If you think every workout has to be a sweat-fest that leaves you gasping for air, think again.
You should perform most of your cardiovascular exercise at a level that lets you carry on a slightly strained conversation. It broadly means exercising at a relatively low effort for a long time.
This type of training helps us produce energy more efficiently by stimulating our cells’ powerhouses, the mitochondria. Over time, this translates to better health and athletic performance.
Elite athletes spend much of their time training at this intensity. It is the secret to helping them go faster for longer, says Dr. Benjamin Levine, a sports cardiologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
In fitness speak, that mellow intensity level is called Zone 2. Its benefits have recently been touted in books like the bestseller “Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity,” by Peter Attia and on the eponymous performance-focused podcast hosted by Stanford University neuroscientist Andrew Huberman.