Heart Rates & Cardio Zones - What You Need To Know

I break down in this mini episode the basics of what you need to know regarding the different cardio zones, and heart rates!

Transcript

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Are you a faith-driven woman ready to transform your health and fitness, level up your habits, and steward everything that God has blessed you with? If so, welcome to the Refinery Movement Podcast, the place for Christian women in fitness or women ready to step into it who want to build strong, faith-based habits that honor God and inspire their families and communities. I'm your host, AJ Amrine, lifelong athlete, former WWE superstar and founder of the Refinery Movement. My passion is to help women integrate faith and fitness and to make the church healthy again. Here we'll dive into powerful strategies, biblical principles, and practical tips to help you crush your goals. We'll also talk about balancing training, nutrition, and family life because you can steward the temple and still enjoy freedom, fun, and connection. So grab your protein shake, get comfy, and let's step into today's episode with boldness, clarity, and intention. Let's get refined.

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Hey guys, welcome back to the Refinery Movement Podcast. Today's episode is very quick and practical, um, but very, very powerful. Uh today we're just gonna break down the different cardio zones and what they are, what they're for, how they fit into your uh training program and how to actually like use them, even if you don't have a fancy watch to kind of calculate everything and monitor everything. And quick disclaimer before we start like I'm not a doctor. This is general education, and if you have any heart conditions or health concerns, uh your numbers and recommendations may vary. So also check with a professional. So what are cardio zones? Cardiozones are basically different intensity levels of your heart rate, and each one has a different purpose. Everything is based on your max heart rate, which we estimate with a very simple formula. It's just 220 minus your age. So if you're 25, 220 minus 25 equals 195 beats per minute. That is your max heart rate. And then from there, your zones are percentages of that number. So here's the different zones. Zone one is recovery, 50 to 60 percent of that max heart rate. It's this is super light. Think of walking and warmups, kind of blood flow, getting your body moving, and cooldowns in the workout. You should feel like you could do that zone all day. And the purpose of this zone is recovery and blood flow and just getting your body moving. That's zone one. Now moving into zone two. Zone two is fat-burning, uh, aerobic base, like 60 to 70 percent. This is one of the most uh important zones. This is my personally like my favorite zone of cardio, and zone two cardio includes things like incline walking, light jogging, and my favorite, the stair master. And you should feel like you can hold a full conversation without gasping. And the purpose of this it builds endurance, it improves fat utilization, and it strengthens your aerobic base. This is your longevity zone. So that's zone two, and then now moving into zone three, which is moderate tempo, like 70 to 80 percent. Now we're working. This is where it's things like steady jog and harder cycling, maybe doing the stairmaster at like a higher pace. You should feel like talking is possible, but in short sentences. And the purpose for zone three cardio zone is that it improves your cardiovascular fitness and bridges endurance and performance. Next is zone four cardio, and this is the hard uh threshold, so like 80 to 90 percent. This is the uncomfortable zone, like hard runs, intense circuits. You should feel like you can barely talk. This is um the zone that builds your speed, it increases your performance capacity and trains your body to handle stress. And then after zone four, we even have zone five, which is your max effort. So that 90 to 100%. This is all out sprinting in zone five. You should feel like no talking, just survival. And the purpose of this is like power and speed and peak performance, and it's only done in like short bursts. And if you are like me and you do not have a watch, I do not like wearing any jewelry or anything. I it just like fidget, I just like always mess with it. I hate it. So I'm someone who doesn't have a watch now. If you have a watch, it kind of tracks this for you. But these are some ways that you can kind of track and see what zone you're in without like your watch or if you don't have it on that day. So first you have the talk test. So zone two cardio is you can have a full conversation, right? And then zone three cardio is like short phrases, okay? And then zone four cardio is one-word answers, you know, you're kind of like moving on into that survival, and then zone five, like you're not talking. And then as far as your breathing goes, zone two is like nose breathing only, zone three and four is that heavier breathing, and then zone five, you are gasping, and then perceived effort on a scale of like one to ten. Zone two cardio is about three to four effort, and then zone three is like five to six, zone four is seven to eight, and then zone five is nine to ten. So those percentages kind of just perceived in a one to ten kind of scale. Now, here's how you actually use it. This is um what I do for my girls. This is I I like to pair lifting and zone two cardio. If your goal is lean muscle and fat loss, one of the most effective combo is strength training and zone two cardio. And here's why. Lifting builds your muscle and increases your metabolism. Zone two improves how your body uses fat for fuel. And together you get a better body composition, not just weight loss. And this is exactly why I structure my girls' program the way I do. There's a time and place for each zone of cardio. I'm not saying that we never go max effort. I'm just saying the majority of the time, it is structured around this typical combination. So here's how exactly how I structure my own workouts and my girls' workouts and why it works. We don't just throw random workouts together. There's intention behind every single phase. So we start with blood flow work in zone one, just getting the body warm and your joints ready and your heart rate slightly elevated. Then we move into activation and primer and mobility. This is turning on the right muscles so that your body moves efficiently and you are feeling good to go for the workout. Then uh after the activation, primer, and mobility, we move into like a quick performance block. And this is where you start to get into a little bit of a faster pace, slightly less rest. Um, this kind of starts to bring you into that zone two, maybe even three range, depending on your goals. After the performance block, we move into the heavy strength block, and this is where longer rest periods are in this block. We we rest longer. This is where we build muscle and we slow down a little bit in between each set, sometimes two, sometimes even three minutes in between sets, because we want to optimize each set to increase our strength and boost our metabolism. So this is the slower part of the workout. Every set is intentional, not rushed. And after this heavy strength block, we finish with a zone two or three circuit. And now we're diving into some conditioning and burning energy, finishing strong, getting that nice sweat, and just reinforcing that aerobic base and finally the cool down, bringing the heart rate back down to zone one, calming the nervous system, promoting recovery. Now, depending on the client's goals, I uh personally like to add in like that steady state, like zone two cardio after that heavy strength block, instead of sometimes going into a zone two or three circuit. I will just, if I have the time, uh do a 45-minute block of zone two, like a 45-minute block of just stairmaster or inclined walking and then the cooldown after that. And some practical tips here for you is most of your cardio should honestly be zone two. You don't need to kill yourself every workout to get results. Mix in higher zones like one to two times per week for performance and consistency over intensity. Because your body was designed to move, but not always at max intensity. Fitness is not all about aesthetics, it's about being able to chase down your injured kid if you need to, or God forbid, a predator. You need to have the ability to be dangerous as a woman of God. But the best way to prep for max effort isn't by getting to that level every day. That doesn't mean we ignore it, but there's a rhythm to it. There's a rhythm to training, there's wisdom in it. So train smart and steward your body well. And if you are interested in coaching, I am taking clients. If you feel called to dive into a mentorship program for strength and nutrition and all of it through a faith-based lens, fill out the application on therefinerymovement.com and I would be honored to walk alongside you if we feel like it is a good fit. Hopefully, this was helpful. Until next time, stay refined.