Trainer Says This 30-Minute “Fat-Burning Walk” Works Better Than Running

Do you want to burn fat and reap lots of benefits without having to exert too much energy? Lucas Rokwood (@yogabody) is the founder of Yoga Body, a group that includes 23K+ certified teachers, teacher certification, and diploma programs. “We believe practice is everything,” reads the Instagram bio for his page. “If you are interested in weight loss, hormonal balance, health span or lifespan longevity, you've no doubt heard all the chatter about zone 2 cardio,” he says in a viral YouTube video, going on to discuss everything from what it is and the health benefits to the best ways to do it.

Zone 2 Cardio Is a Highly Hyped Exercise Method

“Zone 2 cardio. It is phenomenal for your heart health. It can enhance our other aspects of fitness. It can help reduce stress and is the most important place to be. Training your mitochondria is one of the hallmarks of aging. Zone 2 cardio is being recommended by medical doctors, personal trainers, and even the WHO,” he says in the video.

However, Most People Don’t Understand What It Is

“But most people I talk to, number one, they don't know what zone two is. How do they calculate it? Number two, they're worried they need some expensive watch or chest strap to be able to get into zone 2. That's not true. And thirdly, probably most importantly, people either don't want to run because they hate it or they can't run because their knees hurt too much. If you can relate to anything that I've been sharing with you, this video's for you,” he said.

It Offers Lots of Benefits Because It Builds Your VO2 Max/

“Zone 2 cardio really serves as a keystone, as a bedrock for everything that we do. It's really, really great for hormonal health, specifically insulin sensitivity. It's excellent for your circulation and your immune system, and it helps to establish something called cardio, respiratory fitness, your heart, and your lungs working together. This is often measured with something called VO2 max, and zone two cardio is crucial for your VO2 max. Think about building a pyramid. A VO2 max is the height of the pyramid. The key to building a high VO2 max is saying, I'm going to spend about 80% of my aerobic training time in 2,” he says.

It Is Especially Great for People in Their Second Half of Life

“A lot of people emphasize high-intensity interval training, and that can play a role. We might talk about that another day, but a much bigger part of your VO2 max is low-intensity steady-state cardio, which we'll get into today. For many of us, when we think about getting in shape, we think about training for a marathon or we think about boot camp hardcore exercise, and there's a time and a place for all of those. But when you're in the second half of life, if you haven't exercised in a while if your knees hurt, or if you're just looking for something that's extremely sustainable. Zone 2 cardio is really a magic bullet for many people,” he says.

It Has to Do with Your Heart Rate Zones

“When you start to dig into the research around zone 2 cardio really quickly, you find it's one of the safest, most accessible, and long-term lifetime sustainable activities to reduce hypertension, to manage your body weight, to improve your mood, to reduce your risk of type two diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality and you don't really need any formal training,” he maintains. “You just get out there and start walking. Zone 2 cardio is in reference to the heart rate zones. There are five of them, and zone five is like an all-out sprint, like your heart beating out of your chest, and zone two is about 60 to 70% of your heart max. This is a brisk walk or a light jog. It's a pretty comfortable way to exercise, and you'd be surprised how beneficial it is.”

How to Calculate Your Zone 2

How do you know you are in zone 2? “Here's the math equation. Take the number 220 and subtract your age. So I'm 45, so 220 minus 45 gives you 175. Take 175 and multiply that by 0.7 or 70%, and that gives me around 122 beats per minute. That would be the upper limit of my zone 2 heart rate,” he says. “Now, I know some of you're saying numbers, numbers, I don't know what any of that means. If you have a smartwatch like I do, an Apple watch, or a chest strap band, you can use that to know your upper limit and keep track as you exercise. If you don't have one, don't worry.”

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You Can Also Do the Talk Test

“There's another way that's just about as accurate and much, much simpler. It's called the talk test,” he says. “When you're doing a weighted walk, an inclined walk, like we'll talk about in a moment or a light jog, you simply want to be doing a level of exertion where you can hold a conversation without your voice sounding like you're running. If your voice is gasping for air and it's very clear that you're under strain, you're probably pushing outside of your zone 2.”

It Is Basically “Forever Pace Cardio

He reminds us that zone 2 is low intensity, moderate. “I like to call it forever pace cardio, meaning if you were to start off walking or jogging right now, obviously you wouldn't go forever, but if your goal was, let me pick a pace that I could conceivably if I had to go forever, that's about the rate that we're looking for. Once you've established your rate, what you're looking for is about 30 minutes a day, five days per week, so a total of about 150 minutes per week. Now if you're so inclined, you could stack that and do longer sessions here or there. You could also spread it out and do shorter sessions more often, but around 150 minutes per week is generally agreed upon, and it is a really great base for your zone two cardiorespiratory fitness routine,” he says.

The Problem with Running and Cycling

“The moment you mention cardio, almost everyone thinks of jogging or running, and that can work if that works for you. The next thing that people think about is cycling and that might work for you,” he says. “Here's what I've experienced. Most of my clients, if they do a lot of jogging, a lot of running, their knees hurt. It's just a reality of being in the second half of life. Here's what I've found for myself and most of my clients. Cycling, while a really great workout for many people, can't quite get up into zone two, or at least they can't hold it consistently without really, really exerting themselves.”

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The Best Zone 2 Cardio Workout Is Inclined Walk, He Says

“For that reason, for many people, I recommend doing an inclined walk. There are a number of different ways to do this. You could go hill climbing, you could go on a hike, you could find a staircase. I like to do it with a treadmill. I know people find treadmills boring, and I used to find them boring as well, but as a training tool, it's really invaluable because you can set it and forget it. You can choose an incline. You can choose a speed, you can check your heart rate or do that talk test. You can get yourself into a zone two, get your 30 minutes in, and be done with it,” he says. The bottom line? “This is probably a new way of working out for many of you. Most of us push too hard, too, and frequently. The goal here is to be gentle more often.” And if you enjoyed this article, don't miss 12-3-30 Walking Method: 20 Proven Tips to Lose Weight Faster.