- My body's ability to burn
fat has drastically changed. How do I know? I went to a sports lab and measured it, and then I did three months of
Zone 2 Training for running. And, then I went to a sports lab again, and I measured to see how it had changed. Here are my results. (ominous horn) Day one, so the first step
was capturing my initial data. I went and did a
metabolic test with Nikki. This is the overall data
and numbers that we saw. And, the biggest feedback
that she gave me, is that I don't have a Zone 2. - You know, Zone 2 is
your aerobic zone, right? And, so based on this test,
you don't have Zone 2. (Shervin laughs)
right? You haven't been training
for a Zone 2, right? And, that's gonna influence it, for sure. - Essentially, when I'm running,
there's no zone, or space, or heart rate area where I am
burning more fat than carbs, as my fuel source. So, that's where the goal
became, "how can I train, how can I run in a certain way, so that way I can create
a fat-burn Zone 2 area." Next, I did a DEXA scan. I was around 199 pounds,
and about 17% body fat. And, finally, I did some blood
work through InsideTracker. These were my baseline numbers, and we'll see how they changed at the end of the three months. Now, maybe you don't know what Zone 2 is. It's, kind of, this new viral thing, in the fitness wellness space. And, there are two main
factors that I've seen of why it's important to do. One is metabolic flexibility, essentially your body's ability
to switch from burning carbs to burning fat as a fuel source, and the more metabolically
flexible you are, right, being able to switch your fuel sources, the healthier you are, and the
overall better for longevity. And, then two, for endurance training. So, I do want to run a
sub three-hour marathon at some point before I die. I read a lot of things about how Zone 2, or aerobic base building, can
help create that foundation so you can work towards that goal. So, if you wanna be healthy long term, and you want to achieve a
certain athletic performance, Zone 2 is valuable. But, what is a Zone 2? When it comes to Zone 2, You might hear, like, heart rate zones, training zones. There could be three, there could be five, there could be six, seven power zones. There's a whole plethora
of options out there, so it can get confusing. Now, how I decided to
define Zone 2 training, was from Dr. Peter Attia, and
I'm gonna butcher this but, Dr. Inigo San-Millan. - Zone 2, Zone 2, Zone 2. - He is considered the father of Zone 2, and he trains a ton of elite cyclists, and they have a great podcast together. So, that's where I got my
information and data from. You're Zone 2 is where
you are able to output the maximum amount of power. So, you're trying to run or
cycle the fastest as possible while keeping your lactate
between 1.7 to 1.9 millivolts, or right under two millimoles. And, from what I could
understand, this is a great proxy to where your body is burning
the most amount of fat, versus carbs. Is it perfect, eh, not
really, but it's, like, close. And, the idea is that you wanna train at this low steady stage, so
that way your mitochondria are producing all the ATP, and you're focusing as much
on your aerobic system, as possible. But, the overall consensus is that you wanna make your mitochondria, which is the powerhouse of
the cell, is more efficient. So, another way to measure
this is one of those tests where you wear the mask, and
you can measure your CO2, versus oxygen output
and potentially predict how much you're burning fat, and how much you're burning carbs. And, that's what I did at the beginning, and at the end of these three months. Now, what's the protocol to follow? Inigo San-Millan says that you want to do a 45 minute session up
to a 90 minute session, of Zone 2 training. - Ideally, needs to be done between three to four days a week. - Two sessions per week to maintain. Four, five, and six to really
push the needle forward. So, I aimed for around 180 to
360 minutes of Zone 2 training per week, which is three to six hours. And, each session I tried
to aim for 45 minutes to 90 minutes depending on,
kind of, how I felt that day, and other life priorities. But, that's not how I started. For the first few weeks I
aimed just to do 30 minutes of running ,'cause I
just want to, kind of, get in the space of running. I hadn't run that much before. You don't wanna just go run
90 minutes on your first day. That's a lot of running. Then there were some secondary factors that might not be as important, but I tried to, kind of, incorporate them, and that was running in the
morning, where I was fasted. So, my glycogen stores might be depleted, and my body might be able to
switch to a fat burning state much faster. And two,
is I optimized my diet. Nikki gave me a great snack handout, and I was trying to eat fats or protein with any carbs that I consumed. So, if I was eating fruits
which are high in carbs, I would try to consume
a fat or protein source. So, peanut butter with banana,
get my fat and my carbs. So, now that I, kind of, had
an idea of what Zone 2 was, what my overall plan was
gonna be, the challenge began. Week one to three, so the
very first week, you know, I was new to running, and I
wanted to do Zone 2 running because I wanna run a marathon. So, if you do Zone 2 in
ones type of workout, it doesn't really bleed
into the other kind. So, if you wanna do Zone 2 cycling, it's not gonna help your running as much. And, from the metabolic test that I did, I realized that my, kind of, Zone 2, where I was burning
the most amount of fat, was around like 136 to 142 range. - I do think the 9:05 pace
is not a bad place for you, for sure, 'cause you are
burning the most fat there. Your fat calorie stress
significantly here, and the carb calories,
just, like, spike, you know? Like.
- Yeah. - That's a significant change. So, I would definitely stay
under the 9:05, for sure. - So, I use that heart rate
zone as a proxy for that. And, in the Apple Watch you can
set custom heart rate zones. So, I did that, and then
I set a notification. So, anytime I dropped
outside of these zones, whether it was the upper or lower bound, my watch would vibrate and let me know. And, the reason I use the
chest heart rate strap is because that's, kind of, the most accurate that
you can find out there. And, it, like, updates, in
terms of your heart rate, as fast as possible. Anything on your wrist, take
it with a grain of salt. And, the very first week
it wasn't easy, right? I had to walk and run at the same time. A lot of these sessions,
I was, like, running for a little bit, and then
walking for a little bit. And, I honestly felt demotivated. Like, I grew up as a swimmer. I kind of liked to identify as
a somewhat-athlete growing up and just trying to have
a steady state heart rate was extremely challenging. But, I reminded myself,
like, why am I doing this. One, it's for the video, but two, can I actually increase
my metabolic health? Can I have a strong
cardiovascular system, right? I want to create a
forever goal of longevity. I want to live a long and healthy life. So, I kind of need to
go through these steps to make that happen. I think anytime you're
starting Zone 2 training, especially if it's running focused, realize it's gonna be you know, run/walk for the first two to three weeks. And, that's how it was for me. Week four to seven, now around week four, I think I started to adapt,
and my body, just, felt like I could actually run
the entire time period. Yes, it took some time to
finally be able to hit that 136/142 heart range,
which was custom to me. I was running, like,
10/11 minute mile pace, nice and slow, super easy. And, one thing that I
realized is if I trained later in the day, or if I
took caffeine before I ran, my heart rate was higher, so it was harder to be in that zone. So, I would try to
minimize eating or caffeine before these runs, and if
I did do it even later, I'd run even slower. And then, even temperature, right? If it was colder, it was
easier to stay in the zone, if it was hotter, like, my
heart rate was even higher. And, I still love to do strength training. And, one thing that Dr. Attia mentions, is that you actually want
to do your strength training after a Zone 2, which could seem a little
bit counterintuitive. It just depends on what your goals are. But, I ended up doing, like,
a 45 minute or 90 minute run and then I would go straight into a strength training session, 'cause I was trying to
optimize for everything. And, if you're struggling to
hit these like peak-strength goals, yes it's gonna hold you back. But, I was prioritizing
the Zone 2 training, so I would always do it beforehand. But, what I realized is
sometimes it actually felt like a good warmup, and I didn't
really have any issues hitting PRs or pushing the weights that I really needed to push that day. But, you actually don't get
a lot of the Zone 2 benefits if you try to do it right
after a strength training, or any kind of high intensity session. But, these were the weeks
where I really felt like I had this, like, I was
day-in, day-out, showing up. I was putting in the work, I'd wake up, put on my running clothes, do
the run, come home, shower. It just felt like this routine, where every day I just
showed up, and just did it. And, then I realized, "hey,
I'm getting a double benefit, sunlight in the morning." 'Cause I wouldn't wear
sunglasses when I was running. I would try to go shirtless
just to get some sun exposure on my skin. Everything felt absolutely amazing. But then, I hit week eight. (bird tweets)
Also, to see behind the scenes
content, make sure to follow me on Instagram and Twitter @SherwinShares, and you'll see all this info
before you do on YouTube. Week eight to 11, I think
what I didn't realize during these weeks, is the impact, especially at a heavier body weight, that running has on your body. And, it was, kind of, like,
building up, slowly building up and my body was like
aching, and getting worse. It was getting tighter, and I
wasn't taking the right steps to make sure that didn't happen. You know, I've taught yoga
for a good number of years. I'm pretty mobile, I would think, but I wasn't doing a lot of yoga, I wasn't doing mobility work,
I wasn't doing any stretching, and I could feel the tightness in my body was impacting my running, and I was getting a little
bit of lower back pain, and I had some weird
pain around my ankles. "ugh, let's just push through it," right? "No pain, no gain." And, that's where things
started to take a darker turn. Right, I don't know how
much of it is also tied to eating healthy foods that
don't cause inflammation, staying hydrated, getting
enough salt, and water. But, this whole entire
Zone 2 training felt like a part-time job. It was almost 10 hours a week of running, showering, changing. And, then on top of that,
doing strength training, mobility work, it was overwhelming, and I felt like I just
didn't want to do it anymore. And, the hardest part was
that it was getting boring. Like, you're running at a very slow pace for an hour and a half? Like think about that, you're just running down a straight line. And, I was like, "this is so monotonous. How do I optimize my time?" I had to figure out something
else to do while running, and that's when I was like, "okay, maybe I'll listen to a podcast," but then how do I take
notes while running, listening to this podcast? Then, I was like, "maybe
I'll call friends, right? This is a conversational pace, I should be able to
catch up with friends." So, I started to experiment
with other activities I could do while doing the Zone 2 run. And, then I added a
combination of VO2 max, and track workouts, and I was really pushing my upper balance, while building that aerobic base. And, as someone who grew
up hating running, like, I was a swimmer, and we had
running workouts twice a week, and I asked my coach if I
could skip those workouts. Like, that's how much I've
always disliked running. And, now I was averaging
at, like, 40 miles per week of running. It felt like it was nothing. I was like, "oh that was easy,
you know we're going at it." And then, boom! (claps hands) That lack of proper warm-up, the lack of stretching on off days, my, probably, poor running mechanics, not eating healthy whole foods, led to some kind of
tendonitis in my ankle. But, I had to finish the challenge, and that's when we got to week 12. So, I kept running all up until the test, even at this test on week 12, like, I could feel something was
wrong, but I was, like, "I need to get this test done." And, that was the last week
where I had these 40 mile weeks, and I haven't run one since. Now, one of the things
that I noticed overall, one was, like, my heart
rate was a lot lower when I was working out,
whether it was weightlifting, going to the sauna, like, my heart rate was noticeably lower. It never, it would hit, like,
150 sometimes in the sauna, and now I was barely hitting like 120/130. When I would ask friends
who didn't run, like, our heart rates maybe would
peak together, but now, like I was on a different level. Two, I felt a lot more energized. Like, just doing these easy runs, they didn't take a lot
out of me, whereas, like, some strength training can, but I felt like I had this
like, high, this endorphin, and I was able to be more productive, and get into a flow state more often. I also became extremely
hungry. I would eat a lot more. So, grocery bill went up,
and the final thing was I would feel really tight,
because I wasn't doing warmups, was not doing mobility work. I would run, come home,
sit at a desk for all day, and started to have an
increase in lower back pain. I had issues in my ankle. It just felt like there's
a lot more inflammation in my body. So, I really wanna do a
better job of understanding how my body feels, and adjusting
my workouts, as needed. Right? Although like Zone 2 training
might not put a lot of load on your cardiovascular system,
it does put a lot of load on your tendons, your
ligaments, your muscles. Every time my foot slams
on the floor, right? I think it's like seven to
eight times your body weight, of force is going back up. So, I should have been a
little bit more mindful, in terms of how much impact
I was putting on my body. And, now that I'm actually,
like, 15 pounds heavier than I was then, running was gonna put even
more force on my body today. But, these are my final results. DEXA scan, most of the
data was kinda the same. My weight is approximately same, my body composition, still
around 17-ish percent body fat. I may be fluctuated
between 199, 195 pounds, but that could just be margin of error. And, then in my blood work you can see my testosterone dropped,
my cortisol dropped, and my iron and
triglycerides also dropped. So, that could also be
due to the fact that I was not eating properly, and now that I was exercising even more, I was losing certain things. But, I think getting your blood work done is really important. Either get it through
your doctor, and if not, use inside tracker, it's linked below, helps with the channel. I showed up to another testing
facility, here in New York, and had an amazing person,
Polly, just absolutely brilliant, who took us through this test. And, because they didn't have
lactate testing to measure, kind of, where did my
two millimole lactate change throughout, we'll, kind of, just, look at my heart rate. So, at a 142 beats per minute heart rate, my original pace was 9:O5. The three month mark,
the new pace was 8:49. So, about 15 seconds faster
at the same heart rate. Yeah, it's only 15 seconds, but you add that up over 26
miles, like that's minutes, and you add that up, consistent
training over months, over years, like, there's
so much more potential. And, yeah, obviously
it's probably not linear, but just seeing the change in
the data was very inspiring. When you do strength
training, you can see gains, you can see changes rather quickly. But, one of the things I learned is aerobic-based training
takes a long, long time. There were multiple
areas and multiple paces where I was actually
burning a lot more fat, than I was carbs. Just seeing how my body,
metabolically, shifted was so inspiring and fascinating. I was like, "I wanna continue doing this," but because of that tendonitis,
the injury in my ankle, I had to stop. I took a couple months off, and that's kinda what's leading into this marathon training series. I love that I did this experiment, and I'm gonna continue
doing a lot of Zone 2, easy mileage work, because I know it's
gonna set the foundation for my future marathons. Now, because excessive running
can actually hinder some of your sex hormones, like testosterone, due to the fact that like
we're increasing cortisol, and that's your stress hormone. One thing I did experiment with, was trying testosterone supplements, like can I maintain or
increase my testosterone, when I'm in these
high-intense training plans? So, go watch this video where I tried testosterone
supplements, like Tongkat Ali, and Fadogia Agrestis, linked right here. And, turn on your notifications if you wanna see future videos. Peace!
