Ultimate Guide to Zone 2 Training (Low Heart Rate)

Are your zones calculated in garmin based on MaxHR? If you base your zones on LTHR it is more accurate

Do the lactate test at home 😊

This is the Shervin content that slaps! Kudos

Is it safe to be in a zone 4-5 for over 2 hours? For a run

Great vid, I did a energy expenditure test at a local centre recently and outcome was to keep my heart rate around 110 to maximize fat burn over carb burn. Much lower then I thought it would be.

Right on time! As I'm starting to train in zone 2 again

Do you need 3 zone-2 sessions to see progress even for a totally untrained individual?

I recognize the end of „Base” zone when im unable to breath via the nose anymore. It matches exactly with metrics that garmin provides.

Really appreciate your content brother!

My fave method for calculating Zone 2 on my Garmin is HRR%. That's the calc that takes max HR and resting HR into account - I found Lactate Threshold calcs were more geared for the higher zones like zone 4 and 5 and my Zone 2 was way too high. I noticed the results kicking in after a few months by sticking with the HRR Zone 2.

"Don't obsess over the data", -shows clip of himself wearing like 5 different wearables capturing his health data xD

My zone two is very similar using the Karvoven Formula and the Garmin % Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR) setting with a heart rate monitor. My last Marathon was 3 hours 31 min earlier this October 2024. Lets see if I can run faster next year running in zone 2 using Garmin %LTHR along with some interval and threshold training.

There's a Zone 6!? 😅

Where can you get this test done? A hospital or what?

You know views are going down when you have to remake your most popular one hit wonder video.

Great work. Always thought the whoop came in a bit low. Talk test it is!

Top notch content 🔥

Dear Shervin, Oura added Zones recently. Would you be willing to share these here too?

How to combine all of this with gym, it’s becoming overwhelming.

3 times a week cardio + 4 times a week strength training - all to maintain your health for longevity, when to live and where to get energy for all of this?

This one video answered most of my questions reg Zone 2 , Excellent stuff man ❤ Thanks !

Shervin rockin’ with the much maligned Fenix 8. Almost got me wanting to get one, but that price tag, geesh.

Started Zone 2 training a couple of months ago. Running and cycling. And only Zone 2 training. And it felt good. Especially the fact that I'm was completely wasted and trained even more. Then I saw my resting Hr dropping and at first, I was very happy. Because it gave me confidence that I was doing good. But then it switched to anxiety.... I was too much busy with the numbers. I slept worse because of it. Now I try not to look too much at the data. Hopefully this crap mind of mine will calm down at some point.

I'm only a few weeks into training for a 10k using Garmin coaching. Historically I've spent way more time on a bike, so running, especially on a plan and focusing on improvement, is pretty new to me. It was interesting to see how very different Garmin and Strava estimated my zones. But someone below commented on how to adjust Garmin based on HRR. Doing that brought them much more in line. Thanks for this video!

I’ve landed on using the Karvonen formula after so much confusion. The most common “formula” I hear is 60-70% of max heart rate which would be 109-127bpm. Under the Karvonen formula it is 136-152bmp. This is two completely different definitions of zone 2. Listening to Dr Attia’s conversation with the cycling trainer that invented zone 2 training (pretty sure he is considered as inventing it), the litmus test is whether you can not just hold a conversation, but that if you were on the phone with someone, they could tell you were exercising even though you can hold the conversation. For me the Karvonen formula and this litmus test are very closely aligned.

The breath-through-the-nose and talk tests allow much too high a max heart rate, in my experience.

Some people are afraid to lose their fitness because they are going lower than usual but it just takes some time to adapt

That lab looks sick!!!

best tips for zone 2 without any devices:
1.) train it on your own. it’s specific to your fitness level & experience & training zone 2 with others will inadvertently add competition / ego
2.) talk test is great but not very practical - for consistency I find just only breathing through your nose for the entirety of the session is an easy way to make sure you’re not overdoing it.
3.) keeping in the back of your mind that it’s a workout pace that you could hold for hours if you had to - the session might go for 45 minutes but if the survival of the world required you to continue for another 45 minutes you could do it.
4.) lastly as an addition to drive home that fat fuelled pathway i’d recommend training zone 2 fasted preferably first thing upon waking up.

Very helpful!!!

basically, the only very very expert is that major topic is Inigo S.M. link to his videos...

I just do keto then everything I do uses fat as a fuel source

Nope, still not the ultimate guide. I've yet to see anyone define where zone 2 starts. It's math, but math is hard roight? so we have an 'ooh numbers' graphic instead of a useful formulation for where zone 1 ends and zone 2 begins. Every content creator dealing with this subject ignores where the range begins, or wets a finger to test the wind and guesses. How do you know if you're going too easy? With this and many other ultimate guides, you don't, you just have to trust me bro.

Let’s say my zone 2 ceiling is 127BPM measured in a lab….that is…..I’m getting my blood lactate measured every 5 minutes after a 30 minute run and get the lactate dialed in to 1.99999 when I am at 127 BPM. So if then train for the next 3 months doing nothing but Z2 between 118 bpm and 123 bpm, is that measurably better or worse than if I had trained between 121 and 127?

I ask because I have seen exactly zero studies that have asserted that being right around your
Zone 2 ceiling is optimal compared to 3-8 beats below….or even 5 beats above the Z2 floor. With that being said, why should we get so bent out of shape trying to nail it perfectly? Get on a treadmill, make sure you have on a chest strap, and start running ensuring that you can breathe in with 5 strides and breathe out with 5 strides. I guarantee you are in Z2, and that’s the place where you just pile on the distance and get those Z2 gains.

I have my own way to determine my LT1 pace. i.e when I do steady state pace runs that are more than 1.5 hours long, I do a post run analysis to see if for that run my HR is also steady state. Another day, I will run at a faster steady state pace of the same or longer duration and if this time my HR is not longer steady state and keeps climbing up, I treat that run as exceeding my LT1. Hence the previous slower run would be my LT1 threshold pace.

Great video! Thank you for this!

Does a heart rate above zone 2 make you not burn as much fat? Why do ppl some for zone 2 over more intense zones?

Zone 4 and 5 is where the actual magic happens even Iñigo confirmed it in his channel.

I was looking into the zone settings in the Garmin app and I can see that there is a significant difference in the zones depending whether they are based on BPM or HHR. For me the ranges are lower using BPM. What would be the most optimal to use?

Slow deep diaphragmatic breaths help me. Can't use heart rate due to massive anxiety. Tried it and can't do it. So, working on my breathing, maybe 6 in and 6 out is a good one for me.

Ive been stabbed, shot and im still deathly afraid of needles and pricking my fingers.

Btw ive never been stabbed or shot but i think thats how id feel haha

Good information, sub-par presentation.

Hi, what is the difference between the heart rate zone ranges in the Garmin app for the fields labeled ‘Zones’ and ‘Sport heart rate’? In my case, it shows a range of 104-120 bpm for Zone 2 and 123-136 bpm for running in Zone 2, which is a bit confusing. Shouldn't these numbers be the same for walking, running, and cycling?

If you dont want to talk to strangers, just sing or even hum whilst running.

"You're not literally burning fat, you're just using it as a fuel source" Well, that's the same thing. 😘

I am shifting focus from running 5/6 times per week to 3 runs, 3 gym - would love a video on balancing the both to be a hybrid athlete, rather than either a sub 3 marathon or benching 350.

Sometimes i can literally smell that burning fat 🤢🤣