Ya Boi
Apr 30, 2026
Lets talk cardio
Hey y'all!! Today we'll be diving into cardio training. Why it matters, and how to make an effective training program for your fitness goals. Cardio really seems to be one of those things people love or hate, but it's something we all need to be doing at some level. Cardio is also one of those things that let you really see the power of your mind, and the level of resilience you might not even know you had.
If you haven't done much cardio in the past it's probably gonna suck at first, but it does get easier the more you do it. Just like resistance training there's so many different ways to do cardio that at least one style is gonna work for you. As always my goal is to empower you with the skills and knowledge to succeed, let's get into it!
I think the most important thing to know of rip is our 4 training zones for cardio. Training zones allow us to match the cardio we're doing with the fitness goal we're chasing. Zones are defined by a few key features; Metabolic markers(below VT1-VT2 and above)
Rating of perceived excretion(RPE) normally a 1-10 scale 1 being super easy, 10 being max effort.
Finally a talk test or what we are physically experiencing in the moment. So, what are 4 zones, and how does any of this relate?
Zone 1
Metabolic Marker below VT1
RPE 3-4
Light to moderate effort, we're starting to sweat, but can hold a convo easily.
Zone 2
Metabolic marker VT1 to midpoint
RPE 5-6
Challenging to hard, Notable sweating, larger breathes, holding a convo becomes challenging.
Zone 3
Metabolic marker midpoint to VT2
RPE 7-8
Heavy sweating, vigorous breathing, saying short phrases is challenging
Zone 4
Metabolic Marker above VT2
RPE 9-10
Very hard to max effort, breathing as hard as we can, unable to speak basically.
So, these are our 4 training zones we'll be working with. Just one or two things to address real quick. You can use metabolic markers if you want, but it's not the most realistic thing to use in most settings. That being said, we won't be going into that much more today. Secondly, RPE scale is very subjective. A 10 to you and a 10 to the next person is probably two different things. Not to mention a 10 one day might feel like a 8 the next. So, for a accurate RPE you really gotta know your body, which just takes time. For most of use a simple talk test is the best place to start. If you can easily talk your in a lower zone; the harder and harder it becomes to talk the higher zone you're in.
Now that we have an idea of what the 4 training zones are let's dive into them a little bit more. If you're new to cardio training or just looking to get healthy, zone 1 is the right place for you. If you're conditioned individual, then zone 1 is great for a recovery phase. Zone 1 is normally some form of steady state cardio, which is basically constant effort for 30-60 minutes.
Depending where you're starting you may have to work up to 30 minutes; that's just part of the process. Now, if you can do zone 1 work for at least 30 minutes 3x a week you're ready for zone 2; if that's what you want. For someone that's just starting that could take 2-3 months on average. It's important that we increase our cardio by about 10% each week, no more. That's just so we don't burn ourselves out, or start over training.
Once we have a solid cardio baseline from zone 1 training we're ready for zone 2. This is where we start really start increase our workload. Zone 2 is ideal for recreational sports players, and those focused on weight loss. Our zone 2 cardio is where we also start getting into interval training, and less steady state cardio.
There are tons of different forms of interval training. Ideally during interval training we're bouncing between Zone 1 and Zone 2 during the training session. A good rule of thumb for interval training is keep your work to rest windows between 30-60 seconds.
So, we might start with 20 seconds of zone 2 and 40 seconds of zone 1, and build from there. Then you'd be doing 30 seconds of zone 2, 30 seconds of zone 1, and so on. 30 seconds in each zone is often referred to as a 1:1.
How we progress from zone 2 really depends person to person and your fitness goals. One last thing, once your cardio reaches a certain level it is possible to do steady state cardio in zone 2. Again it really depends what you're into.
As far as zones 3 and 4 go, that's really for highly conditioned individuals that are looking to bring their game to the next level. Similar to zone 2, the training structure is normally based around some form of interval training. That's mainly because we're pushing ourselves to our max, or dang near close. We can only sustain that level of effort for a small window of time, so intervals just make the most sense.
If you're new to cardio and want to do intervals try to stay between zones 1 and 2. Jumping from like zones 1 to 4 can be pretty brutal, if you don't have a certain baseline cardio. That can end up being a turn off from cardio, if it's too much too soon.
That being said, you can certainly do intervals at max effort to get a feel of what that's like. Tabata training would be a great way to do just that. It's basically 20 seconds of max effort followed by 10 seconds of rest and we just keep doing that for 4 minutes total. What's interesting about Tabata, is that it's very effective for increasing V02 max(the gold standard for cardio). In another article I'll address V02 max a bit more.
So, what are the perks of doing cardio? Well, as a lot of you may already know it's top tier for maintaining a healthy respiratory and cardiovascular system. That alone should be reason enough to be doing cardio. If you want better lifts and a clearer mind, cardio is where it starts. It's super important we make sure the body is getting the oxygen it needs! There's also been so really cool studies showing that cardio can help protect against degenerative mental diseases, like dementia and such.
Cardio is also great for helping with those weight loss goal.
Now, it's important to know that the type of cardio we do can affect what type of fat we're mainly targeting.
So, there are 2 types of fat in our body; subcutaneous fat(visible fat) and visceral fat(fat around organs).
Lower intensity cardio(zone 1&2) is great for burning subcutaneous fat, which is what most people think of when it comes to burning fat.
However, visceral fat is the more dangerous fat and most people don't really think about it; because it doesn't really affect our physical appearance as much. It's super important that we make a real effort to target visceral fat for our over all health. How do we do that though?
By doing cardio in those higher intensity zones(zones 3&4). A good rule of thumb is to mix up the type of cardio you do. That way we are managing both types of fat, and not only that it helps break up some of the monotony of our cardio training.
Congrats y'all! You made it through another long af article, and you're that much better for doing it. The aim of this article today was to give y'all a basic understanding when it comes to cardio training. Just remember this is the tip of the spear and there's more to come and more to learn. Until next time y'all, peace!!