Confused about how long to do cardio

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madkcole
madkcole Posts: 110 Member
edited January 2016 in Fitness and Exercise
Getting conflicting advice from people about what is the optimal time you should do your cardio to reach your body's "fat burning zone." Some say anything longer than 30 minutes as long as you're in you target heart rate. Others say there is no magic time, just as long as you're in your target heart rate. So... my fitness pals.... Is it true you have to do cardio for longer than 30 minutes to reach your "fat burning zone?" I've been trying to do some research on this topic, but not having any luck finding anything online.

Thanks!
Madelyn

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  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,197 Member
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    The longer you "do cardio", the more calories you burn.

    I don't know what cardio you're doing, but a 30 minute bicycle ride (my favourite cardio activity) would feel really short. Personally, I prefer riding for an hour or more, but mainly because I enjoy cycling.

  • tillerstouch
    tillerstouch Posts: 608 Member
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    Don't worry about a "fat burning zone" to lose fat eat a calorie deficit. So the more cardio you do the higher you can get your deficit/the more you could eat and maintain a deficit.

    Now for heart and other health benefits it's recomend 30 minutes a day but that 30 minutes can be as simple as a walk and can even be broken into 3 10 minute periods to see those health benefits.
  • Power7374
    Power7374 Posts: 20 Member
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    No such thing as "fat burning zone," but depending on the intensity, you burn more calories and in turn "burn fat." HIIT burns more calories than low intensity.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    You're overthinking it, there's no fat burning zone and no amount of time is optimal. The better (resistance, time, speed) you do, the better your endurance will improve and the more calories you will burn. Period.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    Power7374 wrote: »
    HIIT burns more calories than low intensity.

    The difference is negligible, and dwarved by the fact that one can easily train at moderately high intensity for 30 minutes whereas doing HIIT is about 10 minutes worth of working effort.

    5% of 300 calories, from a gentle run, is still more than 10% of 100 calories, from a HIIT work period...
  • Working2BLean
    Working2BLean Posts: 386 Member
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    You could do a variety of workouts for different goals.

    Higher intensity periods of cardio can help lower your resting heart rate. They burn mad calories but you can't do them for as long. Some intense exercises are a little bit more stress on your joints. I like doing some intense days now but did not when I first started out.

    Lower intensity it still in zone 2 type workouts still burn off calories! And you can do them longer. They are a good way to build up your exercise capacity. Getting your heart going and burning off calories, getting yourself breathing faster and sweating is still good for you

    If you want to know a bit more about your options look at Runners World or Cycling web sites for info on target heart rates. Good sound science based info there. A heart rate monitor is pretty cheap. Then you can control your workouts and have those 90% HRM interval days and then 75% HRM endurance training days

    It really is simple. You will grasp it in about 15 minutes tops. This stuff isn't complicated. It is more about self discipline to eat right and get a balanced exercise plan you stick to. You absolutely can do it.

    Good luck!!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    How many minutes to you have to drive before your car starts using fuel?

    Suggest you forget fat burning zones (a misnomer anyway) and focus your exercise towards your fitness and health goals.
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
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    madkcole wrote: »
    Getting conflicting advice from people about what is the optimal time you should do your cardio to reach your body's "fat burning zone." Some say anything longer than 30 minutes as long as you're in you target heart rate. Others say there is no magic time, just as long as you're in your target heart rate. So... my fitness pals.... Is it true you have to do cardio for longer than 30 minutes to reach your "fat burning zone?" I've been trying to do some research on this topic, but not having any luck finding anything online.

    Thanks!
    Madelyn

    Yes, there is no shortage of "conflicting advice".

    If your goal is weight loss, focus on the calories in vs. calories out.

    What are your goals with cardio exercise? For some, 30 minutes is a stretch to even do that much. For others - such as endurance athletes - 30 minutes is barely even a warm-up. Mix in different levels of intensity, duration, fuel, and you are simply going to continue to receive a bunch of "conflicting advice".

    If you study heart rate during cardio exercise, there are ranges of HR for your particular fitness that are fueled more by stored fat than other sources. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9363378
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,390 Member
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    I think the entire concept of the "fat burning zone" has just been twisted over the years to confuse people, and some still attempt to twist it.

    At the end of the day, the deficit reduces overall fat, regardless of what fuel you used for a workout. Calories burned is calories burned. The only impact the "fat burning zone" might really have is that many people can obviously exercise longer at lower intensities, and overall burn more calories. That really only applies if you have a lot of time on your hands and don't want the other benefits of higher intensity exercise.
  • madkcole
    madkcole Posts: 110 Member
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    Thanks for all the input everyone. I understand the concept of CICO and calorie deficit for weight loss, but I'm confused on when the body starts utilizing its fat stores for energy. I don't think I phrased my question well. I've heard that exercising for 30 minutes or less doesn't begin the process of your body using fat for energy and isn't that what you want to be utilizing for energy when you exercise?

  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,390 Member
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    @madkcole Your body uses fat as fuel a great deal of the time. The higher the exercise intensity, the more you gradually transition to using more carbs, primary in the form of glycogen stored in your muscles and organs. As a percentage of calorie burn, your body actually uses a higher percentage of energy from fat while you sleep, since you aren't reliant on carbs during that time.

    But I think the confusion lies in the fact that working on using primarily fat as fuel doesn't mean you will lose the fat for good. If you have a calorie excess the fat is just built back up. If you have a calorie deficit you slowly lose more fat. As for workout intensity, even if you ramp it up and burn more glycogen to fuel the actual workout, some of your incoming calories replenish that glycogen. So in the end, reducing body fat comes down to a calorie deficit.

    I often exercise 15-16 hours after my late night eating, and with minimal calories eaten early in the day. My body has to rely on fat stores for most of my fuel. But if I eat all those calories right back after the workout... the fat remains.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    madkcole wrote: »
    ....but I'm confused on when the body starts utilizing its fat stores for energy.

    It uses fat as a source of fuel all the time, in the same way that it uses other sources of fuel all the time. The difference is the proportion of the fuel coming from fat is slightly higher at a lower intensity.

    The main reason not to worry about it is that if you work at a higher intensity you're burning more fuel, so whilst a marginally higher proportion of fuel comes from fat it's a higehr proportion of a smaller amount.

    If you work at a solid, moderate, intensity that you can sustain for your thirty minutes you'll burn more calories, which is the main thing to worry about.
  • madkcole
    madkcole Posts: 110 Member
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    robertw486 wrote: »
    @madkcole But I think the confusion lies in the fact that working on using primarily fat as fuel doesn't mean you will lose the fat for good. If you have a calorie excess the fat is just built back up. If you have a calorie deficit you slowly lose more fat. As for workout intensity, even if you ramp it up and burn more glycogen to fuel the actual workout, some of your incoming calories replenish that glycogen. So in the end, reducing body fat comes down to a calorie deficit.
    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    If you work at a solid, moderate, intensity that you can sustain for your thirty minutes you'll burn more calories, which is the main thing to worry about.


    Thank you. This was helpful!

  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
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    madkcole wrote: »
    Thanks for all the input everyone. I understand the concept of CICO and calorie deficit for weight loss, but I'm confused on when the body starts utilizing its fat stores for energy. I don't think I phrased my question well. I've heard that exercising for 30 minutes or less doesn't begin the process of your body using fat for energy and isn't that what you want to be utilizing for energy when you exercise?

    If you wake up in the morning, drink a coffee (no food), and do cardio for 20 - 90 minutes at around 65-74% of your maximum heart rate, your body will fuel itself on fat.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-active-times/shocking-benefits-of-exer_b_5207788.html

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2267548/Why-exercise-BEFORE-breakfast--youll-burn-20-cent-body-fat.html

    So your quest of a 30 minute cardio workout and search for burning the most fat could benefit with the AM pre-breakfast cardio session.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    SingingSingleTracker wrote: »
    madkcole wrote: »
    Thanks for all the input everyone. I understand the concept of CICO and calorie deficit for weight loss, but I'm confused on when the body starts utilizing its fat stores for energy. I don't think I phrased my question well. I've heard that exercising for 30 minutes or less doesn't begin the process of your body using fat for energy and isn't that what you want to be utilizing for energy when you exercise?

    If you wake up in the morning, drink a coffee (no food), and do cardio for 20 - 90 minutes at around 65-74% of your maximum heart rate, your body will fuel itself on fat.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-active-times/shocking-benefits-of-exer_b_5207788.html

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2267548/Why-exercise-BEFORE-breakfast--youll-burn-20-cent-body-fat.html

    So your quest of a 30 minute cardio workout and search for burning the most fat could benefit with the AM pre-breakfast cardio session.

    Disagree - at that intensity you are fuelling your exercise on about half fat/half glycogen.
    It's the intensity that determines the fuel blend.

    And it's irrelevant what fuel you are using during exercise anyway unless you are doing endurance cardio!

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