish, but ride."
Won’t feel so guilty about just going out & enjoying the long hours / conversation rides anymore rather than feeling like I have to ruin myself just to get results. Thanks Manon, I throughly enjoyed these 2 videos 👏👏👏
Manon content!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉
yea, i mean training works. if you look at Manon's strava you can see months of basically nothing before this 6 week block. i reckon if she did a 'normal' training plan with 1-2 days of intensity a week and throw in a long ride (4-6 hrs) all her numbers would have seen larger improvements than 6 weeks of 130-160w
to me (from the intro) it sounds like it was hard for her to train outside to maintain that zone and that she got bored with it and liked some endurance intervals her coach provided. to me it sounds like a fun experiment but not something to try ourselves
okay fine i will stop going full gas everyday all day :D
No you won't
If you can go full gas every day all day.Don't stop join the pro peloton.... get reel!
Well done you. I did something similar two winters ago where I sat at exactly the top of zone 2 for every ride. I was doing 9/10/11/12 hour weeks then back to 9 on a repeat cycle. Alot on the kickr but I managed it outdoors also. So I did 5 months over the winter and my power went for 208w to 262w. I was amazed at the results. Your video has made me realise how I can improve it more. Thanks for the great content.
Your fitness increase comes from an increase in saddle time...
I've been doing loads of Z2 training as part of my Marmotte prep. The power I can hold while maintaining a static heart rate at the top of my Z2 range for 2 hours has risen from 180W back in November to 220W now (May). It's helped me avoid overtraining and injury. Anyone who has held Z2 in erg mode on a trainer for 2 hours knows that it's not exactly easy. I'm convinced that it works, provided you have the time to do it. Doing it on the trainer is a good way to keep control and avoid going into Z1 or Z3, although I do add 6x4min blocks in Z3 just to add in some variety into what can be a very boring session.
Without all the science, simply remaining cognizant of maintaining zone 2, i have adapted my training over the past 2 months. What I have experienced is an improvement in performance on my weekend rides. Having added time and miles to a steady diet of zone 2 during weekday indoor trainer riding, climbing power in the real world has improved. I feel much stronger and my endurance has increased.
Good work! I only strength train, mostly in Zone 2, and I historically have had a great cardio base just due to that. The proof has been randomly going for a distance run after not running for a year or two.
Nice work!
I suffered with a slipped disc in my back for 6 months so couldn’t ride or run. My rehab consisted of LOTS of walking and therefore only operating in Zone 2. My cardio fitness is now better than it ever was.
This may be a long comment, but in 2023 I started riding in August after having an operation on my heart. I learned about zone 2 training and rode there. I was able to get fit enough so that in 2 to 3 months I was setting either PR's or top 2-5 on my segment times on Strava. By February 2024 my heart went back downhill and ai had to stop riding again.
I started riding in 2012, doing mountain and road riding. I did a ton of riding, mountains, flats, did all the training rides and group rides in my area.
Over time my heart started deteriorating very slowly, but by spring 2019 I had to stop riding all together. I thought that would be the last time I ever rode.
I may have to have another operation done. But I'm hoping I can get back on the bike and pedal around in zone 2 again, cruising with all my old friends ai once rode with.
Very good content and results. Like how Manon really gives it her all. Take care and ride safe, Al
I'm a rower. If you want to "go fast", then "go slow". Seems counterintuitive, but it absolutely works. For rowing, "slow" is more zone 3 though.
Did a great job keeping in the zone as desired. For most people (like myself) it's really more about doing whatever keeps you doing it on a regular basis and having the bulk of it in zone 2 helps me to be consistent.
Over the last 2 years I've done a lot more zone 2. The biggest thing I noticed for me is that after 9 months, my heart rate recovery was much better between efforts. So I could ride for longer without as much fatigue.
After about 14 months I started to do more harder efforts, and that combined with Z2 I saw some good FTP improvements. Increasing from just over 200W to 250W over a 6 months period. So this winter went in to Z2 training with my highest FTP, ready to see more improvements this year.
Thank you for the inspiration! I'm starting my zone 2 training today with an FTP test on Zwift. I'm training for my first century 😄 Wish me luck!
It would be cool do something like this for the rest of the zones (e.g. focus on zone 3, zone 4, etc.)
I am in my mid 40s. I have done a significant change this year, and that is, limit my rides in the first few months of the season to 3 hours maximum, with no surges. The reasoning by my coach was, at that part of the training season, rides longer than 3 hours or with intensity just burn you out, it is not the kind of fatigue you can actually absorb and get better. The extra fatigue won't drive adaptations and it will have you too tired to do stuff the next day. So I tried being consistent and doing stuff that did not get me too tired to train the next day too.
After a few months doing mainly 9-10 hours Z2 with some intervals from now and then, I have noticed an increase in fitness without any extreme fatigue, so I have progressed about the same as other years, but with way less fatigue. Now I am throwing in threshold for the muscle fatigue resistance , and I think I am quickly seeing the gains.
Great film and study Manon. I really appreciated your honesty by sticking to the facts.Zone 2 has definitely helped me develop base fitness coming back from some poor health. I found I missed the anaerobic fitness to keep up with surges by it definitely gave me the ability to ride long and recover better.
What would work well now would be to add the harder efforts and see how that helps the adaptations.
I'm always on Zone 2 Commuting to work with my Brompton. 20Miles daily. Then I do Zone 3 & 4 on weekends with Group of friends.
With all the hype about Zone 2 since Peter Attia and others made videos about it, I think a great name for a cycling café would be "Zone 2 Café".
Decades ago when I was a runner, and many didn't have heart rate monitors, we just did LSD -- long slow distance. Lots of it. And then more recently, cannabis was legalized.
Great video! I've been training in Zone 2 for a week now. Sweating a bit, as it's Dubai, LOL. What I love about it is that my chronic pain has become less intense, and my knee is feeling better. Plus, I'm building strength in my quads and hamstrings. I would stay even 3 months in zone 2 and I am making it daily thanx be to Allah almighty.
So, I did a similar experiment to yours. I had the test at the beginning and end of my experiment, only Zone 2 cycling, almost all of which was on a trainer, one hour rides, for a total of 85 hours between mid February and the end of April. My Zone 2 top heart rate (as measured by the aerobic thresshold) improved from 101 in February to 131 at the end of April. The testing facility told me I started out with "Aerobic Threshhold syndrome" (artificially low aerobic threshhold level) from too much time spent exercising in higher zones before I came to them to be measured. I'm in my 50s and don't have any kind of a history of being trained or in especially good physical shape.
I’ve found my emtb is of amazing use for getting up off road inclines while maintaining an easy effort. No need to go into higher zones if you don’t want to if you embrace a motor
Proper Zone 2 training includes 20% of training in Zone 5, using intervals or other forms of HIIT. Regardless of your results, you need to carefully and deliberately do Zone 5 days, as well as resistance training. Z5 should always follow Z2 if you do both in the same day. My peak VO2 was 81.3 on the bike and 83.1 on the treadmill.
Doing exclusively zone 2 after injury. Noticed how much more pleasant rides are and I am getting faster. Was worried about straying out on hills and loosing concentration but now you have said its ok I will continue.