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The Guardian
10-08-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
The zone zero secret: how ultra-low-stress exercise can change your life
In our modern, time-squeezed lives, it's tempting to do everything as fast as possible: listen to podcasts on double speed, work in email-free sprints, or train at lung-bursting intensity in the gaps between your morning meditation and the school run. But evidence is piling up that the last one might not be as beneficial as it seems – and that, in fact, just introducing a lot more ultra-low-intensity movement into your schedule can improve your fitness as well as your quality of life, whether you're a top-tier athlete or experienced couch-crasher. Welcome to zone zero. In case you're unfamiliar with the concept, or just need a quick refresher, zone training is a way of structuring workouts based on how high your heart rate gets as a percentage of the fastest it can possibly thump. Lower means slower – and most of us will never hit maximum intensity in our day-to-day lives. Over the decades, the most-recommended zones have shifted as training techniques evolve and knowledge of our biology improves – but zone zero, the state just slightly above total inactivity, where your heart never gets above 50% of its maximum rate, is enjoying a resurgence. One reason? It's easy. Most zone training requires you to know your maximum heart rate – the British Heart Foundation recommends deducting your age from 220, though more accurate, less pleasant methods exist – and then making sure it doesn't go too high or low, usually by training with a heart rate monitor. Zone zero, though, doesn't require any of this. It's essentially where you spend most of your semi-active life: walking slowly, doing light tidying, or even working at a standing desk. It shouldn't really feel like exercise at all – but it might help you live longer, run faster, or feel better. 'Zone zero is an accessible way to increase daily movement without the need for formal workouts or special equipment,' says Brian Passenti, founder of Altitude Endurance Coaching. 'Getting more time in it can be as simple as parking further from the shops to get more steps in, taking a walk break while on a work call, or standing and stretching regularly at your desk. Of course, as you get more used to it, you can walk further or more frequently throughout your day, until you're spending hours in zone zero rather than on the couch.' To understand why this is beneficial, it helps to know a bit about how your body fuels itself. After a meal or snack, carbohydrates are broken down and released into the bloodstream as glucose (a form of sugar), with any excess stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen. When you stand up or walk around, your muscles start contracting, which uses some of this glucose for fuel. This can have dramatic effects over time – a 2022 review of studies found that even a little bit of light-intensity walking was enough to 'significantly attenuate' post-food glucose levels compared with continued sitting, which almost certainly reduces your risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Although there's some criticism of the idea that people living in 'blue zones' (those regions of the world where life-and-health span might be slightly longer than elsewhere) really differ from other populations, one thing that's fairly consistent among them is a significant amount of low-level activity, especially after meals – something that the evidence suggests is a pretty good idea. Glucose is also released when you're stressed, as part of the body's fight-or-flight response – and managing that process might be one of the reasons that walking seems to be related to reduced stress, improved mood and general happiness. And there's another key element to the fuelling process – low-intensity exercise uses a higher percentage of fat for fuel than high-intensity exercise, which tends to rely on the quick energy hit provided by glucose. This means that walking for a long time, or walking in a fasted state (like taking the dog out before you have breakfast) tends to pull energy from your body's fat stores. Total calories burned matter, and so if fat loss is your main goal, adding more high-intensity exercise might get you there faster – but if that's unpleasant, injurious, or makes you ravenous, it may do more harm than good. 'For many of my clients – especially women in midlife or those just beginning their movement journey – zone zero is the bridge between sedentary and sustainable,' says Terry Tateossian, a personal trainer and nutritionist. 'It reduces stress, supports mental clarity, can help with improved circulation and better digestion, and it's a more enjoyable, flexible way to stick with training over time.' It's also important to note that, in longevity terms, a bit (or a lot) more daily movement can play a huge role. A 2022 review of studies in the Lancet, for instance, found that taking more daily steps – fast or slow – was associated with a progressively lower risk of all-cause mortality, to an upper limit that varied by age. Another study led by the American Cancer Society found that any amount of walking, even at a moderate pace and at levels below the recommended guidelines, was associated with lower mortality risk. Consistency counts. But what about more athletic endeavours? Well, even people who schedule workouts five or six days a week will still probably benefit from adding some extra low-intensity movement to their routine. A few more daily steps can bring all of the benefits mentioned above. But can going (very) slowly actually help you run faster? This, it turns out, is a contentious area. Marathon data, for instance, shows that faster runners tend to spend a huge amount of time in the low-intensity zone compared with their slower peers – something that has prompted a recent examination in the European Journal of Applied Physiology. One theory is that faster athletes train a lot more in general – they're spending more hours on the roads and trails, and so some of those have to be slow so they don't burnout. This is the first of seven different hypotheses in the new piece, which notes that 'complete cardiac recovery from [high intensity] exercises might take over two days, limiting athletes to two to three weekly well-rested HI sessions' – leaving four or five days a week that can be filled with low intensity work. There are also other explanations. Very low-intensity training may trigger training adaptations in a slightly different way to higher-intensity at the molecular level, or through different pathways. It might gradually remodel the structure and function of the heart (particularly the left ventricle), or shift the composition of an athlete's muscle fibres to the more endurance-focused (and economical) slow-twitch kind. It might also reinforce the effect of more serious training, as suggested by a 2021 study that found decreasing daily background steps actually blunted the effects of a high-intensity training programme. 'There have been studies comparing people doing training and getting 2,000 steps per day versus people doing the same training and doing 5,000 to 7,000 steps per day, and those getting more steps get better training adaptations,' says Brady Holmer, an exercise scientist and the author of VO2 Max Essentials. 'We often think it's best to do your training session and sit on the couch all day, but that doesn't appear to be the case. You need the high-intensity training to get a faster race time, but zone zero training plays a supportive role.' It has been well established for some time now that 'active recovery' – even if you're barely doing anything – works to mitigate the effects of workouts that would otherwise leave you sore for days, by getting oxygen and nutrients to damaged muscle tissue through better blood flow. 'An easy walk around the block is the best way to combat sore muscles,' says Passenti. 'My wife is not as active as I am, but an easy after-dinner walk on a summer evening can offer benefits for both of us, and our dog too. While it may not directly improve sprint speed, it supports recovery and endurance development. Every bit of movement counts.' But also, staying in zone zero is just … easy. High-intensity training is horrible almost by design: you might come to 'enjoy' it on some level, but it tends to have a negative effect on mood even in well-trained people. Going for a walk or a gentle yoga session, though, decreases mental fatigue and improves your mood, leaving you psychologically more prepared for the hard stuff. 'Zone zero addresses the biggest challenge I see across all levels of athletes: the inability to slow down,' says endurance coach Stephanie Holbrook. 'Over 16 years of coaching, I've found that most endurance athletes start out too hard and are simply not willing to embrace truly gentle movement. Zone zero – that sweet spot where you're just slightly active but not actually feeling like you're exerting yourself – can be revolutionary. For beginners who have never exercised, it removes the intimidation factor and shows that movement doesn't require suffering. For experienced 5k and marathon runners, it's often the missing piece that unlocks breakthrough performances because it facilitates genuine recovery without contributing to the body's stress response.' So where to start? Anywhere you like. The point of zone zero is to stop thinking of your day as a split between workouts (horrible) and inactivity (non-ideal), and try to maximise the amount of very gentle movement you're doing without ever really worrying about it. In a typical day, that might mean going out for a quick walk before breakfast or getting off the bus to work a couple of stops early, getting up regularly for a stretch while you're at your desk, and going for a 20-minute wander at lunchtime. It could mean a short amble after dinner or a bit of very gentle yoga while you're watching Netflix (if you don't know any, just sit on the floor instead of the sofa, and you'll find yourself moving naturally). 'Start with 10 to 15 intentional minutes of zone zero a day,' says Tateossian. 'Add mobility while your coffee brews. Park further away on purpose. These micro-movements add up, and for people who feel intimidated by 'exercise', this is the entry point.' It sounds like a hassle, compared with what many of us are used to – but if it pays off with improved mental energy now and a better quality of life later, it will be worth the effort. And, if you've never quite cracked the code to enjoying exercise, it could be just what you need. 'There can be a psychological breakthrough that comes from learning that sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is almost nothing at all,' says Holbrook. Besides, any form of exercise where you don't have to wash your gym kit has to be worth a try. Zone 0: casual strollHeart rate: below 50% of max Super-easy. Slow walking, gentle cleaning, or possibly just working at a standing desk. Spend as much time here as possible: it's where our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have spent most of their days. Zone 1: getting goingHeart rate: 50% to 60% of max Still barely challenging. This is where you'd be during an easy warm-up, walking the dog, or having a kickabout with a toddler. Useful for building work capacity for more challenging stuff. Zone 2: this is fine Heart rate: 60% to 70% of max Easyish. You're breathing a bit harder, but you could still explain the plot of Severance if you really had to. Modern runners spend hours here to build a base without burning out. Can be boring, but very effective. Zone 3: this isn't fine Heart rate: 70% to 80% of max This is where tempo runs – a pace that's right at the edge of your ability for sustained efforts – happen. You could talk, but you'd rather not. A zone that's fallen a bit out of fashion recently, as many coaches recommend a mix of long, slow training and higher-intensity efforts. Can still be useful, though. Zone 4: can't talk, lungs hurting Heart rate: 80% to 90% of max Hard. This is what happens when you do intervals or threshold runs, or ill-advisedly sprint up an escalator as fast as you can. In theory, this is what nudges up your lactate threshold – or your body's ability to deal with lactate buildup in the blood. You can't sustain it for long, and you probably shouldn't try. Zone 5: almost unbearable Heart rate: 90% to 100% of max Maximum effort: this is where you're redlining it because someone's yelling at you. Honestly, you probably don't need to be here much.
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
How to use heart rate zones on your smartwatch to smash your fitness goals, according to research
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. For years, the gold standard for gauging workout intensity was often a simple "how you feel" metric. And while perceived exertion is still used by many exercisers and athletes today, it's a bit like navigating without GPS. On the other hand, your heart rate, and by extension heart rate zones, allow you to pinpoint exactly what your body is doing, every second of your run, cycle, or gym session. Heart rate training zones are a powerful, data-driven approach that can unlock new levels of fitness and efficiency in your workouts. Think of your heart rate as your body's internal speedometer – it adjusts constantly based on your effort level. Just as a car has different gears for different speeds, your heart beats at varying rates depending on the intensity of your exercise. Thanks to advances in wearable tech like the best smartwatches, best running watches, and dedicated heart rate monitors, tracking these zones has never been easier or more accurate. The five heart rate zones, from Zone 1 (warm-up and recovery) to Zone 5 (maximum effort intervals), each deliver their own specific benefits, which is why understanding them can significantly improve your fitness routine. Research from sports science experts at institutions like Colorado State University has shown that purposeful heart rate zone training allows you to tailor workouts to meet specific fitness goals. For example, lower intensity zones (1 and 2) burn a higher percentage of fat, while higher zones (4 and 5) develop efficiency and burn more overall calories in short bursts. Below, we break down each of these crucial heart rate zones and explain how to harness their power for your personal training goals. Zone 1 Used for: Warm-up, cool-down, active recovery Intensity: Very light to minimal effort Heart rate zone 1, or just 'Zone 1' usually appears as a blue or similarly cool-toned color on fitness trackers, and is generally around 50-60% of your maximum heart rate according to Polar. You can easily calculate your maximum heart rate (MHR) by subtracting your age from 220. Zone 1 is often underestimated in its importance, yet it's essential for warming up, cooling down, and promoting recovery between harder training sessions. Breathing remains light and you can comfortably hold a conversation during Zone 1 activities. It might be low in intensity, but this study showed that Zone 1 exercise boosts circulation and helps flush out metabolic byproducts, preparing your body for future efforts. Adding gentle Zone 1 activities such as walking, gentle cycling, or a relaxed swim into your routine can therefore help boost your overall fitness base. Zone 2 Used for: Aerobic base building, long endurance training Intensity: Light to moderate effort Zone 2, often represented by a green color on fitness trackers, typically falls between 60-70% of your MHR. It's often referred to as the 'fat-burning zone', but a more accurate term is the 'aerobic base zone', where the body becomes more efficient at using oxygen and fat for long-lasting energy production. When training in Zone 2, your breathing should still be comfortable enough to maintain a conversation, though perhaps with a slight effort. Think steady-state cardio like long, slow, easy runs, sustained cycling, or brisk walking – activities you can comfortably maintain for 30 minutes or more. Research indicates that regularly spending time in Zone 2 significantly strengthens your cardiovascular system, increasing your endurance and stamina over time. This is the cornerstone of building an aerobic base and will help you perform longer workouts without excessive fatigue. Athletes preparing for marathons or long-distance events often dedicate a large portion of their training to this zone. Zone 3 Used for: Aerobic fitness, tempo runs, steady-state efforts Intensity: Moderate-to-hard effort Zone 3 kicks in at 70-80% of your MHR, and you'll usually see this displayed as a yellow or orange hue on fitness trackers. This is often considered the "aerobic power" zone, where your workout starts to feel noticeably challenging but is still sustainable. You'll likely be breathing heavier here, making continuous conversation difficult, but you should still be able to speak in short sentences. Activities in Zone 3 could include brisk, sustained runs, harder cycling efforts, or intense group exercise classes. Some coaches refer to Zone 3 as a 'gray zone' because while it improves aerobic fitness, it may not deliver the most efficient gains compared to focused Zone 2 or Zone 4 training. Still, it plays a valuable role in building race pace and sustainable effort tolerance. It's where you start to push your comfort zone, preparing your body for faster paces and more demanding efforts. The result? You become more efficient at transporting oxygen to your muscles and clearing lactate, which in turn delays fatigue when exercising at higher intensities. Zone 4 Used for: Anaerobic threshold training, speed work Intensity: Hard effort Zone 4 is characterized by a heart rate between 80-90% of your maximum, often appearing as a red or orange indicator on fitness trackers. This is the "anaerobic threshold" zone, where your body starts switching from using oxygen efficiently to working without it. Your breathing will be deep and rapid as you work hard and push your limits, with activities like high-intensity interval training (HIIT) bursts, competitive running paces, or sustained climbs on a bike. Training in Zone 4 significantly improves your body's ability to tolerate and clear lactate, letting you push harder for longer. Integrating Zone 4 workouts is crucial for athletes aiming to improve their speed, power, and overall race performance. The challenging nature of these sessions means they should be interspersed with easier recovery days in order to avoid burnout: users of the best Garmin watches will be familiar with their watch's plunging Body Battery and Training Readiness scores following demanding Zone 4 sessions. However, workouts like these are hugely effective for breaking through plateaus and building serious fitness. Zone 5 Used for: Peak performance, VO2 max improvement Intensity: Maximal effort Zone 5 represents the absolute peak of your effort, when your heart rate pushes to 90-100% of its maximum. On fitness trackers, this zone is almost always indicated by a deep red or even purple color to signify its intensity. This is the "maximal effort" zone, where your body is operating at or near its VO2 max – the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilize during intense exercise. Your breathing will be heavy, short, and labored, making conversation pretty much impossible. Activities in Zone 5 are brief, all-out bursts, such as very short sprints, maximal effort intervals, or the final push in a race. These sessions are designed to enhance your speed, power, and ability to perform at your best for short durations. Zone 5 is very taxing on the body and should be reached infrequently, typically for only a few minutes total per session. Sustained efforts in Zones 4 and 5, or interval workouts in which you're continually pushing into these higher zones, should always be followed by ample recovery time. You might also like... 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