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Zone 2 Is Overrated Says Norwegian Super Coach — Transcript

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0:00Zone 2 training is everywhere the
0:03internet is obsessed but not everyone
0:06thinks it lives up to the hype I have no
0:09indications you could just scrap all
0:11other training and do only son two
0:13training like make you a winner in t the
0:16France are you wasting your time by
0:19focusing too much on Zone 2 and is it
0:22really the magic formula that some
0:24believe it is calling a sprinter into
0:27the front a sprinter disgrace to the
0:29real sprinters that are on the track and
0:31that have thighs that are the size of
0:33the stomach of of the guy sitting in in
0:35in in in the pelaton one person with
0:37such reservations is Olaf Alexander Buu
0:40the genius coach behind Christian
0:42Blumenfeld and Gustaf Iden between them
0:45they have Rewritten not just the history
0:47books but redefined what people thought
0:50was humanly possible it's not like you
0:52can do one like a point training where
0:54you only do one thing and it has no
0:55impact on all parts of the body
0:57everything has an impact on all things
0:58in the body for most people people it
1:00will bring you uh far but you will
1:03stagnate at some point if you feel you
1:05have more in reserve towards then go
1:07bunkers just to empty yourself that's a
1:09really bad uh bad way to go about it
1:12Olaf is at the absolute Cutting Edge Of
1:15Human Performance so when he expresses
1:16some reservations about Zone 2 I want to
1:20listen so in this video he will give us
1:22his thoughts on Zone 2 training where he
1:26feels like it might not live up to
1:28expectations crucially
1:30what we might be able to do instead
1:33potentially better including a training
1:35philosophy that I really like the sound
1:37of now we've left this video long the
1:40interview is basically uncut so if you
1:42like this sort of thing please let us
1:43know by hitting the like button and get
1:45involved in the comment section too Olaf
1:48it is an absolute privilege to talk to
1:51you today thank you so much for joining
1:53us here on gcn I'm very honored to say
1:56uh it's a Big Show and uh I'm I'm I'm um
1:59I'm that you find my opinions interested
2:02well yeah absolutely we do um I'm very
2:04much hoping that some of your expertise
2:05and your knowledge is going to rub off
2:07on me and the GCM viewers in our quest
2:09for improved performance whatever that
2:10may be um I'm going to dive straight in
2:12if I may so the theory behind zone two
2:16training as I understand it is that it
2:18improves your mitochondrial function so
2:20you can perform better not only at lower
2:22intensities but in higher intensities as
2:24well can you explain why you don't agree
2:27with that it's not that I disagree with
2:30it uh but I think um it has to be more
2:35nuanced and what I mean by that is that
2:38I think very often the conversation
2:40around what it really improves in the
2:42body talking about whether it's
2:43cardiovascular respirator respiratory uh
2:47mitochondrial whatnot that the problem
2:50with most of those kind of things that
2:51we are trying to find a let's say a hook
2:55for something that we most of us uh
2:59can't really measure
3:00um that's one part of it and the second
3:02part of it is that also when we have
3:04done measures on this there are also
3:06several studies out there in the past
3:09where there have been um let's say the
3:10mitochondrial function have been
3:12assessed in humans and not only in
3:14humans but also in animals and we
3:16normally see that the mitochondrial
3:19system
3:20is orders of magnitude more powerful
3:24than um or cardiovascular system or
3:28respirator system as well so when I
3:31think that it it it it clutters the
3:33debate a little bit when when when one
3:35starts uh creating these kind of hooks
3:38that that are not not let's say very
3:40hard to to to make tangible when we talk
3:43about Improvement in performance and I
3:46think that for most people whatever
3:48training you do as long as you do it
3:50consistently over time that is normally
3:52what will contribute most to an increase
3:54in performance and most often when
3:57people go out and they want to exercise
3:58people are super motivated they go too
4:00hard and they Burns and this is maybe
4:03also why it's maybe easier to say that
4:05hey zone two training seems to work
4:07because it's it is something that mostly
4:10often um promotes better consistency in
4:13the training without that it necess that
4:15without that it actually is the Holy
4:17Grail uh to to become fitter okay that's
4:21really interesting can I come back to
4:22that point about um your mitochondria
4:25being orders of magnitude more powerful
4:27than the cardiovascular system what do
4:29you mean by by that so if you do
4:31something called respir or mitochondrial
4:34respiration testing so that means you
4:36basically go in and you basically take
4:39invasively or you invasively go in and
4:41you extract cells and basically also the
4:43mitochondria and you take that and you
4:46you bring it into a special chamber
4:49where we basically feed oxygen into look
4:51at saturation and basically uh the
4:54amount of uh oxygen that mitochondria
4:58can take out is we're not only talk it's
5:02several order of magnitudes more oxygen
5:05uptake on the mitochondrial level than
5:07basically what the heart is able to
5:10supply and pump or basically transform
5:13for the blood to transport around oxygen
5:15molecules for that to truly reach
5:18saturation of course we can say that
5:20well you your body doesn't only consist
5:22of mitochondria obviously the muscles
5:24and other things as well so it's not
5:25like it's not pure mitochondri
5:27mitochondri is a part of let's say the
5:29structure
5:30so then you can say well you have to
5:32look at it more Nu like only not only
5:34mitochondri you have to look at it maybe
5:36as weight per mitochondria per per
5:38weight or something like this but even
5:41then when you normalize it and you
5:42account for let's say body water um uh
5:46bone bone mass muscle mass and these
5:49kind of thing still the amount of
5:50mitochondria you have in the body
5:53basically are uh several orders of
5:56magnitude more powerful uh mean or can
5:59extract more oxygen available than what
6:02your heart and lungs uh are capable of
6:04supplying of oxygen to the mitochondria
6:06per time and the way to also this is
6:09have also been studied uh more let's say
6:12now that is the invitro part of it where
6:14you extract mondia and you do that but
6:16also when this has been studied in Vivo
6:19where basically you you take an atlet
6:21and you make them exercise
6:24um then also studies there that has been
6:27done not only uh in the past but also
6:30actually recently as last year there's a
6:32study coming out uh probably this year
6:35maybe or next year but where basic that
6:37was executed here in Norway but where
6:39basically you'll see that also when you
6:43do uh when you do invasive techniques as
6:46well when people are exercising you
6:48basically see that when people are
6:49exercising they're able to extract all
6:52the oxygen that is basically supplied by
6:54the heart and the lungs and for in order
6:57for that to happen there has to be a
6:59system that is capable of extracting all
7:01that oxygen and that is obviously
7:03mitochondria primarily um so that's also
7:07where you can basically say that talking
7:08about improved mitochondrial efficiency
7:11and micro mitochondrial density yes that
7:14is happening but that's more a part of
7:16where the body is trying to be smart I
7:18think about okay how can I improve the
7:20performance so it will look for
7:21improvements wherever it can and you
7:23will be able to document and improve
7:26mitochondrial density and efficiency but
7:29that's not where the largest adaptations
7:31have to happen in order for you to
7:33increase increase your performance the
7:36the the for you to
7:39improve not marginally but
7:42significantly it's more important to
7:44have an improvement in in uh I would say
7:48the central system mainly than the
7:51cardiovascular and also the respiratory
7:54system for you to be able to supply more
7:56oxygen per time whether that is actually
7:58for longer duration
8:00uh but then we're also talking other
8:02systems as well more neurological
8:03systems and other things as well or for
8:05a shorter time where you're hitting for
8:07example U2 Max or whatever and then of
8:09obviously then is purely cardiovascular
8:11or not purely but predominantly
8:13cardiovascular and and respiratory so so
8:16what do you mean by the by the central
8:18system then if we're not talking
8:20cardiovascular or cellular so obviously
8:24there are many more Central is is a very
8:27very uh call it a general istic or or or
8:31very large Silo to put it that way
8:33obviously there are to the central
8:35system we could also put in neurological
8:37components uh into that as well let's
8:39say parts of the system you have of
8:41course some parts of the system which is
8:43very slowly adapting uh to training
8:46stimulus and then you have part of the
8:47system that responds far quicker to
8:50training stimulus but I think that for
8:52for the sake of this discussion I would
8:54say that when we typically talk about
8:56training and we're looking for
8:57adaptations that are typically Quant if
8:59iable over weeks or months then I think
9:02talking about the central system here
9:04could be mainly be limited mostly to uh
9:08the cardiovascular and the respiratory
9:10system as let's say call it the central
9:12system or the system that supplies
9:14oxygen and then you have the peripheral
9:15system which is then the mitochondria
9:17muscles and these kind of things in that
9:19that are to to extract the oxygen in
9:21order to do work yeah it's super
9:24interesting you know because when I was
9:25speaking to um Dr in saman previously on
9:29to he is adamant that the main dictator
9:32of performance happens at the cellular
9:35level am am I right thinking that you
9:37disagree with that no I don't disagree
9:40with it I would just say it's more
9:41nuanced much more nuanced than that so
9:44it depends also what you would call uh
9:47what how you denote or or also
9:50performance so let's say that you were
9:52looking for two def France and we even
9:54like two the France when we talk about t
9:56let's say categories there we maybe we
9:58talk about domestic or the T tier guys
10:01that are pulling the train and then you
10:03have the G here that sits sits in the
10:05middle there and then you have the
10:06Sprinter there but we also have to
10:07remember that calling a sprinter in the
10:10France a sprinter is it's a I would say
10:13a disgrace to the real sprinters that
10:16are on the track and put like that have
10:17thighs that are the size of the stomach
10:19of uh of the guy sitting in in in in in
10:22the pelaton the thing is that all
10:25training you do will have an impact on
10:28all systems in your body it's not like
10:29you can do one like a point training
10:31where you only do one thing and it has
10:32no impact on all the parts of the body
10:34everything has an impact on all things
10:35in the body and we also have to I think
10:38that for the sake of the debate to make
10:40it more clearer I think that very often
10:42what we're looking for when we're
10:43looking about looking for improvement it
10:45really doesn't matter whether it comes
10:47from the mitochondria or does not come
10:48from mitochondria or heart or not what
10:51really matters in the end is let's say
10:53ability to do something consistently
10:57sustainably in a workout but also over
10:59time over a long time not over over a
11:01couple of weeks or a couple of months
11:03but actually year after year and then
11:05it's more about actually using the tools
11:08that we have available and looking at
11:09Power and then basically looking at
11:11duration or kilojoules that we can do
11:13and even look at robustness there as a
11:15function of how what kind of ability do
11:17you have to repeat power duration when
11:19you're fresh when you're fatigued after
11:21certain kinds of workouts and these kind
11:23of thing and then it really doesn't
11:24matter where the adaptation happens but
11:27I would say that uh obviously one of the
11:29things that we know are super important
11:31and you can almost quantify consistency
11:33in so consistency could be very easily
11:37Quantified as for example maximum
11:38sustainable energy expenditure how many
11:40kilojoules of work are you able to put
11:43into your program over a long time
11:46talking about not not only 14 days but
11:49but and not only a month but actually
11:52even quarters I would say even years
11:55after each other and then when you look
11:58at this one of the main things that
12:01happens of course when you start
12:03training is obviously that there is a
12:04there is an adaptation all over in the
12:06body independently of what kind of
12:07training you do if you do two do zone
12:10two training you will have an adaptation
12:12in mitochondria you will have an
12:14adaptation both in efficiency and
12:15density and so on you will have muscular
12:18adaptations beyond that you will have uh
12:21neurological adaptations you will have
12:24um uh cardiovascular respiratory all
12:28kinds of adaptation
12:30but as you start doing this training
12:32over a little bit of time and you are
12:33getting in that consistency the problem
12:35is that you will start to stagnate and
12:37in order now to advance you need to put
12:39in also more of the let's say uh uh uh
12:44call
12:45it medium duration work or let's say uh
12:48call it medium intensity training and
12:50you also have to put in the high
12:52intensity training and I think also here
12:54what is very important to the debate
12:55there is we talk about high-intensity
12:57training we have to talk about vol
12:59volume at high intensity volume at
13:01medium intensity and volume at low
13:03intensity trading and in the end I I'm
13:06uh I have no
13:09indications saying that you could just
13:12strap all other training and do only Z
13:14two training and that would basically
13:16Pro like make you a winner in t def
13:19France you would be able to do good in t
13:21France simply because most of the race
13:23you do in a t France obviously sits
13:25around in your Zone too obviously so you
13:27would be able really good to get to
13:29towards the finish line but when the
13:30Finish Line comes that basically if you
13:32then haven't done any spring Sprint
13:34practice of this kind of thing you are
13:35out you're out far beyond that so it is
13:38a I I think that like like San Diego and
13:43other people that are that obviously are
13:45incredibly intelligent and good in the
13:47field I I I don't think there are any
13:50disagreement but it's mainly sometimes
13:53we all look for that let's say exercise
13:55in the pill or magic in the pill more or
13:56less and we want those simple solution
13:59that helps us move forward and to make
14:02it simple if if if if to make it simple
14:04I would say okay doing Z two training um
14:08surely that that will bring you for most
14:11people it will bring you uh far
14:14but you will stagnate at some point and
14:17at that point you need to redistribute
14:19the volume and start focus on the things
14:20where they have a limitation and so to
14:23obviously you can put it this way if we
14:25say that zone two would be the
14:26equivalent of your depending on how much
14:28training you could do how much hours you
14:30got available for training per week so
14:32let's said you only went out and you did
14:33the power the power numbers that you
14:35normally Target for two to 4our rides
14:37for example okay so your two to four
14:40hour power will also rise every all
14:42kinds of even your five minute power
14:43will start to rise what will happen at
14:45some point there is that you start to
14:47see that there's less developments
14:49happening in the five minute power
14:50domain but still your two to four hour
14:52power will start to increase at some
14:54point obviously uh making it anecdotally
14:58or or or metaphorically speaking but
15:00your your 2hour power can't be higher
15:02than your one 1 hour power and your 1
15:04Hour Power can't be higher than your 5
15:06minute power and at some point you have
15:07a such high utilization that you're are
15:09hammering the roof more or less and if
15:11you don't raise the roof then then
15:12basically there is stagnation that you
15:14will have stagnation
15:16so we can always talk about mitochondria
15:19density and mitochondria efficiency and
15:21these kind of things and you see
15:22Improvement there but again it's about I
15:24think we all the exercise in the pill is
15:26being let's say mindful about where you
15:29put your training and looking at okay
15:31you will need a variety in your training
15:33so I would say low intensity training
15:35put it that way do a lot of slow
15:37intensity training it's far easier to
15:39keep the consistency in that than when
15:41you start to put in more medium and high
15:42intensity especially if you're a little
15:43bit ambitious and you really putting it
15:46out and like trying to dig yourself a
15:47whole I think then you very often can
15:50easily run
15:52into um areas where you start to exhaust
15:55you drive yourself too deep and you need
15:57to recover for more days and you start
15:59to lose the consistency habits and
16:01routines and other things and it's
16:02harder to get back again so it is a it
16:05is a Nuance discussion but if we just
16:06say that you had really good control of
16:09your training and you were able to
16:10balance in the right way I would say
16:12Variety in the training is and will be
16:15and I have no other indication that that
16:17is still the king uh in order to to to
16:20to to reap maximum reward from the for
16:23the training that you're putting in
16:25that's super interesting so so people
16:28who do zone two training and see an
16:30improvement that's as you say it's
16:32perfectly understandable because it's a
16:34training stimulus and therefore your
16:35body is going to improve but that at
16:37some point you're going to reach that
16:39that
16:40limiter and again I think I agree in
16:43that one of the reasons why Zone 2 is so
16:45popular because it it promises it's it's
16:48easier to do so you do get that
16:49consistency and then also it promises
16:51that you can get better without trying
16:54too hard and therefore it's more
16:55appealing for people to do so so the a
16:59reason to do some zone two training but
17:03what would you advise people look at
17:06particularly those who are time crunched
17:08you know where you might not have the
17:10opportunity to do more than you know six
17:12to eight hours training a week what kind
17:15of proportion of should we say like low
17:18intensity work should you do in relation
17:20to high intensity or medium intensity as
17:22well which is kind of often forgotten
17:24about weirdly in all of this so six to
17:27eight hours of trading per week uh I
17:29would say that the old age uh Sweet Spot
17:33training uh it's it's a reason for why
17:36it got a place and it is because it is a
17:38Time crunched way of of course reaping
17:40rewards quicker but of course then
17:43you're also starting to come closer to
17:45because already when you're doing six to
17:47six to eight hours of training um when
17:49you have done this for a long long time
17:51you become more robust and I say all
17:53systems in your body because they're
17:55adapting at different speeds are getting
17:56more and parity to put it that way in
17:59the beginning it's easier to put
18:00yourself into an overdrive mode because
18:03also when we talk about sweet spots
18:05training or or or let's say medium
18:07intensity training the problem with that
18:09is that what what I often see is that if
18:13people have a system and I say yeah we
18:14do this much training in zone two this
18:16much training in zone three this much
18:18training in zone four and so on
18:20typically what I see is that when you go
18:22in and you look at it from a metabolic
18:24perspective that's not the case they
18:25actually end up actually doing this
18:27training they do zone two actually
18:29happens in zone three the training they
18:31do in zone three actually ends up in
18:32zone four and the training they do in
18:34zone four is actually in zone five it
18:36doesn't mean that it's wrong but it
18:38already clutters the whole discussion a
18:40little bit on what is really what and
18:42what are you doing and so on because it
18:44is not really well defined uh so um six
18:50to eight hours of training per week I
18:52would say
18:53that it's extremely important to listen
18:57to your body uh that is important what I
19:01mean by that is that I would say that
19:03for most people a time crunch and you're
19:05looking to create consistency exit the
19:08session
19:09always where you have let's say in in
19:13let's say in in in the strength and
19:14conditioning world we talk about uh
19:16repetitions in reserve so here we could
19:18for example say call it intervals in
19:21reserve so you would basically exit the
19:23session always with intervals in reserve
19:26you know that you can complete it with
19:27the same quality and I mean by quality
19:29is that you're not brute forcing it
19:31you're basically putting in the
19:32technique that is required like you have
19:34the cognitive capacity in order to
19:36executing good with good technique is in
19:38place that's quality but you're also
19:40executing on an intensity as well where
19:42basically you know that okay I could
19:44have done maybe at least two more one or
19:46two more of these one depending of
19:48course on how how long the intervals are
19:50that is the way to also then when you go
19:52out the next day uh to make sure that
19:55you are probably more rested but also
19:57actually more willing to do the training
19:59because you don't remember how grueling
20:01the the yesterday's session was so 6 to
20:05eight hours of training I would do it um
20:09son two training is really it's it's
20:11it's it's fine uh but you could probably
20:15still if you really do it in zone two
20:17you could probably bring it up to zone
20:18three and you would have better rewards
20:21uh from by alternating that say one day
20:23you do zone three one day you do zone
20:25two zone three and maybe even putting in
20:27some some I would I would normally say
20:30that one structure could be Mondays you
20:33do stone two to stone three for example
20:37um depending also whether you only do
20:39cycling or if you do more Sports
20:41involved but let's say if we focus it on
20:42cycling I would say Okay Zone one zone
20:44two for example Mondays Tuesday you
20:46could go zone four zone five and then
20:47you bring and dial it back down again to
20:49to EAS here again on on Wednesday where
20:51you go for example then zone two again
20:53and then again so Thursday you bring
20:56higher so this is a well-known structure
20:58and the reason why is a well-known
21:00structure is obviously because it it is
21:03something that wasn't developed
21:04yesterday this is something I have
21:06developed over I would say decades into
21:10a system where we know that alternating
21:12between easy a little bit harder easy
21:14harder easy harder and then maybe a
21:17couple of days easier for example so you
21:19get a little bit more time to get this
21:21recover before you bring it again in
21:22again this is something that works the
21:24only problem with this is again it
21:27requires a little bit more attention to
21:29details and mindfulness about your your
21:33uh how much you extract from yourself
21:35because you are bringing it at the
21:36moment you start trying to reap a little
21:38bit more performance for the same amount
21:41of hours you're also bringing yourself a
21:43little bit more towards the edge where
21:44you need to have a little bit more
21:45Precision in the execution you do as
21:47well so obviously Sone two the level of
21:50accuracy or or Precision in what you do
21:52can you can neglect that to a large
21:54extent you really don't have to
21:56understand too much about power or what
21:57these kind of things and also whether
21:59you are really mindful about your your
22:01how you feel after the session is not as
22:04critical as if you start to go harder
22:06but I would normally like the old old
22:08age um uh models which is more pyramidal
22:11where you have some high intensity maybe
22:13one day you have medium intensity some
22:16days and then you alternate in between
22:17easier training in between there to
22:19space it out a little bit is a very safe
22:20structure for people training six to8
22:22hours a week yeah I really love that
22:25idea about having one interval in
22:26reserve is that
22:29has that come do you think from like
22:31more of your swimming and running
22:33background because I guess certainly in
22:35swimming your Technique is is everything
22:37right and it feels like swim training
22:39people are always being held back from
22:41going flat out in order to maintain
22:43technique and I would imagine running is
22:45somewhere in the middle whereas on a
22:46bike you can you know you're fixed in
22:49one position aren't you so so is there a
22:53is there a technique benefit to it or is
22:56it simply so that you can m maintain
22:58that consistency and train most days
23:01train more frequently I think very often
23:05when we talk about is already int like
23:07introductory to this call we talked
23:09about M mitochondria and we are
23:11extremely call it f physiologically uh
23:14oriented and very little psychologically
23:16oriented because it's a more gray area
23:18we have less sophisticated instruments
23:21uh or at least practical instruments
23:22that allows us to also track what
23:24happens from a neurological standpoint
23:26and so on technique is obviously
23:27important even in cycling even though
23:29they let's say the degrees of freedom
23:31there are less than they are obviously
23:32in running and especially in swimming
23:34where you have full like full you have
23:36three or as many degrees of freedom you
23:38almost want I would say that yeah the
23:40benefit of all to dating so you get easy
23:42days and you get hard days are exactly
23:44that you are when you go into the hard
23:47days you obviously have had an easy day
23:49before so you're more rested to go into
23:51that hard day there so you can have a
23:52better execution or better quality on
23:55the execution as well as you get the
23:57intensity if you get too hard on the
23:59easy days that will already start to
24:01impair let's say the development on the
24:03hard days and then it becomes more like
24:06this soup training or whatever uh word
24:10is is used used for it
24:13um uh and it's not only the let's say
24:16the physiological part or let's say the
24:19the muscles or or heart or or whatever
24:21that is in the body needs recovery is
24:23equally much the nerve system and other
24:25things as well the cognitive system and
24:27so on so the benefit of alternating the
24:30training as well is also that even on
24:31your hard session when you do a hard
24:33session you will also bring the quality
24:36of execution because when you do harder
24:38training higher intensity training that
24:41require that dictates a higher demand
24:43for coordination and of course when you
24:45then bring it back down to easy session
24:47again you bring of course that added
24:49benefit also to the easy session where
24:51coordination all things becomes easier
24:53as well so it allows you also to
24:55progress from for for for for many
24:57reasons also the easy training as well
24:59so again uh there are many ways to to to
25:03do this and it it becomes I don't know
25:05it becomes a little bit of um polymics
25:08to put it to put it that way but I I
25:10would say that if you quantify if you
25:12look at it purely okay you're doing a
25:14cycling you have brilliant instruments
25:16on your bike and the most two brilliant
25:17instrument you have on your bike is is a
25:19power meter power meter and uh basically
25:22and and obviously a clock so you get
25:26both power and you get the duration or
25:28time and then on top of that you also
25:31today have readily accessible uh
25:33instrument that you can put on your body
25:34like a heart rate monitor and an an smo2
25:37device like The Moxy monitors for
25:39example and that gives you a very good
25:41indication what's going on in your body
25:42as well and focusing simply on the
25:46training that what do you do Z two
25:47training what do you do polarized
25:49training pyramidal training and so on
25:51the whole point is that if you have 6 to
25:53eight hours per week is that you are
25:54able to do more robustly consistently
25:57more kilj per week but also that you are
26:01able to maintain or even improve also
26:03the power output for given durations as
26:05well and and that's where uh I I'm
26:08fairly convinced that if you took a
26:10large group and you put them into a
26:12let's say a z two group pure Z two group
26:14which I don't think really s San Diego
26:18or or or or other people are are are
26:21really saying um that that's the only
26:24thing you should do and then you can
26:25become a two the FR cyclist it is more
26:27Nuance than that but again comes back to
26:28the simple message but if you put people
26:31into different groups um confident if
26:33you put one in a pureon two group one in
26:35a polarized group or in a pyramidal
26:37group uh and so on you would see that
26:40the group that are capable of executing
26:42the most amount of kils on Purely Zone 2
26:45maybe that would be the Z two guys but
26:47if you are looking to have a little bit
26:49more performance than just purely zone
26:50two so you want to be able to have a
26:52nice climb maybe take some straa
26:54segments and these kind of things you
26:56basically need to also put in the h
26:58intensity and medium intensity and you
26:59will see that those guys are clear will
27:01will be the clear winners on that okay
27:04so I feel like we might have have got to
27:06the Crux of this but just to sort of
27:09recap I think that one of the reasons
27:12why Zone 2 has become so popular is just
27:14because of how simple it is so could you
27:18propose like an alternative training
27:20philosophy then as I said I think we've
27:23touched on it already but a philosophy
27:25that would be potentially more effective
27:28but as easy to understand and carry out
27:32I would say it depends a little bit on
27:34your your your target obviously whether
27:35you looking to just exactly you are a
27:37straa segment hunter or whether you are
27:40more like purely exercising to increase
27:42your longivity and you're just looking
27:43for that consistency and simplicity and
27:45so on but even then I would say that uh
27:48there are things we can measure today we
27:50have a lot of good instruments today but
27:51there are even more things we can't
27:53really measure today and where that
27:54where you need to be mindful mindful
27:56about it and that's where exactly let's
27:58say that the reason why zone two
28:00training are very effective is exactly
28:02that it's it's it's you are you are
28:04let's say you're taking away
28:08uh different parts that potentially can
28:12lead to let's say a burnout or or that
28:14you're driving yourself through the
28:16ground uh in a couple of weeks time
28:18problem very often is that uh or we we
28:21we are very simply in our mind we look
28:23at what we did yesterday so when we get
28:24really tired today we're looking at what
28:26did I do yesterday why why I'm so tired
28:28today but in fact it was maybe the
28:29training over the last three four weeks
28:32that actually resulted in that today is
28:34the day you really feel it and we start
28:36hammering rather yesterday and we don't
28:37actually understand the larger picture
28:39of it so zone two training in that sense
28:42is of obviously uh nice and easy because
28:44it doesn't really require a lot of
28:47uh it should feel easy that's the whole
28:49point with it uh I would say that if I
28:52were to propose a different training
28:53philosophy philosophy is one you when
28:56you first have a pet on your bike which
28:57you probably have use it and and and
29:03decide before you go out in training
29:05what intensity you going to
29:07nail uh and don't if you feel you are
29:10more in reserve towards the end go
29:12Bonkers just to EMP yourself that's our
29:14really bad uh bad way to go about it so
29:17I I I would rather be like be think that
29:20there's a day after tomorrow the session
29:22that you do today is not what's going to
29:24lead to an increased performance because
29:26that would be nice then all two
29:27different Riders could basically just go
29:29out the day before to the France put in
29:31a monster session and then win to the
29:33France you it's the consistency that
29:35brings them up to the level where they
29:36are so to create a consistency decide on
29:40what you going to do before the session
29:41and stick to the plan don't deviate from
29:43it stick to the plan and then the only
29:46deviation you're going to make from that
29:48plan is to reduce it and that is based
29:51on feeling that okay can I execute one
29:53more the next interval with the same
29:55quality as I did the previous one and
29:57then I talking about quality I'm talking
29:59about executions so technique that
30:00you're mindful about when do you're not
30:02ending up where you're just brute
30:04forcing through the last interal because
30:07bad idea again that's why son two
30:09training works so again to to to to
30:13improve the whole program and to propose
30:16I call it another philosophy or let's
30:17say an improvement to that philosophy it
30:19is use your instruments your power meter
30:21and basically go out and have more
30:23training where you have easy days hard
30:25days or let's say easy days medium days
30:28hard days space them in with the easy
30:30days in between try to pick maybe three
30:33sessions three let's say medium to hard
30:35days a week and always leave the hard
30:38sessions with let's say intervals in
30:42reserve so even if you plan with 10
30:44intervals if you start to feel that no
30:45the two last intervals here is going to
30:47dig me through the ground skip them and
30:50you will I I'm I'm pretty sure you will
30:52actually start to see more even more
30:54improvements in your program than purely
30:56doing zone two training but it dictates
30:59that you basically are able to keep the
31:01consistency if you're not di it back a
31:03little bit and then grow it again but
31:07don't go
31:09bunkers I feel like you're looking into
31:11my soul when you're saying if you got
31:13something left in the tank buers
31:17just that that that it is exactly for
31:21those people the so let's say the zone
31:22two why why because like going bunkers
31:26that's what we all when we exercising oh
31:28yeah come on now 1 of January I promise
31:31myself Beach Body 2024 here I come and
31:34you you are motivated you go out and you
31:36just want to feel almost that blood
31:38taste in your mouth going out of that
31:40session afterwards the problem is that
31:42when you read in the papers yeah these
31:44many new subscribers to the training
31:46center or the fitness center 1 of
31:47January 80% of them gone 1 of February
31:51simply because they drained themselves
31:53over the weeks that came in there and
31:55they don't understand what maybe they
31:57they end up thinking it must be a flu or
31:59something like that that no you
32:01basically empty the battery and the
32:03problem is that we don't have a good
32:04battery indicator on the body say oh
32:06this is how much I need to recover to be
32:08back at 100% or 90% or whatever we don't
32:11have that indicator that is training
32:13smartness what which needs to be
32:15developed over time and the only way to
32:16develop that over time is to get in
32:19consistency and getting into consistency
32:21means holding back great St that's
32:24absolutely fantastic well yeah it's been
32:27brilliant talking to you um and uh and
32:30yeah some incredible insights there so
32:32thank you very much yeah my pleasure one
32:36interval in reserve write that down I
32:40Bloom and loved that blooming loved it I
32:42hope you did too as well Olaf
32:45unsurprisingly is coming at this from a
32:46really high performance perspective but
32:48don't let that obscure the lessons that
32:51we can all learn in there consistency
32:54absolutely key and you can get that by
32:56not absolutely B ing yourself on any
32:59session and then variety as well tuned
33:02to whatever goal or objective you might
33:05have in mind and crucially whilst I was
33:09expecting him perhaps to rubbish Zone 2
33:11training he did not Zone 2 is definitely
33:15a way to train even if perhaps it is not
33:18the most effective but if you enjoy it
33:21and it gives you consistency then
33:24absolutely keep on doing it now a huge
33:27thanks to Olaf for his time today again
33:29if you've enjoyed this video please give
33:31it a thumbs up hit the like button and
33:34then we will get another amazing
33:36interview sorted for you at some point
33:38soon

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