Being comfortable during training can feel pretty uncomfortable if you ask us. We’ve been conditioned to crave the heart-racing, sweat-dripping intensity of HIIT for so long, that now any cardio that leaves us feeling anything less than this, almost feels like a cheat.

But times have changed and as one trend fades, a new one emerges: Enter zone 2 training: a lower intensity sesh, that we think will be here for the long run (literally). Why? Because it comes with many benefits to overall health and performance, whilst being much less tiring! With zone 2 training you feel like you could keep going forever – you don’t stop as you collapse on the floor after going HAM on the rower. You stop when the time is up, feeling like you still have more in the tank. It’s easy, but hard at the same time, if you know what we mean.

What Is Zone 2 Cardio?

Zone 2 training is one of the five heart rate zones used to define the intensity of activity, zone 1 being easy (e.g. walking or carrying groceries), and zone 5 being the absolute max you can push to.

Zone 2 falls into the lower end of the scale, performed at 60-70% of your max heart rate – it’s slow, it’s steady, but it’s still work. Runners might call it an ‘easy pace’, cyclists might refer to it as a zone 2 in a 6-7 zone scale, and the weekend warriors may know it LISS (low-intensity steady-state cardio). To us, it’s easy exercise: you’re moving and your heart rate is above resting, but you can talk to your friend, or sing along to your favorite song as you go.