Mitochondria & Metobolic Health: The Zone 2 Longevity Connection with Paul Laursen

🎓 Enrol in Tony’s 9-Week Science of Thriving Course → ⁠⁠https://scienceofthriving.com.au ⁠⁠ 

👉Follow on IG → @tonyboutagy    

In this episode of Stronger With Time, Dr. Tony Boutagy sits down with Professor Paul Laursen (renowned exercise physiologist, HIIT researcher, and co-founder of Athletica.ai) to discuss all things endurance training, zone 2 work, HIIT, fasted cardio and some of the misinformation around these training modalities. 

In this Eposide:

00:00 – Intro: Why this conversation matters for women and coaches  

01:00 – Paul’s background & why elite athletes aren’t always healthy  

03:00 – Metabolic dysfunction & burnout in high performers  

06:00 – Muscle mass, mitochondria & why resistance alone isn’t enough  

08:00 – What Zone 2 actually does for your metabolic health  

11:00 – How to test aerobic fitness without a lab (180-age method)  

14:00 – Why building fat-burning capacity is so critical for women  

17:00 – How many hours of Zone 2 do you really need?  

19:00 – Why Zone 3 is “no man’s land” & how to avoid overtraining  

22:00 – Full breakdown of zone training (Zone 1–6 explained)  

25:00 – When Zone 3 is useful—and when it’s a mistake  

26:00 – The science behind short intervals vs long ones  

29:00 – Why 30/30 intervals work (and how to dose them properly)  

33:00 – The biggest mistake most people make with intervals  

35:00 – How much VO₂max training is enough for health & longevity  

39:00 – Why base training *must* come before HIIT  

41:00 – Do women respond differently to aerobic training?  

44:00 – The myth that women should avoid Zone 2 & fasted cardio  

47:00 – What the research *really* says about fasted training for women  

49:00 – Fueling performance on low-carb diets: how it actually works  

52:00 – Carbohydrate targets, CGMs & training with metabolic flexibility  

54:00 – Stress, cortisol & how glucose spikes show up on CGMs  

55:00 – Final thoughts & how to join Paul’s real-world nutrition study

Guest Bio:

Professor Paul Laursen is a world-leading endurance coach and exercise physiologist with 150+ peer-reviewed papers. He’s the co-founder of Athletica.ai and author of the Human Kinetics textbook High-Intensity Interval Training. He’s coached Olympic medalists, Ironman champions, and continues to pioneer research at the intersection of performance and health.

Resources & Links:

– Free 2-week Athletica.ai trial → https://athletica.ai  

– Field Study: Join Athletica’s nutrition + training research project  

– Professor Laursen’s textbook on HIIT → https://hiitscience.com/hiit-science-book-application/

– Peter Attia: VO₂max and longevity reference → https://peterattiamd.com/all-things-vo2-max/

– Jeff Volek’s FASTER Study →  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26892521/

📣 Want to thrive through menopause with evidence-based training? Enrol in Tony’s 9-Week Course: https://scienceofthriving.com.au