This will blow a certain someone’s mind 😂

Bigger Stronger Leaner Ellington Darden HIT Coaching
21

Zone 2 and it requires deliberate movement. All movement is great but, unless you are out of shape going for a stroll or playing golf is not going to get you into zone 2.

That is why saying certain types of cardio is bad is dumb. Depending on your fitness level different training modalities are going to be needed.

This morning I walked for 1 hour at a small incline . I did almost 4.5 miles and my heart rate never got above 110BPM. It took over 30 minutes to break 100 BPM. I need different types of cardio to get into zone 2.

22

When you are 80 and you fall and break a hip because you have no strength or bone mass
…zone 2 cardio will not help

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23

Just to play devil’s advocate for a moment, and not to particularly argue for a viewpoint…
In response to dips rule’s comment about a 30 year study, there is something similar, although anecdotal and not particularly controlled.
More and more evidence is coming from the lifestyle choices of blue zoners. There appears to be trends, as written about in the article below. The first point in the article is particularly interesting. Most blue zoners don’t do any “formal” exercise. They just move, as part of everyday living, a lot. The notion of a formal exercise session for 30 to 60 minutes being sufficient for the day, which then allows you to rest and recover for the rest of the day, seems to be misconstrued. It seems to be better to move at lower intensity throughout the day. We in the West seem to have this exercise for health thing a bit wrong.

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Assuming you make it to 80, after a life of neglecting zone 2 cardio.

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Whatever type of exercise you do if you don’t use it you loose it.

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it’s the cards you are dealt determine making it to 80

sometimes lifestyle choices change that determination…i have had healthy family members and friends die in their 40s to 70s
and the opposite happen also…unhealthy live into their 80s and 90s

its the luck of the draw

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27

Or someone texting while they drive and hitting you with a semi.

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agreed…no matter how much zone 2 you do, lol

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Better able to outrun the semi.

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IMO, the next major step in life extension is getting control of inflammation.

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Not if you are in a car

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Speaks even more to the value of zone 2: be out there running instead of trapped in a car.

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You are never in a car…always running???

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By diet, i presume

35

Until medical science catches up.

Our body is its own worst enemy concerning inflammation. In order to combat a problem, it causes more problems.

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I did not know anti-cardio group exists… Jesus that’s stupid.

I tried to write and argument defending cardio, but it sounded so fucking obvious that I stopped.

It’s like saying that getting muscles in gym is unhealthy because your heart needs to work harder to maintain them.

Not terribly surprising. I’ve seen similar studies.

Active lifestyle, but not too hard exercise, low life stress and restricted calories are probably the optimal solution for longetivity.

But, lifting weights, running etc. have also other values to me besides health. And hard exercise is definitely better than no exercise.

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37

Depends…the dose is in the poison…or words to that effect. It seems as though there is too much of a good thing. There is more and more evidence coming out showing that in terms of longevity, there is a j if not a u shaped curve when it comes to too much of the harder stuff. Whether that be weight training or cardio.
Let’s remember, ANY training is a stressor to the body. Long term, we don’t handle too much stress so well.
I’m almost 60. At this stage of my life, everything is secondary to health and longevity benefits…for me at least. I’ll get my kicks elsewhere. I don’t need to go overboard on exercise for that.

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38

Regarding overall activity, I see 2 ways people track it. Most people use steps as a metric, & aiming for 10k a day is common. I’m in the minority, I think, since I focus on exercise minutes. Maybe “focus” is not the right word, since I don’t actively manipulate it. More like observe.

I use the Apple Watch and iPhone activity/health apps. Since I wear the watch all the time, it is easy enough to start it up at the gym or home when I exercise, when I go for a walk, or when I play tennis. I also wear it when I mow the lawn with my push mower, but I don’t log that as a workout (I’m OCD, but not that much - heh). Nonetheless, the watch senses that I am moving, walking, and my HR is up, so it gives me credit for exercise minutes when mowing. It’s not 1:1. For example, last week I was out there 2 hours and it credited me for about 75 minutes of exercise. That’s different than a “workout.” If I start the watch for a flexibility workout in my cool basement and spend 30 minutes mostly stretching hamstrings/hip flexors or even in savasana, it credits me for 30 exercise minutes.

You never know what tomorrow brings (as someone posted above), but for the last 5 years I’ve been remarkably consistent at ~85 exercise minutes a day, or 10-11 hours a week. About 2 hrs a week in the gym, another 90 minutes or so stretching at home, another 5-6 hours of tennis, then my yard work once a week. Sometimes there is a walk mixed in, more often in the winter.

I like the exercise minutes as a metric for me more than steps. The steps have been just as consistent as the exercise minutes at ~6500 per day. But they are all over the place. 9-12k on a tennis, walk or yardwork day, but maybe 2-3k on a gym day. If I worried about steps, I’d feel like I was doing badly as my average is not great, even though it is obvious I am active enough.

OK, don’t ask me why I typed all of this out in response to SGG - Again, I blame morning coffee. Not sure what it means for my health either! Thanks for reading if you got through it lol.

Edited to add: There is no formal cardio in there unless you count walks - meh. I ran for years, but spent most of the time fending off foot/knee pain. I’ve done a lot of cycling, and dabbled in triathlons for a short while. That does not include the hours upon hours on indoor cardio machines. If I could go back in time, I’d still do some cardio, but man I would do it smarter. Also, I can’t be bothered with zones. Been there done that. Too much overhead for this old man. My resting HR is 49 bpm and my watch usually tells me I average 130-140 for a couple hours tennis with dips and spikes. Good enough for me.

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39

This is technically true @nw-lifter but I like to frame the idea differently. It’s very common, almost cliche for “coaches” and fitness influencers to explain this point in excruciating detail. Then we hear all about Herman Pontzer, and then “hey I exercised for 2 hours, then ruined it with ice cream and pie”.

All true, and if you approach the exercise as FAT BURNING/KILL CALORIES, it’s clearly not as efficient as just eating less. But I like to keep in mind that the calorie balance (deficit/surplus) is the goal, and exercise is an influence, not the goal. It influences the balance. I don’t like how some people (not you, just in general) scoff at it like if means nothing for maintaining your weight, It clearly helps, and you are wrong if you deny it. The degree it helps is in proportion to which side of the balance you fall on in the big picture.

OK off my soapbox.

40

I think there is a dose-dependent argument for exactly that, but I see @sgg already hit it

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