This is really interesting and your interpretation is great. As a super busy parent with a busy job, I’m very lucky if I can carve time at the end of the night for even a 30-60 minute workout. But what I do every single weekday is make sure to go walk between meetings (and throw a ruck on), fit in little bursts of kettlebell swings, a quick push up circuit, and the run crazy with my kids at the end of the day. Great to hear that it’s being reinforced that these little moments make a difference in health.
It is ironic the people creating the drama have next to nothing to do with the benefits of getting after it physically. I'll take sprinting up the stairs over the noise. Great piece, Michael.
Looking at the paper (I didn’t follow the drama), what constitutes light moderate and vigorous activities is a bit different than what we think of. As Magness rightly pointed out, a proper Z2 workout would be vigorous by their definition. It doesn’t really distinguish between Z2-Z5 or any resistance training. Just how much motion. The paper does support movement in general and Z2+. Definitely in “two percent” territory but not quite misogi level.
Exactly. Get your steps in. But occasionally, walk with ferocious intent.
From that paper it seems anything with intentional “intensity” regardless of what zone it falls in works better than a few causal strolls window shopping or whatever.
"You find what you're looking for," They say, and lately I've been finding "Science" catching up with "Bro Science." I mean: quite obviously - up to a point - going harder gets you fitter than going easy. It's funny this requires a "study" and that previous "studies" had concluded otherwise.
But I've fallen into the low-intensity trap, too. For the last ~15 years, the bulk of my training would be considered high-intensity (CrossFit, MTNTOUGH, intervals, functional strength training, etc.). Probably 80-90% high intensity / 10-20% low. This got me the fittest I've been since high school.
But a couple of years ago, Zone 2 training reignited, and I jumped on. Who wouldn't like to exchange some hard work for some easy? So I tried about 6 months of about ~50-60%/40-50%. And...and...I lost a noticeable amount of fitness. So, I've switched back and am very pleased with my cardio capacity right now. In fact, I've started doing 2 days a week of long, high-intensity sessions (~50-60 mins of Zone 4+). Those are really, really hard days, and it's made me fitter.
My current thinking is...for "regular" people (say up to 10 hours a week of training), we're better off going hard 90/10. Beyond that, if you want more, leaning heavily into the Zone 2, easier "base-building" is about the only way to go. I don't think anyone - even pro/semi-pro athletes - can handle more than 10 hours of really intense training per week. But not at the expense of logging the intensity, first.
✅ Our message needs to be ALL Movement Matters. Just ‘dial up the discomfort’ here and there throughout the day.
✅ Adults need to decide how ROBUST they need and want to be, and in what environments they need and want to CONTINUE to live, labor, care-give, play and compete in … if what they’re currently doing is not working, then we are here to ‘layer on’ Robustness to match their needs and wants.
✅ And you know what? Some people figure this out on their own. Contrary to the fear-mongering medicalization of everything, there are some gritty ‘get-up-and-after-it’ men and women out there who ‘just DO it’ everyday.
✅ They have a mindset that can teach us a thing or two.
ALL MOVEMENT MATTERS! Thanks for taking the deep dive here, Michael.
✅ Some people will NEVER EVER set foot in a gym or formally ‘exercise’ for a span of reasons. But they continue to live work manually, pursue PA hobbies and play, where short bouts of ‘big efforts’ are automatic (shoveling, carrying, seasonal chores, etc.); just check out the Sardinian shepherds (Blue Zones) among other studies.
Many of us have parents and grandparents who lived long ‘functionally independent’ and happy lives, and never ‘exercised.’
✅ There are 3 BIG Rocks in the Movement Pillar:
1. DAILY Motion and LOCOmotion -steps, stairs, chores, etc.
2. Play - recreation, sport, dance, hobbies, etc.
3. TRAINING - purposeful ‘exercise’ to fill and maintain ALL 7S Functional Freedom Buckets.
Clarifying the signal within the noise. Yet another reason I value your Substack by getting interpretation of evidence through your lens (when I’m too lazy to read it all myself because I’m prioritizing finding opportunities for vigorous physical exertion)
This is really interesting and your interpretation is great. As a super busy parent with a busy job, I’m very lucky if I can carve time at the end of the night for even a 30-60 minute workout. But what I do every single weekday is make sure to go walk between meetings (and throw a ruck on), fit in little bursts of kettlebell swings, a quick push up circuit, and the run crazy with my kids at the end of the day. Great to hear that it’s being reinforced that these little moments make a difference in health.
Sounds like you're doing all the right things. Even five minutes of running around with your kids helps you—and your kids!
It is ironic the people creating the drama have next to nothing to do with the benefits of getting after it physically. I'll take sprinting up the stairs over the noise. Great piece, Michael.
Looking at the paper (I didn’t follow the drama), what constitutes light moderate and vigorous activities is a bit different than what we think of. As Magness rightly pointed out, a proper Z2 workout would be vigorous by their definition. It doesn’t really distinguish between Z2-Z5 or any resistance training. Just how much motion. The paper does support movement in general and Z2+. Definitely in “two percent” territory but not quite misogi level.
Exactly. Get your steps in. But occasionally, walk with ferocious intent.
From that paper it seems anything with intentional “intensity” regardless of what zone it falls in works better than a few causal strolls window shopping or whatever.
Quality > Quantity FTW!
Thanks for interpreting both the study and the drama.
Zones didn’t exist 200 years ago. It’s survival, That’s why I love this!
Move Harder sounds like the first Two Percent movie title :)
"You find what you're looking for," They say, and lately I've been finding "Science" catching up with "Bro Science." I mean: quite obviously - up to a point - going harder gets you fitter than going easy. It's funny this requires a "study" and that previous "studies" had concluded otherwise.
But I've fallen into the low-intensity trap, too. For the last ~15 years, the bulk of my training would be considered high-intensity (CrossFit, MTNTOUGH, intervals, functional strength training, etc.). Probably 80-90% high intensity / 10-20% low. This got me the fittest I've been since high school.
But a couple of years ago, Zone 2 training reignited, and I jumped on. Who wouldn't like to exchange some hard work for some easy? So I tried about 6 months of about ~50-60%/40-50%. And...and...I lost a noticeable amount of fitness. So, I've switched back and am very pleased with my cardio capacity right now. In fact, I've started doing 2 days a week of long, high-intensity sessions (~50-60 mins of Zone 4+). Those are really, really hard days, and it's made me fitter.
My current thinking is...for "regular" people (say up to 10 hours a week of training), we're better off going hard 90/10. Beyond that, if you want more, leaning heavily into the Zone 2, easier "base-building" is about the only way to go. I don't think anyone - even pro/semi-pro athletes - can handle more than 10 hours of really intense training per week. But not at the expense of logging the intensity, first.
Oops … hit post by accident..
Here’s the rest:
✅ Our message needs to be ALL Movement Matters. Just ‘dial up the discomfort’ here and there throughout the day.
✅ Adults need to decide how ROBUST they need and want to be, and in what environments they need and want to CONTINUE to live, labor, care-give, play and compete in … if what they’re currently doing is not working, then we are here to ‘layer on’ Robustness to match their needs and wants.
✅ And you know what? Some people figure this out on their own. Contrary to the fear-mongering medicalization of everything, there are some gritty ‘get-up-and-after-it’ men and women out there who ‘just DO it’ everyday.
✅ They have a mindset that can teach us a thing or two.
👍🏔
ALL MOVEMENT MATTERS! Thanks for taking the deep dive here, Michael.
✅ Some people will NEVER EVER set foot in a gym or formally ‘exercise’ for a span of reasons. But they continue to live work manually, pursue PA hobbies and play, where short bouts of ‘big efforts’ are automatic (shoveling, carrying, seasonal chores, etc.); just check out the Sardinian shepherds (Blue Zones) among other studies.
Many of us have parents and grandparents who lived long ‘functionally independent’ and happy lives, and never ‘exercised.’
✅ There are 3 BIG Rocks in the Movement Pillar:
1. DAILY Motion and LOCOmotion -steps, stairs, chores, etc.
2. Play - recreation, sport, dance, hobbies, etc.
3. TRAINING - purposeful ‘exercise’ to fill and maintain ALL 7S Functional Freedom Buckets.
✅ Our
Clarifying the signal within the noise. Yet another reason I value your Substack by getting interpretation of evidence through your lens (when I’m too lazy to read it all myself because I’m prioritizing finding opportunities for vigorous physical exertion)
Did the test subjects literally do one minute increments of intense activity or were they doing things like running a mile?
This captured any movement they did over the week of wearing the tracker.