Moderate amounts of HIGH and of low intensity exercise vs “moderate” middle-of-the-intensity pyramid.

zone 1

= your daily activities of life.

You walk the dog. You go up and down stairs. You garden. You golf. You have an active job.

Zone 2

= endurance, steady state exercise at a low all-day pace

You go for a bike ride and could ride for hours if you have water and food as needed.

You go for a hike, and it’s not so steep you can’t just go for hours taking in the sites.

You might go for an easy jog or swim just enjoying it (and this is where things begin to go wrong in those who think it best to always “push” or those who don’t understand the value of assigning a purpose to a workout and sticking to it.

Zone 3

= for the kind of distance training associated with half marathons, even 10ks (6.2 mi) in those with less experience. Few of us need Z3 , however, with “cardiac drift” heart rates go up if not monitored and observed and easy recover activity easily becomes zone 3.

This is what’s observed for most and especially for women in midlife, as the “no benefits zone.”

In fact, a better term could be, the reverse fitness effect.

Zone 4

= out of comfort zone training. This is where you interval.

Zone 5

= tolerated for very short times, might contribute to 5% of total exercise time. Not likely to be sustained beyond 30 seconds because the availability of fuel is so minimal and ability of the body to access oxygen is long past. Yet, with brief recovery, it can be attained again.

This is like the sprint to a finish line when you give all that you have left.

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