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Because the study distinguished between "vigorous" and "very vigorous" I was curious about the distinction. The original Circulation article included:

The volume (metabolic equivalent of task [MET] hours/week) and intensity (moderate [3 to 6 MET hours/week]; vigorous [6 to 9 MET hours/week]; and very vigorous [≥9 MET hours/week]) of exercise training were quantified during follow-up.

I then found it interesting to delve into MET a bit as I was totally unfamiliar. Attached is a document with a lengthy listing of MET classifications.
https://www.ergotron.com/portals/0/literature/compendium-of-physical-activities.pdf
Interesting , never heard of this. In terms of zone training limiting 4 & 5 would be wiser for the older folks
 
Thanks Chuck! I too have switched from "all out, beat the clock" exercise to a focus on zone two. The mitochondrial connection is really interesting. For those interested:There are excellent videos here on zone two; https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=zone+two+training

RE: In addition to lowering LDL, statins also stabilize soft plaques. This is one of the reasons why they significantly lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes. For example, someone I know had a heart attack in his 40s. His CAC score came back at about 100. He was put on a number of medications, including PCSK9-inhibitor and statins. The next year his CAC score went up significantly, and he got very upset. It turns out that this occured because the statin was doing its job and stabilizing the soft plaque. His soft plaque burded had decreased considerably becuase it had been calcified and stabilized.." It would be interesting to find out Statens are actually calcifing the plaque. Because that inturn makes our arteries rigid and they will not expand under pressure.
Thanks for putting up the link to the zone 2 videos. I watched the Peter Attia interview with Dr. San Millan about 10 months ago and it was the one which encouraged me to study it further. Ultimately, I decided to adopt what Dr. Millan and many other world class trainers of elite endurance athletes now practice, which is about 80 to 90% of zone 2 and 10% to 20% of zone 4 and 5. My own personal adaption is about 95% zone 2 and about 5% of zone 4 and 5. This meant that my base cardio HR target moved down from about 130 to 150, down to about 110 to 125. It seems counterintuitive, but I can say that personally I have experienced improved cardio in doing this method. I spend about 300 to 400 minutes per week in zone 2 and on Saturdays I do my 12 to 14 rounds of boxing, at which time I cross the line into zone 4 and 5 a lot. Actually, much more zone 4 and rarely zone 5, as I don't like to go too close to my max HR.

The weekly boxing is a great litmus test for where I am at with cardio. The guys I train with are mostly half my age and are a mix of amatuer and pro MMA fighters and a couple pro boxers. If your cardio is not on point, no way you're lasting one 3 minute round, let alone 13 such rounds. About 4 years ago, and pre-valve surgery, I would occasionally sit out a round to rest. Now, after zone 2 training for the past 8 months, I don't need to sit out rounds and train every single round. Once we get about 7 rounds into training, even the young guys start sitting out rounds occasionally, sometimes leaving me without a sparring partner, being the odd man out. In these cases, I use some friendly shaming and taunt the young guys sitting out for a breather round. "Seriously?? You're going to sit this one out? Man, you're a 25 years old fighter- get your butt in here and don't leave me hanging." I usually also tell them that I know that their a bit winded and promise to go easy on them. It works every time and I almost never have to miss a round :ROFLMAO:

How has your cardio felt since you started training more in zone 2?
 
Thanks for putting up the link to the zone 2 videos. I watched the Peter Attia interview with Dr. San Millan about 10 months ago and it was the one which encouraged me to study it further. Ultimately, I decided to adopt what Dr. Millan and many other world class trainers of elite endurance athletes now practice, which is about 80 to 90% of zone 2 and 10% to 20% of zone 4 and 5. My own personal adaption is about 95% zone 2 and about 5% of zone 4 and 5. This meant that my base cardio HR target moved down from about 130 to 150, down to about 110 to 125. It seems counterintuitive, but I can say that personally I have experienced improved cardio in doing this method. I spend about 300 to 400 minutes per week in zone 2 and on Saturdays I do my 12 to 14 rounds of boxing, at which time I cross the line into zone 4 and 5 a lot. Actually, much more zone 4 and rarely zone 5, as I don't like to go too close to my max HR.

The weekly boxing is a great litmus test for where I am at with cardio. The guys I train with are mostly half my age and are a mix of amatuer and pro MMA fighters and a couple pro boxers. If your cardio is not on point, no way you're lasting one 3 minute round, let alone 13 such rounds. About 4 years ago, and pre-valve surgery, I would occasionally sit out a round to rest. Now, after zone 2 training for the past 8 months, I don't need to sit out rounds and train every single round. Once we get about 7 rounds into training, even the young guys start sitting out rounds occasionally, sometimes leaving me without a sparring partner, being the odd man out. In these cases, I use some friendly shaming and taunt the young guys sitting out for a breather round. "Seriously?? You're going to sit this one out? Man, you're a 25 years old fighter- get your butt in here and don't leave me hanging." I usually also tell them that I know that their a bit winded and promise to go easy on them. It works every time and I almost never have to miss a round :ROFLMAO:

How has your cardio felt since you started training more in zone 2?
Hi Chuck

The boxing sounds great. I don’t watch MMA often but I am always stunned by the level of their conditioning! Are you sticking with boxing or are you kicking and wrestling too?

Zone 2;

About a year ago I noticed I was getting high blood glucose spikes after my intense bike rides. I posted about it here. When I started researching it I discovered the information on Zones. Apparently, zones 4&5 induce the “fight or flight” body reaction and the liver dumps glucose into the system for extra energy. I read that it does that when you are working too hard for the body to burn enough fat or get enough oxygen to supply the body with fuel. So I stopped trying to make better times and decided on zone two workouts . When I think I am drifting into zone 3 I start counting out loud to keep myself in “being able to speak” mode. After a couple of months I realized zone was a better place for me . My blood sugar dropped , blood pressure is in the 120s a few minutes after the ride

and my knees are in better shape and I am dropping fat. August 2023 was my last beat the clock session and I shaved off 30 seconds but I don’t think I will bother any more. Nevertheless my zone 2 times are getting better. About once a week I will go all out and briefly get into zones 4&5 just for the fun of it and pleasure of it. I bike 5 days a week weather permitting , 90 minute sessions . I take 3 grams of Creatine daily which seems to help with recovery.
 
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The boxing sounds great. I don’t watch MMA often but I am always stunned by the level of their conditioning! Are you sticking with boxing or are you kicking and wrestling too?
Right now I just do the boxing, but in the past I have done MMA training, jiu jitsu and kick boxing. I've been doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for many years and in 2015, at age 48, I started doing a little kick boxing and MMA classes. The BJJ is a great background to have for MMA, and I found myseld doing well against the MMA amateur team members.

After about 4 months of taking the MMA classes, the coach told me that he'd like me to participate in the upcoming tryouts for the amateur MMA team. I had no plan to do so, but was flattered that he wanted me to try out- remember I'm 48 at the time. So, I agreed and showed up. During warm ups the coach and assistant coach approached me, with my application form in hand. They said that they did not know that I was 48 years old and thought I was more in my mid 30s and am I sure that I wanted to still try out for the team. Funny thing to ask me, as I was only there because the coach asked me to be there. I said: "Well I'm here, why not?"

There were 7 spots open on the team and 28 people trying out. At the end of the tryouts, they read the first 6 names and I think I was kind of relieved that my name had not been called. Well, this relief was short lived, as my name was read last. "And this last team member is the oldest fighter to ever make our MMA team...." Gulp! :ROFLMAO:

I trained with the team, but decided to not have an actual MMA match. I had fun helping my teamates prepare for their fights, but decided that at my age it was not a good idea to take head shots with 4 oz gloves on. Yes, we did that in training, but when you strike each other in training with the small gloves, you hit with very light power- work on technique and try not to hurt each other. Of course, there were exceptions, as some of the guys trained every round like they were fighting for a title and didn't care if they hurt their training partners. I tried my best to avoid those guys. Although I did not have an MMA match, I did have 2 boxing matches- one at age 49 then my last one at age 50.

So, I just do the boxing now. I stopped doing BJJ about 12 months ago. That was hard to give up, as I love it, but I was noticing that those in BJJ in their 40s and 50s were usually ending up needing hip surgery or knee surgery eventually, and decided that I would be better off leaving that behind. I reserve the right to change my mind on that, lol. Saturday sparring is a mix of boxing and kick boxing. Some people do just boxing and some do kickboxing. Even the guys who do primarily kickboxing are always happy to do straight boxing with me, as most of them are MMA fighters and they know it is good to do isolated boxing training sometimes, with that particular focus.
 
Right now I just do the boxing, but in the past I have done MMA training, jiu jitsu and kick boxing. I've been doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for many years and in 2015, at age 48, I started doing a little kick boxing and MMA classes. The BJJ is a great background to have for MMA, and I found myseld doing well against the MMA amateur team members.

After about 4 months of taking the MMA classes, the coach told me that he'd like me to participate in the upcoming tryouts for the amateur MMA team. I had no plan to do so, but was flattered that he wanted me to try out- remember I'm 48 at the time. So, I agreed and showed up. During warm ups the coach and assistant coach approached me, with my application form in hand. They said that they did not know that I was 48 years old and thought I was more in my mid 30s and am I sure that I wanted to still try out for the team. Funny thing to ask me, as I was only there because the coach asked me to be there. I said: "Well I'm here, why not?"

There were 7 spots open on the team and 28 people trying out. At the end of the tryouts, they read the first 6 names and I think I was kind of relieved that my name had not been called. Well, this relief was short lived, as my name was read last. "And this last team member is the oldest fighter to ever make our MMA team...." Gulp! :ROFLMAO:

I trained with the team, but decided to not have an actual MMA match. I had fun helping my teamates prepare for their fights, but decided that at my age it was not a good idea to take head shots with 4 oz gloves on. Yes, we did that in training, but when you strike each other in training with the small gloves, you hit with very light power- work on technique and try not to hurt each other. Of course, there were exceptions, as some of the guys trained every round like they were fighting for a title and didn't care if they hurt their training partners. I tried my best to avoid those guys. Although I did not have an MMA match, I did have 2 boxing matches- one at age 49 then my last one at age 50.

So, I just do the boxing now. I stopped doing BJJ about 12 months ago. That was hard to give up, as I love it, but I was noticing that those in BJJ in their 40s and 50s were usually ending up needing hip surgery or knee surgery eventually, and decided that I would be better off leaving that behind. I reserve the right to change my mind on that, lol. Saturday sparring is a mix of boxing and kick boxing. Some people do just boxing and some do kickboxing. Even the guys who do primarily kickboxing are always happy to do straight boxing with me, as most of them are MMA fighters and they know it is good to do isolated boxing training sometimes, with that particular focus.
That sounds great, Bravo Chuck!
 

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