Cardiac Drift Question

kamazza

So I know what cardiac drift is and I notice it pretty much every time I exercise. So here is my question. Is it "naughty" to take advantage of the drift? As in, on the elliptical I can bust my butt for 5 or so minutes til I reach that drift stage then I can relax a bit and still have my heart rate in the zone I want. Is this bad? am I cheating myself? My heart is still doing as much work but I'm not working "quite" as hard as I was. I'm still burning the same calories, as per my Garmin vivosmart HR. Thoughts?

seska422

From a quick read about cardiac drift, you aren't burning the same calories during cardiac drift as you would at that heart rate without the cardiac drift. Your Garmin gives you the same calories because the data it's using is your heart rate.

If you like to pace your exercise that way, then do it. You won't get quite as many calories burned as you would if you sustained your higher level of effort but the important part, IMO, is to do exercise in the way that works for you so that you stick to doing it over time.

AnnPT77

Keep in mind that heart rate is not a measure of calorie burn, it's a proxy for calorie burn. True calorie burn is determined by how much work you do. That your heart rate is up or down while doing X work is, in reality, pretty much irrelevant.

So, if your goal is maximum calorie burn, backing off is giving you less of it, even if the heart rate implies otherwise.

But what the heck do I know. JMO.