When one of the most prominent experts on anti-aging ends up recommending almost exactly what you already do with your personal training clients, you need to write about it! Dr. Peter Attia recently broke down the ideal cardio training both for longevity and performance.
Wouldn’t it be a bummer if your workout was hard enough to cause overtraining and overuse risks but wasn’t hard enough to get you good results? That would be super frustrating. That is exactly the “No Man’s Land” that a lot of people end up in and what Dr. Attia called the “garbage zone”. What is that? It’s where the intensity is too high for sustained activity and too low to stress the body glycolitically. You see this in a lot of HIIT style classes as well as on runs/bikes without proper pace monitoring. This kind of training is hard enough to beat you up, but not hard enough to move the needle.
To better understand what he’s talking about, and what he recommends, let’s talk heart rate zones briefly.
Zone 1 is very light intensity, 50-60% of your max heart rate
Zone 2 is light intensity, 60-70% of your max heart rate
Zone 3 is moderate intensity, 70-80% of your max heart rate
Zone 4 is hard intensity, 80-90% of your max heart rate
Zone 5 is maximum intensity, 90-100% of your max heart rate
What routine works best both for performance and longevity? Something like this:
-Strength train 3 days per week
-Move at an easy pace (zone 2) 3-4 hours a week (aka grab a pack and go for a 60 minute ruck)
-Do a short burst of maximal training (zone 5) 1-2 times per week (like one of our group metabolic finishers)
It looks awfully familiar because it’s almost exactly what our protocol was for our New Year ROGRAM and it worked REALLY WELL. So well in fact that we will bring back THE PROGRAM for the fall!
What is The Fall PROGRAM? It is 4 weeks of:
-No booze
-No added sugar
-3 days a week of strength training
-4 days a week go ruck for 60 minutes (rucking: walking briskly with a 20+lbs pack)
The Fall PROGRAM will run from September 16th to October 11th. The exercise and nutrition you will participate in during this 4 weeks is the perfect way to have a STRONG fall after an EPIC summer! Email me at alec@ontargetfit.comif you are interested and I will take care of the rest.
Who is this for?
-If you want to accelerate fat loss after the summer
-If you want to feel way better by cutting the junk for a bit
-If you are ready to take a break from your own excuses
-If you want to surprise yourself with what you’re capable of accomplishing
-If you don’t want to starve yourself or do another crash diet.
-All ages and fitness levels welcome. Last time we had beginners and participants in their 70’s. That is the beauty of personal training!
Our first location serves Portsmouth, Kittery, and the broader Seacoast community. Our new location serves Kingston and the broader southern New Hampshire community. We help people strength train, walk daily, and eat real food.
