Strong and Steady

Heart rate or training zones are a way to measure how hard your body is working, based on thresholds tied to your aerobic and anaerobic energy systems.

Each zone (1-5) represents a different physiological state where specific adaptions are occuring. These states are based on two lactate thresholds and two ventilatory thresholds that technically would have to be measured through a blood draw, but conveniently are “guestimated” as a percentage of an individual’s max sustainable heartrate.

Zone 2 (60-70% of your maximum heratrate) sits just below your first major ventilatory threshold—the point where you’re still breathing steadily and burning mostly fat as fuel. It’s the point right before things start to feel tough. When you work out in this state, you can hold a continuous conversation, but you’re definitely working.

Although not as exciting as high-intensity work, Zone 2 has a very important role for both your overall health and your fencing prowess.

Let’s break down why:

Training in Zone 2 stimulates your body to build more mitochondria—the energy-producing powerhouses of your cells (thanks high school science class). It also encourages capillary growth, which improves oxygen delivery to working muscles, and enhances your ability to metabolize fat efficiently. These changes aren’t flashy, but they’re the foundation of nearly every high-performing athlete’s training base. Why? Because your aerobic system is what’s predominantly working during any physical activity that lasts more than about 60 seconds. So unless you’re a powerlifter or shotputter, you need to be training your aerobic or Zone 2 system.

Furthermore - you may be familiary already with Zone 2 training’s association with longevity, thanks to popular figures in longevity or “biohacking” like Peter Atilla. Studies have shown that regular training in Zone 2 lowers your resting heart rate, improves heart rate variability, reduces systemic inflammation, and even protects against cognitive decline. It’s becomming thought of as one of the most powerful ways you can maintain your long-term health as you age.

In the fencing world, Zone 2 work can be easily overlooked in favor of explosive high intensity work or strength training. But here’s what Zone 2 time potentially does for you as a fencer:

• Improves heartrate recovery between bouts

• Builds cardiovascular efficiency (potentially without taxing your joints)

• Improves mitochondrial density and your muscles’ vascular network to not just better deliver, but butter utilize oxygen during multi-hour, multi-weapon tournaments

  So while high-intensity work and strength training have their place, Zone 2 is the long game. It's the kind of training that doesn’t just get you through a tournament—it keeps you fencing for decades.

HEMA Hot Take:

HEMA classes can feel intense: you focus intensely on the drill, where your sword should be, and how your footwork responds to your opponent. You move. You sweat. You spar. But take a step back and look at what actually happens from a cardiovascular standpoint during a typical HEMA class:

• Warmups: if you even have one it’s only a few minutes, designed to get your body warm enough to safely fence - not push a training zone.

• Plays and Drills: You talk, watch your coach demonstrate, do some drilling, switch roles with your partner, get some water, and repeat. Unless you’re a complete novice or your club is particularly intense, however, the fact is that this technique work often isn’t pushing your heartrate high enough to reach Zone 2. In fact, the more experienced you are, the less likely it is that a class actually gives you many minutes at a Zone 2 heartrate. And if you’re a coach, TA, or otherwise assisting with the class, chances are even less likely that Zone 2 is sustained.

• Sparring: This is where good work gets done, but here’s the rub: often we push past Zone 2 in the course of sparring, and actually are spend time above it in Zones 4–5—great for power development, pushing our anaerobic limit, and mimicking the intensity of tournament fighting, but not building an aerobic base. Great for your fencing? Yes, but is it Zone 2? Often not.

  • Not sure? the ultimate test is to wear a chest heartrate monitor during your next few classes and then review the results aftewards. You may be hitting zone 2 reliably if you are sparring for long periods at “50%”, but as many of us find, 50% often becomes 60%…70%…80%…you get the idea.

This is why many fencers fall into the “missing middle.”
They’re skipping the long, steady Zone 2 work that builds lasting endurance, speeds up recovery between bouts, and protects the heart and joints from overload. Unlike the kid fencers I get to teach who are getting their Zone 2 in PE class, riding their bike in the neighborhood or playing with the dog, we adults often live sedentary lives outside the salle and need to train Zone 2 through intentional exercise and activity.

tl;dr: if you’re not intentionally training in Zone 2, you’re probably not hitting it.

Coach’s Corner

How to Find Your Zone 2

The simplest way to find your Zone 2 threshold would be to roughly subtract your age from 180 - that will give you a rough estimate of the MAX your heartrate should be for Zone 2 work.

Example: 180-30 years = 150BPM.
Goal heart rate for Zone 2 training for this fencer would be 130s-150 beats per minute while exercising.

For many reasons, however, this is not a particularly accurate measurement. It does not take into account your current level of fitness, your gender, exercise history, etc. Your max heartrate is unique to you - so if you have the capability, it’s worth taking the time to actually find and record your own personal maximum heart rate, and calculating what 60-70% of this is on your own.

How to Find Your Maximum Heartrate:

You’ll need an accurate way to measure your heartrate while exercising, such as a heartrate monitor worn as a chest strap. Next, you’re going to need to push yourself - hard. The easiest ways to facilitate this are with a treadmill or an an assualt bike / airdyn. It can be done on other equipment as well, but it is harder to naturally reach your max effort and sustain it for very long.

Warm up thoroughly and then when you’re ready, pump up the resistance or incline and go at maximum intensity - purposely pushing yourself to your limit. Because this is quite taxing, we don’t recommend doing this often - and it should be done on a day when you feel refreshed, healthy, and ready to roll.

Keep in mind that stress as well as medications like beta blockers and ritalin can alter your heart rate. For our purposes, it’s best to test under whatever conditions are ‘normal’ for you - take your usual medications, do it at the regular time your work out at, etc.

Health & Fitness Tips

Zone 2 is the Fun Zone
Good news for my gym-haters: There’s a HUGE number of ways to get your heartrate in Zone 2 - and only a few of them involve running shoes or the gym.

I personally get the most Zone 2 minutes during the week from riding my horse, Lance. After experiementing for several weeks with a heartrate monitor, I have dialed in fairly reliably what happens to my heartrate when I’m working him under saddle - which means both of us get exercise without ever stepping foot inside the gym.

If you’re active outside of HEMA with other hobbies, you may well also be hitting those Zone 2 minutes. Check with a heartrate monitor to be sure. If you’re not currently inolved in anything else active, it’s worth considering what else might appeal - from zumba to a brisk dog walk, there’s a huge number of ways to get your heartrate up without feeling like a hamster on a wheel in the local gym.

Conditioning Move of the Week

Agility Ladder: Single Leg Hop to Lunge

Looking to level up your footwork and develop greater limb control and agility? This agility ladder drill combines single-leg movement with a lunge to challenge your balance, coordination, and power transfer — encouraging precise, clean mechanics. This is a fantastic drill to add variety to your conditioning workouts and reinforce good mechanics for lunging under pressure.

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