Sunday Story…On to Zone 5!

 

The corollary to Zone 2 training is Zone 5 training. This type of training is all-out. A dead sprint if you will. Something you can hold for 10-30 seconds. When was the last time you went all out? Really all-out? As fast as you can run/row/bike/ski and when you are done you absolutely need to stop and recover? Think of a 100-meter foot race. Can those guys just turn around and do another at the same speed?

Your heart needs to deliver blood and oxygen to your muscles. Your muscles…the fast-twitch ones…are sucking as much oxygen as they can get, and lactic acid is filling the spaces. Your lungs are bringing in as much air as possible. And then it’s over.

We’ve talked about the decline in fast twitch muscle as we age. This is partly because we aren’t using them and partly because it is the nature of being human. However, we are always operating under the rule of “if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

Guess what? All that Zone 2 work…3 or 4 times a week at 45 minutes or more? It helps preserve your fast twitch muscle as well! It will be there when you call upon it. Now we can’t train this often and don’t need to. A few times a month is all. But most of you (my audience) do some training in Zone 4. This Zone is a 2–5-minute zone before you run out of gas. So, between Zone 4 and 5 we spend 20% of our training time, while Zone 2 is about 80%. Doing this will help preserve both slow and fast-twitch muscle mass.

So next time someone says “Let’s race” fire up your inner sprinter and get after it!

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412