Your test gives you personal heart rate training zones along with your VO2 max. You use them by doing most of your training in the easy zones and a small part in the hard ones, with each session aimed at a specific zone.
Because the zones come from your own test, they are more reliable than zones worked out from an age-based formula.
What the zones are for
- Zone 1, very easy: warm-ups, cool-downs and recovery days
- Zone 2, easy aerobic: long, steady sessions that build your base. You can still hold a conversation.
- Zone 3, moderate: steady, “comfortably hard” efforts
- Zone 4, hard: sustained efforts near the top of what you can hold for a while
- Zone 5, very hard: short intervals near your maximum, which push VO2 max itself
Two sessions that do most of the work
- Zone 2 base work. Cycling, running or rowing at a comfortable pace for 30 to 90 minutes.
- Zone 5 intervals. For example, 4 minutes hard followed by 4 minutes of easy recovery, repeated 4 times.
Building a week
- Keep most of your training time easy, in Zones 1 and 2
- Add one or two hard sessions a week, not on back-to-back days
- Start with less than you think you need and build gradually
- Keep at least one full rest or very easy day
How this fits around your sport, strength work and schedule is individual. Our sports performance training and personal training coaches can build it into a plan.
Practical tips
- A chest strap reads heart rate more reliably than a wrist sensor, especially in intervals
- Heart rate drifts up in heat, with dehydration and when you are tired, so use how you feel as a second check
- Zones shift as you get fitter: see how often should I retest?
Safety
Stop and get medical advice for chest pain, unusual shortness of breath, dizziness or fainting during exercise. If you have a heart condition, check with your doctor before starting high-intensity intervals.
More detail is on the VO2 max testing page.
Want zones based on your own test?