How to Use Zone 2 Training in Your Hunt Fitness Plan

Have you noticed that most hunting fitness programs are built on flashy strength circuits, high-intensity conditioning, and nonstop heavy rucking? There’s no shortage of hard work --- that's for damn sure — but there’s a big problem.

They skip the one thing that truly builds the stamina for long days chasing critters and the endurance for brutal packouts: Zone 2 training.

Zone 2 builds the aerobic base for hunting. It makes you more efficient, helps you recover faster, and keeps you going when other hunters turn around and head back to camp.

What is Zone 2 Training?

If you've ever gotten on a treadmill at a gym, you've likely seen some kind of heart rate scale that noted things like fat-burning zone or conditioning zone. While those treadmills are typically off in their designations, they're at least on the right track. Zone 2 training does help your body use fat for fuel. But it also does a whole lot more for a hunter's body. And it's a bit more specific than the "fat-burning zone" on the treadmill at your local gym.

Zone 2 training is traditionally based on heart rate monitoring as part of the 5 Training Zones system. A person's Zone 2 heart rate is typically 60% to 70% of their maximum heart rate. So, for example, if a hunter's max heart rate is 190 beats per minute (bpm), their Zone 2 heart rate range would approximately be 114 bpm to 133 bpm. Now, a lot of factors can change that range --- one of them being fitness level. As a hunter's aerobic fitness improves, their Zone 2 heart rate range gets higher. Recovery, stress, altitude, hydration, sleep status, and other factors also influence a person's Zone 2 on a given day. Zone 2, then, is a moving target from day to day. So, while a heart rate monitor is crucial for dialing in on a hunter's Zone 2, we need tools to use as a cross-reference to make sure we're training at the correct intensity on a given day. Bonus: You can use these cross-reference tools to make sure you're training appropriately if you forget your heart rate monitor or if you don't yet have one.

One tool is the talk test. When training in Zone 2, you should be able to say a complete sentence before needing to take a breath. If you can easily carry on a conversation without having to pause for breath, you're likely in Zone 1. If you can only say a few words before needing to breathe, you're likely in Zone 3.

The next tool you can use is circular breathing. If you can breathe easily in through your nose and out through your mouth, you're likely in Zone 2. Now, I mean easily. If you're forcing it, your heart rate is too high and you've crept into Zone 3, maybe Zone 4.

You can also use the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale in conjunction with the breathing tools to monitor your training intensity so that you stay in Zone 2. To use the RPE scale, you rate your effort on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being the easiest, 10 being the hardest. Zone 2 should feel about like a 4-5 out of 10. So, if you feel like that's the effort you're expending, and the breathing tools check out, you're likely getting in some good Zone 2 work.

Now we have to answer the question, what does Zone 2 training do for a hunter? We talked about endurance and efficiency in the intro. Let's handle the specifics.

Zone 2 training is also often called cardiac output training because that's one of the main adaptations to low-intensity aerobic conditioning. Cardiac output is the amount of blood your heart pumps out in one minute --- and we want it to pump out as much blood as possible in one minute. That's one of the reasons Zone 2 training is so important for hunters. Improving cardiac output increases the amount of oxygen and nutrients delivered to working muscles.

There are important adaptations away from the heart at the other end of the system, too. The first has to do with the smallest blood vessels in your body and how they work in conjunction with the increased cardiac output. The density of your capillary beds increases. Your capillaries transfer oxygen and nutrients from your blood stream and into your muscles. Increasing them in number increases the surface area for oxygen and nutrient transfer, improving the efficiency and endurance of your aerobic system.

Some great stuff also happens with your mitochondria, affectionately and appropriately named, the powerhouse of the cell. They're called that because they produce most of the energy used in the body. Zone 2 training increases the size, the number, and the quality of mitochondria in your muscles --- making you more efficient at aerobically producing energy, and improving how well your slow-twitch muscle fibers use fat as fuel. That, friend, means more endurance in the mountains.

Why Zone 2 is Crucial for Mountain Hunters

In 2022, I got stuck in a gnarly situation in Alaska.

It was nearing dusk and we'd cliffed-out on our way up a mountain with absolutely nowhere to camp. We'd been climbing for hours in exceptionally steep, exceptionally slick terrain; my partner and I each had 60 pounds in our packs. There was no choice to hustle back down the mountain before it got pitch black. We were in a dark forest, in brown bear country, on dangerous terrain that head lamps wouldn't illuminate enough to keep us safe.

We descended, but the route didn't work. There was no choice to climb again, then traverse the mountain side, then drop again. And when I say climb, I mean climb --- not a hard hike. It was serious test of endurance and stamina after spending most of the day making our way up the mountain. If we hadn't done our Zone 2 training, we likely would have been S-O-L and not made it back down the mountain before getting caught in the dark. Or, our endurance would have been so poor that we made mistakes that got us seriously injured or killed. God bless low-intensity aerobic conditioning.

Zone 2 is crucial for building your aerobic base for hunting. Elevation changes and covering long or unknown distances demands aerobic system efficiency. First, because it's important for sustaining effort over time. Your aerobic system is your long-duration energy system. If it doesn't efficiently do its job, your heart rate will elevate, you'll end up using your anaerobic system too much, and you'll fatigue out. Second, because your aerobic system is your recovery system. It delivers the oxygen and nutrients you need to recover between hard efforts, and it drives your recovery when you're sitting around the campfire at night rehashing the day.

Beyond that, an efficient aerobic system allows you to regulate your heart rate. Think about this:

You have to hustle to get into position for a shot. I'm talkin' bustin' some real hump. But you can't shoot when your heart rate is through the roof. You have to calm your heart rate, recover, and then prepare to shoot. An efficient aerobic system developed using Zone 2 training gives you the ability to quickly recover in scenarios like that. Without it, you won't recover and you'll miss your shot opportunity.

Zone 2 training builds hunting endurance while also training you to recover so you can go day after day and recovery quickly so you don't miss your chance at that bull, buck, or ram.

Common Training Mistakes Hunters Make

One of the biggest, and most common, training mistakes hunters make starts with their thinking. They think that they can replace all of the necessary Zone 2 work with some gnarly HIIT sessions --- it's actually one of the big elk hunting endurance mistakes. And that does one very important thing; it sets them up for failure.

HIIT training and low intensity training for hunters are not interchangeable. They do very different things for your body. While some HIIT training is necessary, you don't need that much. And it must be planned appropriately and with the right training progression for you to get what you should out of it. You do, however, need a lot of Zone 2 work. It's important to get a good base of Zone 2 work in before adding HIIT work to your training plan. Remember that recovery chat we had in the last section? Without an efficient aerobic system, it's difficult to recover enough during a HIIT session to get the most out of the intervals. It's also difficult to recover after the session. Hunters can't trade HIIT for low intensity aerobic training. They need low intensity aerobic training to get the most out of their HIIT. Don't skip the Zone 2 work in favor of the HIIT. If anything, cut the HIIT so you can do more Zone 2 training.

Many hunters also over-emphasize strength training at the expense of conditioning. They strength train four or five days per week and only do a few, short conditioning sessions at the end of a strength workout. Friend, that dog just won't hunt. Yes, strength is important for hunters, but it needs to fit in its proper place. Strength training two days per week is enough for most hunters, unless they have a huge strength deficit.

Then there are those that give low intensity training some effort, but they only do short sessions of around 30 minutes. Now, that's fine to start the party. But to truly build an efficient aerobic system with Zone 2 training, you have to do longer training sessions that last 60 to 90 minutes or longer. These longer sessions train your body to be as efficient as possible while using fat as fuel. It's important just for aerobic development. And it's even more important for us as hunters because we spend so many days covering so many miles. Short sessions are fine to get started. But it's a mistake to not progress into long Zone 2 sessions.

How to Implement Zone 2 Training

To make low intensity aerobic training work for you, it's pivotal that you spend enough time each week at Zone 2 heart rates. That's about three hours minimum. You can make modest progress with less than that, but to truly develop your aerobic system, plan to get in three hours or more each week. That could look like a 60-minute session early in the week, a 30-minute session later in the week, and a 90-minute session over the weekend. It could also be three, 60-minute sessions. However, it's important to progress to longer sessions to fully develop your aerobic efficiency. So, if you start with three, 60-minute sessions, it's important that you walk one of them up to 90 minutes plus. Now, if you're thinking, "How in the name of heck am I going to do those long sessions?" Well, hiking is a great option. A 5-mile hike at an 18-minute per mile pace gets you 90 minutes. Easy peasy.

That said, there are some staple methods of Zone 2 training for hunters. Run/walk intervals, rucking, incline treadmill walking and rucking, stair climber walking and rucking, and terrain rucking all have a place in a hunter's cardiac output training. It's real dang important to use a heart rate monitor and the other proxy tools we discussed earlier to make sure you're actually in Zone 2 while training with these methods. Let's have a look at how you might use them throughout the training week.

Tuesday: 30-minute run/walk intervals

Thursday: 60-minute incline treadmill ruck

Saturday: 90-minute hike

Can You Combine Zone 2 with Other Training?

Heck yes, you can. In fact, it's best that you do.

You build hunting endurance by improving your work capacity. One part of work capacity is aerobic capacity. That's what we build with Zone 2 and low-intensity aerobic training. The other aspects of work capacity are movement capacity (mobility), relative strength (strength relative to body weight), and aerobic power (how quickly your aerobic system generates energy). Different aspects of work capacity take center stage during different training phases, but they should (mostly) all be present in your training year-round. (Aerobic power training isn't necessary for all hunters to do year-round.)

If you follow the weekly outline above, you'll see where the rest of your training fits in. Let's lay it all out.

Monday: Strength + Movement Capacity Training

Tuesday: Zone 2

Wednesday: Strength + Movement Capacity Training

Thursday: Zone 2

Friday: Aerobic Power Training

Saturday: Zone 2

Sunday: Rest

Here's another potential weekly layout that doesn't include aerobic power training, but does include an extra rest day:

Monday: Strength + Movement Capacity Training

Tuesday: Zone 2

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Zone 2

Friday: Strength + Movement Capacity Training

Saturday: Zone 2

Sunday: Rest

We use each of these kinds of weekly splits with elk prep workouts, sheep hunting prep, and general mountain hunting training.

Signs You're Improving Your Aerobic Base

There are some key, and easily measurable, signs that you're improving your aerobic base. Here are three of them.

One is your resting heart rate --- it decreases as your aerobic fitness improves. But here's the thing, you have to consistently measure it to know that it's decreasing. If you use a wearable device like an Oura ring or a Whoop band, then it's already measuring it for you. If you're not using a wearable device, you'll take your resting heart rate first thing in the morning as soon as you wake up. Track it over time and watch the trends. It should trend down.

Another key sign is moving faster at the same or lower heart rates. This is a big tell that your aerobic system is more efficient because you can do more work with less cost to your body --- that's why your heart rate stays down.

Improved recovery between workouts is also another tell. Remember, your aerobic system is your recovery system. If you're bouncing back faster, it's a solid sign that your aerobic base is improving.

Final Thoughts: Don't Skip the Most Important System

If you want to be the first in, the last out, and the hunter that can go the deepest, then you have to build your aerobic base for hunting. That doesn't happen without an appropriate amount of Zone 2 training.

Zone 2 training for hunters is necessary for performance in the mountains, for recovery during training, and for creating the longevity that allows you to hunt for a lifetime.

FAQs

• What heart rate is Zone 2 for hunters?

• Zone 2 is between 60% and 70% of a person's max heart rate.

• How long should a Zone 2 session last?

• At least 30 minutes and up to several hours

• Does Zone 2 improve mountain endurance?

• It sure does, by improving aerobic efficiency while helping the body manage stress and recovery.

• Can I do Zone 2 with a backpack on?

• Absolutely. Rucking is a great Zone 2 training method.

• Is Zone 2 good for weight loss before hunting season?

• Zone 2 training can be an element of a weight loss plan before hunting season. But the most important element of weight loss is putting the body into a caloric deficit (burning more calories than you eat).

Want to test your aerobic base? Download The Hunter's Field Test now. (FREE)

Or, are you ready build your hunting endurance? Join our DIY Program and start getting your Zone 2 work in now.