What’s all the hype about zone 2 cardio?

Should you be incline walking for better fat loss?

What’s all the hype about zone 2 cardio & incline walking.

You may have seen people promoting zone 2 cardio or walking on an inclined treadmill as a better way to burn fat.

Here is how it works…

Zone 2 cardio equates to an exercise intensity of about 65-75% of Vo2 max.

(Vo2 max is the maximum rate at which the body can transport and utilise oxygen during exercise.
It is used to measure aerobic capacity)

At this (zone 2) exercise intensity the primary energy system being used is aerobic metabolism. In other words you are using oxygen to breakdown a mixture of carbohydrate and fat for fuel.

When you exercise at higher intensities you will have to produce energy quicker & you start to rely more heavily on anaerobic metabolism to produce energy (the production of energy without oxygen).

Fat cannot be broken down and used for fuel at higher intensities of exercise as it is a much slower process than carbohydrate breakdown & requires oxygen. So, at higher intensities you are relying on carbohydrate breakdown.

(this is when you start to accumulate lactate and get that burning feeling. Lactate is a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism.)

Given this, when people say that zone 2 cardio burns more fat - they are right.

BUT & this is a very important BUT - the % of carbohydrate to fat you use during exercise has nothing to do with fat loss. Nothing.

You could do zone 2 cardio all day- if you’re not in a calorie deficit you will not lose BODY FAT.

If your goal is fat loss all you need to focus on is the balance between your energy expenditure and energy intake.

Contributors to energy expenditure that you can control include your activity levels (AKA NEAT) and exercise. For most people (who aren’t endurance athletes) activity levels (usually crudely measured by step count) will have a bigger impact than exercise.

Now if we do consider exercise… you will burn more calories per unit time if you exercise at a higher intensity. Let’s say you had 15mins to either run or walk on the treadmill it’s very silly to limit yourself to walking under the assumption it will aid fat loss - it wont. You will burn less calories in that 15mins than if you had been running so it may even be detrimental to your fat loss goal.

Contributors to energy intake include anything you consume - primarily food & drink.

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