Goodbye, cardio? The rise of zone zero fitness in the GLP-1 era

As GLP-1s reshape our bodies and beliefs, a gentler, more intuitive approach to fitness is gaining ground. And it might not be a bad thing.

Remember when we used to exercise to burn calories? When it was punishment (or redemption!) for all the bad things we had consumed?

It feels so short-sighted now. So barbaric. So “Biggest Loser” circa 2010. Whether we’re taking them or not, GLP-1s haven’t just shifted how we eat. They’ve changed how we move and how we think about movement.

I’m not saying 2026 is the year cardio dies, but it’s probably the year we stop pretending we were ever doing it for “health” in the first place.

And that might not be such a bad thing.

Enter zone zero fitness

Of all the new year predictions I read over the last few weeks, one stood out: 2026 would be the year of “zone zero” fitness.

I had no idea what the term meant, and I’ll admit, my first reaction was: What new excuse have people come up with for not exercising now?

For those of us who haven’t been living (or dying) by our smart watches, you might remember the cardio zones refer to heart rate ranges. The harder we exercise, the higher our heart rate climbs, with each category delivering a specific benefit:

• Zone 1 (50 to 60 percent of maximum heart rate): warm-ups, cool-downs, and recovery; conversation is easy.

• Zone 2 (60 to 70 percent of MHR): building aerobic base and fat burning; can talk in short sentences.

• Zone 3 (70 to 80 percent of MHR): moderate intensity, improving aerobic fitness; conversation becomes difficult.

• Zone 4 (80 to 90 percent of MHR): significant intensity, improving speed and power; talking is difficult.

• Zone 5 (90 to 100 percent of MHR): max effort, building VO2 max; talking not possible.

Zone zero is below all that.

Think gardening, light stretching, dog walks slow enough for bedroom slippers. It’s a kinder, gentler entry into movement for people who are resetting, recovering from injury, starting out, or just done pretending they enjoy burpees.

“Zone zero training is meant to be so easy it feels almost effortless, and it generally refers to any activity in which your heart rate stays below half of its maximum capacity,” said the New York Times in explaining the trend last fall.

GLP-1s and the death of the weight loss myth

For years, zone 2 training was all the rage. Known for building aerobic fitness and fat burning, it was the place to be. The concept of zone zero didn’t even exist until 2025. But in this new era of prescription weight loss, where “no pain no gain” has fallen out of favor, effortless exercise is having a moment.

Before you dismiss it, consider this: for a lot of us, fitness was never about health. Not real health, anyway. When we said “health,” what we really meant was to be skinny, or at least to not be fat. We might have wanted better health, but that wasn’t the primary reason we were spending hours on the treadmill. We’re past all that now.

Thanks to GLP-1s, many of us, whether we’re on them or not, have had a collective awakening. After years of failed attempts, we’ve finally realized losing weight the “hard way,” and actually keeping it off, was never realistic. Not for most of us, anyway. Yes, there are still protests from the “calories in, calories out” crowd, who say just move more and eat less. But a large portion of the population now knows this doesn’t work for everyone.

And yet, for all this talk about how hard it is to achieve sustained weight loss, what hasn’t changed is our desire to be thin.

You’d think we’d be more inclined to embrace body diversity, but instead it’s the opposite. All this talk about weight loss drugs has made it even less acceptable to live in anything but the narrowest version.

Rather than helping us feel more at peace in our bodies, the marketing of GLP-1s has reinforced the idea that bodies are only acceptable when they’re the “right” size, and that the only way to get there is with a prescription.

It's not just you, the body pressure is back

And I’m not saying people can’t improve their health by changing their eating and fitness habits. They can, and there’s plenty of data to back this up. But it’s just not a reliable path to sustainable weight loss for a good chunk of the population.

Most of us who’ve spent our lives battling our bodies have done everything in our power to lose the weight. And, sure, we’ve had successes along the way. But it never lasted. And, of course, we believed it was our fault, a personal failing. Certainly not the system designed to profit off our failure.

Thanks to the GLP-1s, many of us have realized it was never our fault. As Oprah Winfrey put it when she revealed she was on the meds (and later announced she was ending her longtime partnership with WeightWatchers):

“I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.”

She, like so many of us (both on and off the jabs) not genetically predisposed to be skinny, has realized that the only path to weight loss (though whether it’s sustainable is still up for debate) is through a prescription that suppresses hunger.

From weight loss to muscle preservation

Of course, GLP-1s have changed our relationship with exercise. Our reasons for moving have changed. A good chunk of the population who’ve put themselves through a lifetime of punishing workouts are finally asking: now that we don’t have to exercise to lose weight, why should we keep doing it?

And for those who’ve lost weight on GLP-1s, the biggest fear now isn’t fat. It’s muscle loss.

Health coach Victoria Reba told the Daily Mail that it’s less about burning calories and more about sustainable muscle tone, metabolic health, and recovery. The trend toward zone zero, it wrote, signifies a major philosophical shift from “no pain, no gain” to “manageable movement.” Or what some are calling “effortless exercise.”

In practice, it looks less like cardio and more like what the intuitive eating movement has been talking about for years: movement for joy and pleasure, not punishment.

“Forget militant exercise. Just get active and feel the difference. Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie-burning effect of exercise.”

There are reported health benefits even at these low intensities, including improved circulation, blood sugar management, and reduced stress. But the bigger question isn’t whether zone zero is beneficial, but why it’s trending.

The Daily Mail argues that the popularity of weight loss medications, taken by roughly 30 million Americans, “is fundamentally altering the fitness industry by creating an entirely new demographic of clients with distinct physiological needs.”

“The objective is no longer just building strength, but actively preserving lean muscle mass, which is often lost rapidly during the dramatic weight loss induced by these medications.”

By this logic, strength training should be all the rage, and in certain circles it is and has been for years. But zone zero is getting all the buzz, probably because it doesn’t come with pain or pressure. It meets people where they are.

Fitness that meets you where you are

To be clear, no one is saying zone zero fitness alone is the answer for most of us. A mix of high and low intensity fitness is still touted as the best approach for overall health. But this new era presents us with an opportunity to examine our relationship with exercise beyond weight loss.

If you’re someone who is used to pounding the pavement (or the treadmill) out of guilt, maybe zone zero isn’t the end of fitness. Maybe it’s a place to start fresh.

When I stopped intentionally pursuing weight loss and took up intuitive eating, I had to redefine my relationship with exercise. It had always been complicated, to say the least. Controlling my body size was always priority one, but it wasn’t the only reason I exercised.

Letting go of weight loss forced me to have a more honest conversation with myself about my true goals. I stepped away from Olympic weightlifting, the sport I had leaned on to keep my weight in check. I cut my premium Strava subscription. I stopped obsessing over numbers.

Instead, I refocused on reasons. Why was I exercising? What did it do for me? Where did it fit in my overall priorities?

Turns out, it was still high on my list because of the physical, mental, and emotional benefits. But by no longer doing it for weight loss, I was able to appreciate it in a way I hadn’t before and find a more balanced approach to it. These days, that looks like easy hikes with my dog and mountain bike group rides with some of my favorite women.

Could this be a new start for you?

Maybe zone zero is just a catchy buzzword, a reflection of a cultural moment rather than a lasting movement. But it could also be an opportunity for something bigger.

Maybe this is the year we begin to build a new relationship with our bodies, one that invites us to explore movement that feels good. We might still run that 5K or climb that mountain, but not to work off the bagel we did (or didn’t) eat. Or we might just take it easy when our bodies aren’t up for more.

Maybe this is the year we stop punishing ourselves in the name of health and start asking what movement can actually do for us.

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I’d love to hear from you …

Do you think zone zero is just a trend … or the start of something bigger? What does movement mean to you today, and how has that meaning shifted over the years?