Endurance training methods

[VikingMD]

I think zone 2 is overrated. It seems like the people pitching it are talking about pros doing 6-8 hours of it per week. I ain't got time for that. I do 1.5 - 2 hours per week. I don't think I've gotten any increase of vo2 max from it. It does help me maintain my vo2 max and definitely helps recovery.

For vo2 max training, I do 3 workouts per week on an assault bike that I alternate two different study backed workouts: Norwegian 4x4 and REHIT. Norwegian 4x4 is 4 minutes at 95% max HR followed by 3 minutes of active rest and repeated 4 times. REHIT is 20s all out followed by 3 minutes of active rest and repeated 3 times. Anyone who says they're doing 20/10 on an assault bike and the 20s is all out is full of shit. 20s all out is brutal. The first time I did it I could only do one and thought I was going to die. Even now, having done many of these workouts, during the third one my quads are burning and trying cramp up.

Doing the above I've been able to get my vo2 max to 50. Not elite by any means but excellent for my age (according to the internet). If I hit my goal of another 10 pounds of weight loss I should be around 55 vo2 max.

There is probably a time limit below which Zone 2 doesn't contribute but there's a study where they had athletes do Zone 3 or 80/20 but they were limited to 8 hours of cardio. The 80/20 still got faster even though they were spending more time going slower.

 

[VikingMD]

As far as individual workouts go, here are some very frequently used types.

VO2= Norwegian 4x4 or Tabata style workouts
Threshold= 10-20 minutes at threshold with half the time as rest x 2-3; over-unders which is 4-5 minutes just above threshold and 4-5 minutes just below threshold.

Regardless of how you do these types of workouts (eg running, biking etc) they suck and you will want to quit.

 

[bossetti]

I think zone 2 is overrated. It seems like the people pitching it are talking about pros doing 6-8 hours of it per week.

Its overhyped not overrated, it works and its a good thing but doing only that is not smart

 

[zneekah]

No way it is great to have all levels in the conversation! If you're just learning some of this stuff, that's great. Knowledge is power.

Threshold= it is that point when you go from primarily aerobic to anaerobic metabolism
Essentially when you start producing more lactate than your body can clear.

VO2Max is the point that you hit maximal oxygen uptake and use.

Many people talk in a 5 zone model

Zone 1= Easy/barely elevated heart rate some times called recovery work
Zone 2= Endurance you can go for hours and still speak in full sentences
Zone 3= Moderately Hard/Sweet Spot Speaking starts to get hard but you still could go for a few hours but you'd still be tired the next day.
Zone 4= Threshold as described above but the practical definition is the effort you could do for one hour but you'd feel like dying.
Zone 5 VO2 Max= You can go about 4 minutes at this effort and maybe repeat with an adequate rest 2-5 times. These are brutal intervals.

Some people add a Zone 6 which is neuromuscular which are short powerful bursts of effort.

At least this is my understanding of the basic of zones etc.

Much appreciated!!