❤️‍🔥 In the Zone!

Don’t know about you, but this sure sounds pretty nice to me today 🌞 

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I recently heard on The Drive Podcast by Dr. Peter Attia that one of his coaches described aerobic capacity to him like it’s a pyramid. And for health and fitness, you want to build the biggest pyramid possible. That means building both the base wide and the peak tall. If you have a wide base but a low peak, it’s not a great pyramid. If you have an exceptionally high peak but very narrow base, also not a good pyramid. Wide base + tall peak = optimal pyramid of aerobic capacity.

The base in this analogy represents your lower-intensity cardiovascular capabilities. This mostly includes exercise and movement in “Zones” 1 and 2. (More on zones in a minute).

The peak is the highest intensity you can reach, i.e. the most aerobic output you can produce in a bout of maximal effort. That’d be considered more like Zone 4 & 5 exercise.

The five heart rate (HR) “zones” are just percentages of our maximum possible heart rate (HRmax). Check out the chart below to see which zone corresponds with which range of your HRmax you’re exercising at.

The first step in this process is to calculate your HRmax. Ideally, you would be able to perform a test in an exercise science laboratory to directly measure the maximum HR you can achieve. Since most people don’t have access to that, however, there are a couple formulas we can use. Note that HRmax typically declines linearly with age. However, fit older individuals can maintain a higher HRmax in their older years. There’s no hard and fast rule.

The most common and easiest calculation for HRmax is [220 – age]. Subtracting your age from 220 gives you a rough estimate of the HRmax you could achieve today, in beats per minute (bpm). But there’s a potentially large range of error with this formula, especially if you’re a bit older or fitter.

Two potentially more accurate formulas to calculate HRmax are [207 – 0.7 x age] and [211 – 0.64 x age]. The former is likely better for individuals over 40, and the latter may be better for fitter individuals.

Let’s provide an example to make this more comprehensible: For a 40-year-old,

• 220 – 40 = 180 bpm

• 207 – 0.7 x 40 = 179 bpm

• 211 – 0.64 x 40 = 185.4 bpm

You’ll notice there isn’t a huge difference. Plug in your age (don’t forget PEMDAS!) and get a rough estimate of your HRmax.

Now that we’ve got HRmax calculated, how do we calculate the zones? Easy! Just multiply your HRmax by a given percentage to see what zone you’re in when your HR is at a certain level.

Examples for our 40-year old. Let’s say they’re going with an estimated HRmax of 182:

• If you want to know what HR range is Zone 2 (50–60% HRmax) for you, 182 x .50 = 91 bpm, and 182 x .60 = ~109 bpm. Therefore, anytime your HR is between 91 and 109, you’re likely exercising in Zone 2.

• If your HR during a run is 144 bpm, divide 144/182, which = 79% of HRmax, meaning you're exercising right at the top of Zone 3 cardio.

Of course, all this requires being able to measure your HR during exercise in the first place. Many of us have fitness wearables at this point (Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, etc.) that have gotten pretty darn good at showing your live HR.

If you don’t have one of these trackers, you can easily measure your pulse by yourself. You just need a finger and a clock to watch.

First, find your pulse. While exercising, your carotid artery on either side of your Adam’s apple is probably the easiest to find and put a finger on. If not, try the inside of your wrist on the thumb side. Then count how many times your heart beats in a given period, and multiply to calculate your HR. My preferred timing is counting heartbeats for 20 seconds then multiplying by 3 to get bpm. But you can go for 30 seconds and multiply by 2 to be a bit more accurate.

❤️‍🔥 GET IN THE ZONE, AUTOZ— wait, wrong business

Now that we’ve gotten all that exercise science out of the way (I love it 😊), let’s get back to why “Zones” even matter in the first place.

The pyramid. Yes, the aerobic capacity pyramid.

Why do we want good aerobic capacity in the first place? It’s associated with positive health outcomes in just about every way imaginable. Good aerobic capacity lowers your risk of just about any disease out there. Because it will naturally decline as we age, we want to build it up as much as possible in our young and mid-adulthood so we can stay active and healthy when we’re older.

If you want to climb stairs, play with grandkids, make shopping trips, go on hikes, etc. in your 70s+, it starts by building a good aerobic capacity today.

How to build a wide base

Spend lots of time in Zones 1 and 2.

Zone 1 is basically just everyday movement. Chores, activities of daily living, walking around. The “10k steps per day” mostly come from this.

Zone 2 is a bit more intense than casual walking, but not as intense as jogging. It’s kind of hard to achieve this without a machine (treadmill, bike, elliptical, etc.), but you might reach it with a really fast walk, going uphill, walking with weight, etc. A stationary bike or incline treadmill walking are probably your easiest tools to reach this zone. You want to spend lots of time every week in this zone of exercise to build a wide cardiovascular base. It will build your endurance, fat burning ability, mitochondria, and capillaries in your muscles.

How to build a high peak

Spend some time every week in Zones 4 and 5.

These are very high and maximum levels of intensity. You definitely don’t need to reach this intensity every day, or you won’t be able to recover. Hitting near max intensity once or twice per week, however, will have enormous benefits on building your peak aerobic capacity. This can be achieved in different ways, but typically some version of working near max intensity for 20 seconds to 5-ish minutes, with rest between efforts, repeated several times, will do it. Sprints/running intervals, bike sprints, or any other activity where you can safely and quickly go all-out will be your best modality for Zone 4 and 5 training.

Start somewhere—Lay the first block

You may be starting with a narrow base and a short peak. That’s totally okay! As with everything, feel free to start slowly and build up from there. Give your body time to adapt and grow, and you’ll be much better for it in the long run.

After all, Rome Giza wasn’t built in a day 😉 

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: If you’re just starting, focus on building a wider base before growing your aerobic capacity tall. Set a daily step goal, take frequent walks, or let yourself enjoy some low-intensity cardio just to build your foundation. (Yes you can watch Netflix on the treadmill)

Level 2: Once your base is strong, experiment with adding intensity. Just once a week or so, really (safely) start to push yourself and get your heart pumping hard. Your body will quickly start to adapt!

Level 3: Continually grow your aerobic capacity pyramid in width and height. Put in base-building effort most days of the week and peak aerobic effort once or twice a week. The ancient Egyptians will be jealous of your pyramid (and god-like body) in no time!

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✍️ Drew's Picks:

• Podcast: Americans Die Younger Than People in Any Other Rich Country. Why? Derek Thompson does a great job exploring with nuance why our life expectancy in the US remains lower than many other countries. If you want the highlights, it’s about 1/3 guns/accidents/overdoses, 1/3 poor metabolic health, and 1/3 systemic healthcare inequalities. Oof 🥴

• TV Series: Ted Lasso on AppleTV+. On a much lighter note (that will still certainly make me cry), the Season 3 finale—and supposedly series finale—airs today. I can not sing the praises of this wholesome show enough. I think I’ve cried both happy and sad tears every episode this season.

Go watch Ted Lasso, y’all. Then pick a new favorite pun and go share it enthusiastically with a stranger 🤝 

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Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).