Consider it as a sustainable effort: “In Zone 2, you need to really feel comfy,” like you can go for 2 hours or longer, Athena Farias, an train physiologist, licensed private coach, and working coach at Get Match SATX, in San Antonio, tells SELF. (Be aware: If you happen to’re simply getting began with train typically or working particularly, the concept of doing something for hours can sound inconceivable. This actually does imply slowing down a LOT—and likewise, it’s not one thing to obsess over immediately, which we’ll get to in a second.)

There are tons of well being and efficiency advantages to zone 2 coaching.

Zone 2 exercises do certainly convey a number of perks, Dr. Olenick says—she’s even referred to as them the “best-kept secret” of coaches and health professionals. And their advantages all must do with the way in which your cardiovascular and metabolic techniques reply over time.

Once you commonly train at that sustainable degree, your muscle tissues, coronary heart, and lungs get comfy working a bit more durable and your physique adapts to maximise these modifications, Dr. Olenick says. Your coronary heart will grow to be stronger and extra environment friendly at pumping blood by means of your physique. You’ll sprout new capillaries, tiny blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood into your muscle tissues. Inside these muscle tissues, your mitochondria—the vitality factories that flip oxygen into gasoline—will grow to be extra plentiful and highly effective.

In consequence, you’ll construct what’s referred to as your cardio or cardiovascular base, a reserve of health that helps you maintain every effort for longer. Due to a strong base, each subsequent exercise, together with ones that take you into greater zones, ought to really feel simpler, serving to you get extra work completed extra effectively. In reality, one small examine discovered doing two hours of low-intensity train per week improved restoration—and likewise boosted working efficiency—after a couple of month; one other discovered advantages for restoration and endurance when professional soccer gamers included extra lower-intensity coaching. And also you’ll additionally see a number of well being advantages from these chill periods, comparable to a decrease danger for insulin resistance and diabetes, coronary heart illness, and stroke, Farias says.

Now, you’ll be able to reap most of those rewards from any kind of cardio train. However the big good thing about zone 2 is that you are able to do so with out majorly taxing your physique, one thing that may’t be mentioned for high-intensity intervals, Dr. Olenick says. As a result of zone 2 doesn’t trigger plenty of fatigue, you’ll be able to rack up plenty of hours or miles of those simpler efforts every week with out much less danger of overdoing it (although you need to nonetheless step by step construct up the period of time you’re figuring out).

There’s additionally a psychological profit to the sort of coaching. You would possibly really feel a way of bliss or a runner’s excessive, nearly such as you’re floating. If you happen to’re exercising exterior, you’ll be able to take time to concentrate to the flowers blooming or the timber altering colours (since in any case, you’re not busy worrying about the truth that you’ll be able to’t breathe or your coronary heart would possibly explode). “Zone 2 is soul gasoline,” Farias says. “That is your time to have a dialog together with your pal or your partner, take pleasure in nature, no matter it’s essential to do to decompress.”

However zone 2 coaching may stress the hell out of you.

Generally, although, this type of coaching turns into much less about merely transferring your physique in a chill means and extra about ensuring you’re hitting your “straightforward” numbers. One of many largest frustrations? When doing nearly any kind of cardio takes your coronary heart charge too excessive and out of that golden zone, Dr. Olenick says—even, typically, should you really feel such as you’re attempting to maintain it straightforward. That’s very true should you’re new to health, or coming again to a routine after a while away.