How to train your cardiovascular fitness | Peter Attia
How to train your cardiovascular fitness | Peter Attia
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This clip is from episode #261 of The Drive – Training for The Centenarian Decathlon: zone 2, VO2 max, stability, and strength
In this special episode filmed live in front of readers of Outlive, Peter answers questions revolving around his concept of the centenarian decathlon.
In this clip, we discuss:
– The pyramid of cardiorespiratory training
– Peter’s zone 2 training and recommendations
– Peter’s VO2 max training and recommendations
——–
About:
The Peter Attia Drive is a deep-dive podcast focusing on maximizing longevity, and all that goes into that from physical to cognitive to emotional health. With over 60 million episodes downloaded, it features topics including exercise, nutritional biochemistry, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, mental health, and much more.
Peter Attia is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of lengthening their lifespan and simultaneously improving their healthspan.
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If measuring heart rate is a bad way to measure zone two then how in the world can a regular person even measure the amount of volume of zone two?
Besides a lactate test, how should i best determine my zone 2? The top of my zone 2 range varies by 20 BPM depending on the calculator used. My MHR is 196 and that was recorded by a VO2 max test, and my RHR is around 65 BPM. I’ve been running around 145 BPM
Kettlebell swings, snatches, presses and windmills with low weight is also good for steady state, once you got good at the technique. The benefit is that you use more of your back and upper body musculatur, rather than mostly legs that you use in running / walking / stair climbing. This is espeacially beneficial for people with hip, knee or ankle problems, which keeps them from running. Obviously you can easily do VO2max with Kettlebells, just grab a relatively heavy one and do snatches for 5 minutes non stop. Don’t do this before you got the technique down!
Damn, I am 40 years old and I started running 15 years ago. I was falling to different phases and dogma like barefoot running, streak running, etc, but I always pushed for Zone 4+5. My philosophy was no pain no gain. Today I read the first time about Zone 2 running. I didnt even know low heartrate running was a thing. Why should anyone want to run at low heart rate if you can also run more kilometers at same time and increase the "effect"? It seems I was wrong for the past 15 years. I need to dig in deeper into this.
That’s the exercise plan of a unemployed person or professional athlete 😊
1000kj is not 1000cals. Missing the super basics?
Is it just me or is this perfect?
Got my vo2max to 78.2 at 50 years old.
I don’t do zone running!
Speed work at least three times a week
Run on feel
Knowing about all the benefits of working out its absolutely insane that people always ask for "whats the minimum I can do?" Thats a defensive and weak attitude.
Peter Attia humble bragging about how fast he can get backdown to 100bpms from level 2 🤡
The top or highest point of a triangle is called a vertex or in this context as it opposite the base in his analogy you could call it an apex… but a peak??? I’m not totally sure… and yes I have too much time on my hands😅
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Pogacar sucks balls next to vingegaard
You’re going places!
A perfect VO2 max session is smashing the heavy bag for 3 minutes.
if I go 100% my cardiologist would call an ambulance
The way you explained this is SO clear. Thank you
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🎯 Key points for quick navigation:
00:14 *🔺 Cardio training should balance both base (Zone 2) and peak (VO₂ max) effort to maximize overall fitness — not just one or the other.*
00:38 *⚖️ Optimal training follows an 80/20 split: 80% Zone 2 and 20% VO₂ max, even for elite athletes like Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar.*
01:47 *⏳ Peter Attia once trained 14–20 hours/week but now fits cardio into just 4–5 hours/week due to life obligations.*
02:32 *🧮 With 4–5 hours/week of cardio, Attia does 80% Zone 2 and 20% VO₂ max — spread across four sessions: Tues, Thurs, Sat, Sun.*
03:13 *📆 It’s better to spread Zone 2 sessions throughout the week in blocks of at least 30–45 minutes for optimal benefit.*
03:52 *🗓️ Weekly routine: Monday/Friday – lower body strength; Tues/Thurs – Zone 2 + stability; Wed/Sat – upper body strength; Sunday – Zone 2 + VO₂ max.*
04:47 *🔁 VO₂ max sessions usually follow long warm-ups or Zone 2 workouts to ensure readiness and performance.*
05:29 *⏱️ If limited to short workouts, it’s better to do fewer longer Zone 2 sessions (e.g. two 30-minute blocks) than many brief ones.*
06:09 *🚴 Zone 2 modalities include treadmill, indoor bike, stair climber, rowing, and brisk walking — outdoor cycling is tough due to terrain and traffic.*
07:56 *🧪 Heart rate isn’t the best measure of Zone 2; lactate or perceived exertion (RPE) are more accurate for gauging steady-state training.*
09:32 *🧗 VO₂ max training can be done using almost any modality — bike, treadmill, stair climber, air bike, even burpees — as long as intensity lasts 3–8 minutes.*
11:05 *⏲️ Attia sometimes does 1-minute sprints followed by 2-minute rest on a stair climber when short on time — a quick VO₂ max workout hack.*
11:34 *🔄 His preferred VO₂ max routine is 4 minutes on, 4 minutes off — managing effort to avoid burnout before the end of the interval.*
12:30 *⚙️ Effective VO₂ max intervals should be hard but sustainable — avoid going all out too early to maintain performance for full duration.*
Made with HARPA AI
if you’re scrolling and feel off, read this. i was burnt out, low energy, not myself. found Testosterone Rewired by David Brooks, had zero expectations but man. chapter by chapter it rebuilt me. no hype bs, not fake motivation just stuff that grounds you and resets your system. this book really saved me. wish I found it sooner.🔥
if you’re scrolling and feel off, read this. i was burnt out, low energy, not myself. found Testosterone Rewired by David Brooks, had zero expectations but man. chapter by chapter it rebuilt me. no hype bs, not fake motivation just stuff that grounds you and resets your system. this book really saved me. wish I found it sooner.🔥
Don’t listen to this guy. He is an ignorant fool who does not know how to read studies. Also to be shown that he is bought and paid for.
That was rather informative, thanks!
I’ve got 25k I want to put into crypto, but I’m nervous since I don’t know much about it. Can you help with a beginner strategy?
What do they mean by Zone 2?
You doesn’t look that lean either. There is lot of fat on your face.
At the 5 minute mark, Pete discusses doing a certain amount of Kilojoules in zone 2 before super hard sets. He states "It had to be at least 1000 kilojoules which translates to at least 1000 Calories of work". That’s incorrect, as 1000Kj is only 239 Calories.
2:10 leaving the video. This guy is making excuses. Wake up earlier. Go to bed earlier. Theres no way you have so much going on you can’t get in your training
Tadji is clearly doping, but it makes sense that Peter would not address that. Seeing that very good friends with lance.
Goggins said he had to put a cap on his success because he realized that if he wanted to be more successful he couldn’t work out as much.
I’m high as a kite.
Assisted style ebikes are a great way to do zone 2 outdoors.
Thanks❤
I wish I had as much free time as Peter to workout
Tried all the hacks. ice baths, preworkouts, even dopamine detoxes. none of it clicked. I felt so tired everyday. then someone dropped Testosterone Rewired by David Brooks in a comment and I checked it out. been locked in ever since. no hype, just clarity. wild how long I was running on fumes.🔥
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cool
If you draw a triangle with a circle inside you’ll be just as fit but you’ll have to bail the excess water out
Z2 in the Velodrome- perfect- always pedalling
I felt so drained and tired everday. I tried everything, preworkouts, youtube gurus, morning routines that nearly killed me. none of it hit. then i saw someone mention Testosterone Rewired by David Brooks in the comments and it literally changed my life. Following everything in that book past couple of weeks made me realize I was running on empty for YEARS. wish I knew about this years ago🔥
🚴♂️ Cardiorespiratory fitness = triangle → base = Zone 2, peak = VO2 max. Goal = maximize area, not just height or width. Best ratio for all levels: ~80% Zone 2, ~20% VO2 max.
(this is Peter Attia’s personal workout structure, based on his current schedule and past elite-level endurance training)
—
I. ⏱ step 1: set weekly cardio time
1. past elite: 14–20 hrs/week
2. current: 4–5 hrs/week (rucking excluded)
3. apply 80/20 split to your available hours
—
II. 💙 zone 2 guidelines
1. low-intensity steady state, pushing mitochondria to edge of glycolysis
2. minimum: 30–45 min continuous (not just accumulated)
3. spread over multiple days
4. modalities: 🚴♂️ bike (preferred), 🏃♂️ treadmill, 🏊 swimming, 🪜 stair climber, brisk walking if starting
5. avoid relying only on heart rate — lactate or RPE more accurate
—
III. 🔥 VO2 max guidelines
1. high-intensity intervals (3–8 min work, 1:1 or 1:2 work:rest)
2. modalities: 🚴♀️ bike, 🏃♀️ treadmill, 🪜 stair climber, 🚣♂️ rowing (if skilled), air bike
3. cheat option: 1 min all-out / 2 min rest
4. pacing: start slightly above target, feel very uncomfortable by min 3, nearly empty at finish without blowing up early
—
IV. 📅 example weekly schedule
1. mon: 🦵 lower body strength + stability (90–120 min)
2. tue: 💙 zone 2 (45–60 min) + stability (60 min)
3. wed: 💪 upper body strength + stability (90–120 min)
4. thu: repeat tuesday
5. fri: repeat monday
6. sat: am 💙 zone 2 (60 min), pm 💪 upper body strength
7. sun: 💙 zone 2 + 🔥 VO2 max
—
V. 📌 key points
1. 80/20 works for beginners and elites
2. continuous zone 2 beats scattered minutes in range
3. better to spread sessions than cram into one long block
4. zone 2 = steady modalities; VO2 max = almost anything you can sustain for 3+ minutes hard
spol.ski
Z2 for me up to 30 hours a week plus intervals 10×1 with 1 min recovery several times a week. 90/10. 58 yo and 78 V02 in June 2024. Not easy or very sustainable for most
Got my vo2max to 78.2 at 50 years old.
I don’t do zone running!
Speed work at least three times a week
Run on feel
Tried all the hacks. ice baths, preworkouts, even dopamine detoxes. none of it clicked. I felt so tired everyday. then someone dropped Testosterone Rewired by David Brooks in a comment and I checked it out. been locked in ever since. no hype, just clarity. wild how long I was running on fumes.🔥
I have started walking since last 10 days and my Vo2 max is 23.5 and my age is 56
What does it mean ?
Please guide me
It’s a triangle, not a pyramid. He gave 2 dimensions, not 3. A pyramid has 5 sides, a square and 4 sides.
I wish my distance coach in track understood this in highschool. That dude made us go on long runs and expected it to be hard. Then come back he would decide to do 200 repeats 20 plus times i kid you not and we would do something insane like that every day and even before a meet it was not easy. When i tell you everyone on the team had shin splints and actually had their worst times that season. Only two bean poles on our team pr’d for the season and one of them was a prodigy. No one else got any better. When i tell you I was so over trained that i was fucked up for like a month after the season and felt sick and very weak. There was no way to tell the head coach that this dude was really bad at coaching
I’m pretty much only doing zone 4 & 5 cardio for BJJ fitness and competition, am I making a mistake ?
OCD manifest manifest itself indifferent ways. The benefits of being physically fit are extraordinary. However, I wonder with this level of fitness has on the heart, muscles and joints when practiced over long period of time. Stressing the organs and tissues to this degree from a physiological standpoint must have to have some negative effects. After all , were human beings not gazelles.Runners heart come to mind. Dilation of the heart chambers especially the left ventricle with thinning of the myocardial walls can lead to heart failure overtime. Two of my colleagues who spent years in triathlon, long distant bike races and Ironmen competition both died suddenly in their 50s. Sometimes moderations is the better part of valor!
I felt so drained and tired everday. I tried everything, preworkouts, youtube gurus, morning routines that nearly killed me. none of it hit. then i saw someone mention Testosterone Rewired by David Brooks in the comments and it literally changed my life. Following everything in that book past couple of weeks made me realize I was running on empty for YEARS. wish I knew about this years ago🔥