Don't Make These Zone 2 Training Mistakes

🤔What training tips would you like us to teach you about? Let us know 👇

Si is still the best GCN presenter.

I’m an older lifelong cyclist, and I bought an ebike after suffering a pulmonary embolism and permanently losing part of my left lung. I quickly learned that it allows me to separate my terrain from my workout intensity. So I do a lot of “epic” mountain bike rides, which keep my enthusiasm up, but can easily adjust zone with the assist level lever. I try to keep to the 80:20 rule or roughly 80% zone 2 and 20% sub and super threshold, which works very well for me. A bonus is I get to go places I never could on my analog Mtn bike or road bike, that are amazing and sparsely travelled.

I believe the indoor trainer is the only place you'll get a consistent long enough time to be at zone 2 for benefit, keep the outdoors to mixing it up and enjoying the moment. Good video.

The “life is too short” statement is the best I have ever heard. It needs to be proclaimed more. Thanks for the video. You have given me one more reason to be on the bike. Enjoy the weekend, enjoy the ride.

Yep, enthusiasm pushes me out of zone 2 and into 3 and 4 far too often. Zone 2 is tough!

Finally! A training video that does not advocate for algorithms and gadgets. This is just old-school training.

Totally agree about letting your body tell you where Z2 is. One bonus of tech however is that it can remind you faster than it takes your body to get out of breath. I try to do most of my commutes in Z2 and when I first got a power meter I realised I was going far too hard on hills. You have to slow down A LOT on hills to stay in Z2!

Love to see this. We used to go between Zone 1 and Zone 2 for over 90% of training in Biathlon and Nordic Ski training. The rule was exactly what was in the video. If you can't finish a full sentence on one breath, you're working too hard. Intervals were then hard...VERY hard.

Love the style of GCN videos. Not over technical with information. Beneficial to all levels and make newbie’s like me feel part of the community. 👍

Z2 training on my bike is glorious! I get to do it alone. As a pegged left introvert, it's a great time to evaluate my performance and figure stuff out. I love being with my teammates, but social interaction drains me. Maybe do a video on what Andyc ultra cycling called a soul ride. He's right. I have tons hills around me. I train on hill climbing alot. The day I took my bike to ride around a flat lake was magically re-energizing. It would be fun just for you to talk about that briefly and then just show quiet footage of a ride, the countryside, or I think it's called the Bath loop.

Thank you for that last comment. I’ve literally said the same thing in our discussions about training. I’m cycling for fun, no one’s paying me for my results. I’m not going to miss fun rides to do a ton of zone 2 because it’s the in thing. I’ll do it when it suits me unless of course someone starts paying me to ride zone 2. 🤣

These training protocols are all great, but in agreement with lots of other people here - just soak up the joy of cycling and experience of being in the moment and engaging with nature and the environment 😊

I started racing bikes in the 1970's. Back then, we spent a large amount of time doing "base training". It's now called Zone 2 and is still based on RPE.c Slow enough to breath through your nose was our threshold - just like you mentioned. You also nailed the concept that have been the same for 50 years: In a group ride, only a small number of riders are getting Zone 2 benefits. Many are working too hard (me, back in the day 🤣) while others take it too easy in the draft. Zone 2 training is easy but not as easy as it looks.

I will go by the "life is too short", it's summer now. I can jump up on the turbo doing the correct numbers during bad weather, fall and winter. Next summer i will hopefully be an equally happy but faster cyclist.

Just did a 3 hour zone 2 training today! Was really nice and fun, a much needed change after a lot of intense workouts.

Love it. I recently bought a garmin watch, you know, to data-ify my training. I had resisted for years as I've always figured listening to my body is more important. But I find this vid has a lot of common sense, and may just be the meeting place of the fitness watch and the self-check-in, where we can start to deeply understand the Garmin's levels and what those numbers mean for each of us, uniquely.

Stellar content again Science Si and GCN!!! Love this recap and reframing of the amazing Zone 2 video you did with Dr. Inigo San Milan! This adds perspective to the whole situation which is appreciated. I have recently, due to time and the fact that I can't stand the indoor trainer, dropped the Zone 2 ball by just doing HIIT. Time to add some time and spice in my training by reintroducing more zone 2. Off to ride my bike and so thankful for these insightful videos! More of this content please!

Electronic devices are great, apps are great, analytics are great. Still, the main goal of thoughtful training is to develop intuition by understanding our body. 🙏🏻😌

Guys he is just showing off his all the bikes he has lol This is very informative for me since I have started on a road bike 4 months ago and have been training on my own and I still don't have any sensors of bicycle computer due to financial status so keep up the good work. Love your team❤❤