Zone 2 — mitochondrial trainingZone 2 · 线粒体训练

Place · Level 3

Peter Attia 推火 · 60-70% maxHR · 真涨线粒体密度 + 脂肪氧化容量 · 3-4 × 45 min/wk

What + why

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Zone 2 是什么 · 为什么火

Zone 2 training = sustained aerobic exercise held below LT1 (about 60–70% of maxHR / 70% of VO2max / 'can still hold a full conversation'), typically 30–90 minutes per session.

Why it suddenly got popular after 2020: Peter Attia pushed it heavily on Huberman and other podcasts. But the concept itself comes from Stephen Seiler's 1980s analysis of Nordic endurance athletes' training logs — the polarized training 80/20 model.

Three core mechanisms are upregulated:

Mitochondrial biogenesis: chronic low-intensity work upregulates the PGC-1α pathway; +30–50% over 12 weeks (Hawley 2018)Fat oxidation capacity: at Zone 2 intensity, 60–70% of energy comes from fat (vs ~50% in Zone 3, ~30% in HIIT); long-term training raises fat oxidation abilityCapillary density: local muscle vascularization improves oxygen delivery
All three are only effectively stimulated at Zone 2 intensity; high-intensity training fires a different set of pathways (-like + turnover), and the two are not interchangeable.

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