What Heart Rate Zone Should You Train In?
Which heart-rate zone to train in and when: most time easy in Zone 2, a controlled dose at threshold, a little in Zone 5. Plus how to find your zones.
Train mostly in Zone 1 to Zone 2. Spend most of your time there, add a controlled dose of threshold work (Zone 3 to Zone 4), and keep hard Zone 5 work small. Roughly 80 percent of sessions easy, 20 percent hard. That distribution, not any single zone, is what makes you faster over months.
What are the 5 heart-rate zones?
Each zone is a band of your maximum or threshold heart rate, and each trains a different system.
- Zone 1, recovery (50 to 60 percent of max HR): Very light. Blood flow without fatigue.
- Zone 2, aerobic base (60 to 70 percent): Conversational. Builds capillaries, mitochondria and fat oxidation. Most of your hours go here.
- Zone 3, tempo (70 to 80 percent): Moderately hard. Useful, but the "gray zone" if you drift into it on easy days.
- Zone 4, threshold (80 to 90 percent): About the effort you can hold for an hour. Trains lactate clearance and sustained pace.
- Zone 5, VO2max (90 to 100 percent): Maximal intervals. Short and used sparingly.
Not every system uses these five bands. Compare them on the heart-rate zone models page.
Why should most of your training be easy?
Easy Zone 2 work builds the aerobic base every other effort draws on, and it does so with low fatigue, so you can stack a lot of it week after week. Below the aerobic threshold you recover quickly. Push everything into the middle and you arrive at every workout slightly tired: never fresh enough for real quality, never easy enough to recover.
What is 80/20 or polarized training?
Polarized training is the pattern found in elite endurance athletes: most training time well below threshold, a meaningful slice well above it, and little in between. The shorthand is 80/20. The exact ratio matters less than the shape. The full breakdown is on the polarized training page.
How do you find your heart-rate zones?
Three methods, from roughest to most personal.
From maximum heart rate. Percentages of your max HR. Formula estimates carry real error, so a tested figure is far better. See max heart rate.
From lactate-threshold heart rate (LTHR). Your lactate threshold is the intensity above which lactate accumulates faster than you clear it. Zones anchored to a tested LTHR place your threshold and tempo bands far more accurately. See LTHR zones.
Karvonen, the heart-rate-reserve method. Uses max HR minus resting HR, so the zones adapt to your fitness. See the Karvonen method.
Frecuencia cardíaca máxima
185bpm
| Zona | Rango | Qué entrena |
|---|---|---|
| Z1 | Recuperación 93–111 bpm | Recuperación activa y calentamiento; favorece el flujo sanguíneo sin añadir fatiga. Muy fácil, RPE 1–2. Conversación completa, casi sin agitarte. |
| Z2 | Resistencia 111–130 bpm | Base aeróbica, oxidación de grasas y densidad capilar; la zona fundamental del día a día. Cómodo, RPE 3–4. Puedes mantener frases completas. |
| Z3 | Tempo 130–148 bpm | Capacidad aeróbica y resistencia muscular; trabajo continuo 'moderadamente duro'. Exigente, RPE 5–6. Solo frases cortas. |
| Z4 | Umbral 148–167 bpm | Umbral de lactato, tu techo sostenible de ritmo de competición. Duro, RPE 7–8. Unas pocas palabras seguidas. |
| Z5 | VO₂max 167–185 bpm | Potencia aeróbica máxima y VO₂max mediante intervalos cortos e intensos. Muy duro a máximo, RPE 9–10. Sin hablar. |
Z1 · Recuperación. Recuperación activa y calentamiento; favorece el flujo sanguíneo sin añadir fatiga. Muy fácil, RPE 1–2. Conversación completa, casi sin agitarte.
Z2 · Resistencia. Base aeróbica, oxidación de grasas y densidad capilar; la zona fundamental del día a día. Cómodo, RPE 3–4. Puedes mantener frases completas.
Z3 · Tempo. Capacidad aeróbica y resistencia muscular; trabajo continuo 'moderadamente duro'. Exigente, RPE 5–6. Solo frases cortas.
Z4 · Umbral. Umbral de lactato, tu techo sostenible de ritmo de competición. Duro, RPE 7–8. Unas pocas palabras seguidas.
Z5 · VO₂max. Potencia aeróbica máxima y VO₂max mediante intervalos cortos e intensos. Muy duro a máximo, RPE 9–10. Sin hablar.
- Las zonas son porcentajes simples de la frecuencia cardíaca máxima (Z1 50–60% hasta Z5 90–100%). Son fáciles de fijar, pero asumen que tu HRmax es precisa.
- La frecuencia cardíaca va por detrás del esfuerzo en 1–3 minutos y se desplaza hacia arriba con el calor o la deshidratación ('deriva cardíaca'), así que gestiona los esfuerzos cortos e intensos por sensación.
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Which zone should I train in for my goal?
- Building a base or recovering: Zone 1 to Zone 2. The bulk of your week. If you are new to structured training, almost all of it for the first several weeks.
- Quality days: Zone 4 threshold intervals or Zone 5 VO2max repeats. One to two sessions a week is plenty.
- Race-specific or tempo work: Zone 3 has a place for events held at that intensity. Use it on purpose, never by drifting into it on easy days.
Keep easy days easy so hard days can be hard.
How accurate are heart-rate zones?
- Formulas are population averages. Your max HR can sit well above or below the formula. Testing beats estimating.
- Heart rate lags. On short intervals the monitor may only read Zone 5 when the rep is half over. Use perceived effort, power or pace for very short work.
- Daily noise is real. Heat, dehydration, caffeine, stress, sleep and cardiac drift all shift heart rate at the same effort. Treat zones as a guide, especially on easy days where the job is to stay easy.
Sources
- Stephen Seiler, training-intensity distribution research (polarized, roughly 80/20)
- Martti Karvonen and colleagues, the heart-rate-reserve method
- Joe Friel, the lactate-threshold heart-rate (LTHR) zone framework