Zone training articles

Orangetheory has a cliff, Peloton has a cap, Whoop has a logarithm and Apple has a flat rate. A tour of how fitness apps decide what a minute of effort earns you, and why ZonePoints scores on a straight line.

Why training time starts late even though the work started on time, why staying in the zone gets easier as a session goes on, and why the cool-down gives the missing minutes back.

Apple, Garmin, Polar, Fitbit, Whoop, Strava and the ACSM all draw the zones differently and score them differently. A tour of the disagreement, and why ZonePoints picked a straight line.

Your heart rate runs lower in the morning, so the same work earns fewer zone points. What the research says about training time, and whether coffee inflates your score.

Why a Fitbit Air vanishes from Bluetooth between workouts, and three ways to keep training in zones — Always visible, Health Connect, or a chest strap.

How to calculate Orangetheory Splat Points (84% HRmax / Zone 4) at home with any Bluetooth chest strap.

How to get real-time headphone audio and vibration zone alerts on Android with a Polar H10 chest strap.

Heat, hills, sleep and stress all change how hard a workout feels. Here's why measuring effort is fairer than measuring speed.

The easy pace everyone's talking about, what zone 2 actually is, and where it fits alongside hard efforts.

Can two workouts a week really make you fit? The science says yes, if you make the effort count.