Confused about heart rate training/zones

wissywig

After having read the latest blog article re heart rate training, I'm even more confused than I was before (which was plenty). Advice would be appreciated.

Back in June 2014 I was dropping weight like crazy. I continued on this path up until I changed up my workout (mostly due to boredom). Since then I have maintained weight rather than losing, and I'd like to know if my new fitness regimen is the reason.

What I had been doing during that summer of rapid loss was: five days a week of 30 minutes on the rowing machine (intervals of two minutes rowing, 30 seconds rest between intervals), with a 10 minute warmup of treadmill walking and 10 minutes on a cross trainer to finish.

Going back over my stats on the tracking app, I noticed that my average heart rate during the interval training on the rowing machine was smack in the middle of the "green zone/3" (for me that's about 135). The treadmill walk and cross trainer workout were also green zone with occasional forays into zone 4. The intervals on the rower would get my heart rate into zone 4, but only at the end of each interval, after which it would drop back down.

When I switched up my workout, I did 40 minutes consisting of this regimen: I switched up between three machines doing 8 min warmup on treadmill (HR 130s), 8 min intervals on rower (HR avg 130s-140), 8 min on cross trainer (HR 150-159), and then repeated the rower and cross trainer (8 min of 2-min intervals on rowing machine, 8 min high end of zone 4 cross trainer).

Since switching to this regimen, my weight loss has, frustratingly, pretty much stopped.

I've never put much stock into the zone thing because I was under the impression that more calories burned = more fat lost. But something has changed, and it started with my workout. At least I'm guessing it did, as the timing makes sense.

My question: was training in the green zone responsible for me losing weight more efficiently? Could doing less on the rowing machine and more on the cross trainer at a higher heart rate be the reason for my stagnation? I admit I'm confused by what seems to be a contradiction in logic with the whole zone concept (and it didn't escape my notice that that blog post was written by a company that makes heart rate monitors). Is the green zone/fat burning zone a myth? And if it is, what's going on with my workout?

Any advice? I'm beyond frustrated and very discouraged. I'd been doing so well and now I'm not.

Thanks folks
Jenny

brianpperkins

The "fat burning zone" does exist but it is only a zone where the predominant fuel source, by percentage of total used, is fat. At higher intensity the body burns more calories and uses more total fat that at the lower "fat burning" range. For weight loss, higher intensity at longer duration results in more total calories, and fat, burned. Human body weight doesn't come down to just fat loss ... there is water retention for repair and glycogen replenishment, amount of food and waste in your digestive tract, cyclical body functions, etc ... which is why there are so many fluctuations and loss is not linear.

Zone training has some benefits for advanced endurance athletes. For most of us, we aren't looking for the type of endurance benefits to run competitive marathons or ride multiple centuries a week over the mountains of France. Generally speaking active recovery is in the lower zones ... endurance build in the low to mid zones ... threshold training at the upper zones ... and supermaximal training at the far end of the zone build.

Chieflrg

Questions:
How many cals are you eating on a daily basis?
What is your weight?
How much have you adjusted your cal intake since the last 10lb you lost?
Are you using a food scale?
How are you estimating your cal burn?

Something to consider is that just because your heart rate is higher than before, it doesn't mean your cal burns are greater.

HRM monitors results are not on point, they are a estimate. I found while I'm running on flat terrain using the cals burned formula is more accurate than a HRM for instance.