Stay In The Zone.

If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, or know my training personally, you know I lean heavily toward strength and power work. When I do cardio, it’s usually sprints, hard rolling, or speed-based lifts. That’s just my lane.

But here’s the twist… my secret weapon for keeping my heart healthy, VO₂ max up, and endurance steady isn’t the flashy stuff. It’s Zone 2 cardio. If you’re not familiar, Zone 2 means working at a pace where you can still breathe through your nose or hold a conversation, but you’re putting in steady effort. Usually that’s around 60–70% of your max heart rate.

My trick for making sure I actually stick to it? Owning a dog. At least twice a day, we head out for longer walks, and I turn those into my Zone 2 sessions. I get my work in, he gets his exercise (though let’s be honest, he’d gladly go miles further than me).

And here’s one more point on walking in general: it’s the most underrated form of movement you can do. Anytime I’m sore, banged up, or mentally drained, I can still rely on walking. With all the heavy lifting and jiu-jitsu I do, little tweaks and strains are normal. From my experience, and backed by plenty of research: the light impact of walking improves blood flow, releases beneficial hormones, reduces stress, and helps the body heal. To me, walking isn’t just exercise; it’s medicine.

So with that foundation, let’s dig into how Zone 2 cardio works and why it’s such a powerful tool for health, fitness, and sport.

It’s not glamorous. You won’t be setting PRs or gasping for air. But if you want better health, stronger conditioning, and even more horsepower for your sport, Zone 2 is the base you’re missing.

Builds an aerobic base. This is the “engine” that allows athletes to go harder for longer, recover faster between rounds, and keep intensity high when it matters. When it comes to performance, Zone 2 builds the “engine” that everything else runs on. A bigger aerobic base means you can sustain higher intensities longer, clear waste products faster, and recover quicker between explosive bursts. Think about grappling: if your gas tank is shallow, every scramble feels like a sprint you can’t recover from. But if you’ve built your Zone 2 foundation, those same scrambles feel manageable because your body has the aerobic capacity to keep fueling effort and buffering fatigue. The same principle applies to lifting; better aerobic efficiency means quicker recovery between heavy sets, letting you train with more volume and intensity over time. Strength and power are still the sharp weapons, but Zone 2 is the conditioning that makes sure you can keep swinging them without burning out.

A solid aerobic system improves work capacity and recovery between sets. Your strength doesn’t live in a vacuum, it benefits from a better conditioned engine.

Improves your body’s ability to use fat for fuel, lowers resting heart rate, and strengthens your cardiovascular system. Think: less stress on your heart and more years of strong living.

MINDSET

Most athletes approach conditioning with an all-or-nothing mindset. It’s either gasping-for-air sprints or no cardio at all. The problem is, both extremes miss the mark.

Zone 2 teaches patience. It’s about putting in consistent, steady work that doesn’t feel flashy but pays off over time. Think of it as building your foundation brick by brick. You don’t need to be dead on the floor for it to count; you need to be consistent.

If you can shift your mindset from “every session has to crush me” to “every session should move me forward,” you’ll unlock a new level of progress.

Zone 2 is proof that sometimes slower work is actually the fastest way to improve.

Train smart, but never forget to train hard.

Thanks for reading this week’s edition of Unmasked by The Weekly Standard!

If you found value in these insights, share it with a training buddy or post it on your social feed; let’s spread the knowledge and push each other to new levels. See you next time!