For many of my favorite forms of sport, sure, this is true, but it isn't the case for everything. At least according to Training for the New Alpinism, Zone 2 is the best place for cardio training. [1] Per that book, however, novices don't train there because they share your belief. Zone 2 doesn't feel like intense work, so novices think they are doing something wrong when they train in that zone.
something that you need to learn to love
Nah. It isn't like brussel sprouts (IMO). I don't think I will ever grow to love the exercises I hate, and the exercises I enjoy I have enjoyed since day one. Or maybe day three- the first couple days of a new sport can be rough as you wake up forgotten, dusty muscles.
[1]: Assuming your sport is mountain climbing, or sports with similar cardio demands
Somewhat off-topic, but it's a thread about health, and you mentioned, so:
If well prepared, brussel sprouts can be quite delicious. Depends on the effort you want to put in, but you can grill them over low flame with some garlic and such, etc. you can browse recipes yourself but I'd recommend revisiting this if you think brussel sprouts could help you achieve your fitness goals.
Sure maybe there are things that you hate about certain exercises that are unrelated to intensity or hard-work. But I was mostly responding to how the original commenter said running was boring. IMO it is virtually impossible to be bored with running simply because the pain involved is too high.
I find that the people who say running is boring are people who never pushed themselves to the intensity required for effective exercise/running. They probably ran a mile and got bored. I tell them run at least 5 miles on hilly terrain and tell me if you're bored when you're done.
Being uncomfortable/sick is not pain. I'm saying you can't be bored and at the same time, have your heart racing at 200 bpm or gasping for air like you're drowning.
It depends how sick you were but for me running a marathon is pain, getting a fever is just being uncomfortable.
Fever is not usually pain. Headache is pain. Fever ties more into the boredom.
But heart racing and gasping for air sounds more like discomfort to me...
Actually I have better example. I've had highly painful things done to my teeth while very much being bored. And while relatively comfortable outside of the pain.
The topic is about exercising, and I don't think it means running a marathon. Exercising is about regularity and pain should be considered very seriously.
Zone 4 is the only zone where you can increase your VO2 max.
Although prior to this thread I've known nothing about the zones, this article is inline with what I did know about cardio exercise: High intensity interval training is the most effective method at increasing your endurance.
I agree that interval training is the way to go here, but it's definitely more nuanced than only targeting VO2max in zone 4. I'm going to talk from the perspective of cycling. This image is a reproduction of a chart from "Training and Racing with a Power Meter": http://lh4.ggpht.com/-bEo_kR-QvlM/UtSoVtZ1PlI/AAAAAAAAC2s/Q9...
You'll get some benefit across almost the entire spectrum almost no matter where you are focusing your efforts. You only see this diverge at the extremes: too easy, and you're just recovering; too hard, and you're only optimizing the systems that allow you to go really hard.
For some reason when I think of HIIT I picture people as trying to do Tabata intervals and you can see from that chart that you sort of run into a problem: you get the same level of benefit as if you just went slowly for a long time (this part is key -- the chart doesn't highlight how long you should expect to spend in the zone to get the benefit, whereas the training plans in the book make it clear that they expect you to sit in zone 2 for 2-4 hours at a stretch. Compare that to the 3-8 minute VO2max intervals for 3-6 repetitions.), while only really optimizing your ability to endure future Tabata intervals.
The real reason to be concerned with any of this at all is to focus your training and build up the appropriate ability without injuring yourself and without hampering your training down the road. Based on the previous chart, it seems like Z4 and Z5 have the most number of pluses, but they also build up the most damage as they are physically and mentally taxing -- you'll build training plans around 3-20 minute intervals in those zones instead, and fill in the gaps with Z2 work or rest.
If you're time-crunched, you may do abbreviated intervals at Z5, decrease the time you spend at Z2, and shift some of your training effort into Z3 instead. But Z3 starts to get hard enough where it impacts your recovery without giving you the most desirable adaptations. The ideal thing to do here is to increase your training time so you can spend more time in Z2, but we don't all have that luxury, unfortunately.
Increasing VO2 max increases how much power you can develop while remaining in aerobic respiration. This is great for cyclists, or anybody who needs to go literally as fast as possible for a few hours straight. But VO2 max is your "race car" mode, and training Zone 4 and VO2 max does not help your Zone 2.
For mountain climbers (like me), you do use Zone 4, but you want to spend as much time as you can in Zone 2. To achieve that, you have to train Zone 2.
What is Zone 2 good for? Hike with a park ranger. They can very nearly run up a mountain with a pack, without even breaking a sweat.
Zone 2 in many training models is typically called the "endurance" zone. It represents the level of effort where you could do something for hours at a time. It is typically defined in terms of heart rate (beats per minute), running pace (minutes / distance), swimming pace (minutes / distance), or cycling power (watts). Usually you'll see something between five and seven zones defined, ranging from an active recovery effort (zone 1) all the way up to a zone for training anaerobic strength.
For many of my favorite forms of sport, sure, this is true, but it isn't the case for everything. At least according to Training for the New Alpinism, Zone 2 is the best place for cardio training. [1] Per that book, however, novices don't train there because they share your belief. Zone 2 doesn't feel like intense work, so novices think they are doing something wrong when they train in that zone.
something that you need to learn to love
Nah. It isn't like brussel sprouts (IMO). I don't think I will ever grow to love the exercises I hate, and the exercises I enjoy I have enjoyed since day one. Or maybe day three- the first couple days of a new sport can be rough as you wake up forgotten, dusty muscles.
[1]: Assuming your sport is mountain climbing, or sports with similar cardio demands